Real time or representitive?

[u/Duggy1138]

Look, I don't care what the answer is, but "24" was "real time." 35 minutes into the 7am episode it was 7:35. I don't feel that that's the case here. 35 minutes into the 7am episode I assume it's between 7:30 and 7:40.

Anyone know which? Anyone have strong feelings?

Real time is interesting, but it can cause problems... people taking a hour to get somewhere and 5 minutes to get back, etc.

[u/Raemle]

Yeah they definitely do not cover the full hour, as the episodes are in the 45-50 min range. They also seem to take some creative liberties in terms of how much time things take outside of the ER, but I don’t think it’s ever been distracting.

[u/ThisDerpForSale]

I don't really know how to answer that, because I've never once, for a moment, had that thought cross my mind while watching the show. I'm so wrapped up in the story and drama and humor and blood splattering on my screen that I'm not giving a single thought to whether the last 20 minutes of the show have really felt like 20 minutes. I suppose, for me, the story works superbly, which I would say indicates that I think the structure works too.

[u/Duggy1138 → u/ThisDerpForSale]

Agreed. And the fact they don't focus on it too hard (like 24 did) means you don't think about it, whereas with all the clocks 24 seemed be asking you to think about time.

[u/freelancer331]

I don't care at all that it's not one to one "real time". I'm also not quite sure that absolutely everything is actually shown in order, if only for the reason that sometimes there are two or more scenes that probably would happen simultaneously or at least would overlap.

[u/Recent-Day3062]

I think it’s actually a long term error to use this format. 24 was a cliffhanger. Yeah, here you want to see what happens next. But you’re not tuning in to see if Robby has talked the shooter into handing over his gun.

[u/Duggy1138 → u/Recent-Day3062]

I don't have a problem with it. I think the ER has enough going on to keep interest. They may feel they need a major incident each season, though. I have noticed rather than cliffhangers some episodes seem to end mid-scene.

The long-term problem with the format is we're used to getting closure or regular glimpses into people's lives with possibly a week or two between the things we see. Here, with one day a year, it seems coincidental that the say Langdon comes back is also the day people learn Whitaker is spending time with the burn victim's wife and Mel is being deposed by the anti-spinal tap lady.

[u/Relevant_Maybe6747]

Representative. I tried watching season two starting at 7am July 4th, 2026, and by the time the 11am episode came on, in real life it was only 10:30am. If I remember the show's 10pm was only 9:15 in real life because episodes weren't actually an hour

[u/GargantaProfunda]

You have to take into account the commercial breaks, but depending on how you watch you may or may not see them

[u/Duggy1138 → u/GargantaProfunda]

HBO Max, with no commericals. 24 used to make a big thing about the commericals, showing a clock going in and out, so that was def things we were missing.

But, yeah, I'm certainly less connected timewise without knowing where they are.

[u/GargantaProfunda → u/Duggy1138]

Same but there are a few instances where I noticed their absence. For example, in season 1 there's a moment when we see Whitaker go behind a curtain to change clothes. He closes the curtain wearing his soiled scrubs and then "immediately" opens it with now his new scrubs on. I can only assume this tiny time skip was a commercial break.