Jeez, a lot of popular TV shows are about super-competent teams: the 107 different flavors of CSI, House, The West Wing… In each of those shows, everyone knows everything. Oh, they may be puzzled for an hour minus the commercials, but the puzzles are just an opportunity to flex their competency.

Is this a response to the world’s new (or newly-exposed) complexity? When the enemy is an identifiable superpower, bravery and strength saves us. When the threat is that our environment is fragmenting and the pieces are raining down on us, the ability to put the pieces together saves us.

When we are facing an enemy with massive power, it’s good to believe that a single individual can make the difference, especially if he’s played by Sylvester Stallone. When the enemy is the pulling apart of everything we know, it’s good to believe that we can form teams that cannot be pulled apart. [Tags: entertainment]

24 is an interesting hybrid: Competent team, heroic individual.

Categories: misc dw