Jack Bauer’s 24 Lives On Virally

The Rookie: CTU

One of the casualties of the writer’s strike was the complete postponement of the hit series “24″ staring Kiefer Sutherland until January 2009! Dang. The producers of “24″ have kept the series alive with a spin-off of viral videos called “The Rookie: CTU.” We’re huge fans of viral anything and really enjoyed the high level of production in creating “The Rookie.”

With the success of the first wave of digital shorts, Day 1 and 2, the producers returned with 6 episodes of Day 3 which begin to focus more on the story and highlight the production. “The Rookie” became big enough that it was actually spotlighted on some cable On Demand channels and includes high-def video and 5.1 surround sound. Pretty crazy for a viral video!

The digital shorts are directed by “24″ alum Rodney Charters and he holds onto the look and feel of the original series very well. Charters directed some of the original “24″ episodes so he knows what he’s doing. The shorts are sponsored by Degree deodorant and streamed online at the “Rookie” website tied into the “24″ site.

“The Rookie” follows new agent Jason Blaine (Jeremy Ray Valdez) as he struggles through his daily duties to do his job. Day 1 has Blaine on a routine coffee run that turns into a bank heist and Day 2 gets the Rookie involved in a double cross.

The success of “The Rookie” led to Day 3 where we see more production value and 6 more episodes. This series features a Mexican drug smuggler and really starts to take on the feel of a “24″ episode.

The website for “The Rookie” is tied directly into the “24″ website and after you catch up on the digital shorts of “The Rookie” you can hop over to watch full episodes of the “24″ series. Each week they feature 3 new episodes. Sweet. If that doesn’t help you out to kill some time at work we don’t know what will!