24 (Season 1, Episodes 17-20)

Creator: Robert Cochran, Joel Surnow
2001
Although we’re enjoying 24 a lot, by the 20th episode it’s apparent to us that the show’s view of women is pretty bleak–they’re either duplicitous, or dense, and the latter seem to be the majority. Is Jack such a bad father that Kim has to continually act out and seek out Rich, the bad boy moron who got her into this mess in the first place? Her inability to leave Rich’s hovel when it was apparent some pretty nasty drug dealers were on their way over was infuriating. And why on earth did Palmer’s assistant screw up her set-up with Drazon, electing to hang around after planting a tracking device in order to run him through with a letter opener? Frailty, thy name is woman!
Another group who fail in the mental division (and who overlap with the women) is the teenagers. It’s refreshing to not see teens as bastions of wisdom, I guess, but Kyle Palmer isn’t as smart as he thinks he is, and Kim…well, we all know about Kim’s wise decisions. Their stubborn behavior becomes a bit much after a while.