24 was originally about a wedding

24 protagonist Jack Bauer squared off against dozens of nefarious terrorists, politicians, and other assorted evildoers over the course of the show's eight seasons. But if the popular Fox drama had followed its original concept, Jack Bauer would have had an entirely different challenge: surviving a wedding day.

"I'd always worked in 22-episodes-a-season TV and one day thought, 'What if we did a show where an hour was in real time?'" explained 24 creator Joel Surnow in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "I called [co-creator] Bob Cochran and we decided to do a show about the 24 hours leading up to a wedding. Then that didn't work. It had to be something that was going to keep you. It had to be a race against time. So what if some guy's daughter is missing? So we started there."

24 went on to become one of Fox's biggest hits of the decade, so it's hard to argue with the direction they chose — but come on, wouldn't you watch a real-time Father of the Bride with the main character constantly screaming "dammit" at the caterers?

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up