Get real, '24', say torture experts

Saying 24's depiction of torture is "unrealistic and... kind of boring," David Danzig, director of the Prime Time Torture Project for the New York-based organization Human Rights First, in conjunction with fellow human rights activists, the dean of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and veteran interrogators with experience stretching from Saigon to Abu Ghraib, issued a joint plea: make use of torture on television more realistic.  "The meeting was an eye-opener," said "24" executive producer Howard Gordon. "We hadn't really thought a lot about torture as anything more than a dramatic device."  Producers at the meeting also indicated they found it goofy that they should have to point out that their use of torture is, you know, just a TV shtick - but producers of "Lost" agreed to appear in a public service video pointing out that TV is not real life.  [GT]

'24' gets a lesson in torture from the experts

More arts and information