Leaps of logic

STEVEN Zak’s diatribe against “24” (“ ‘24’ Masks an Insult as Entertainment,” June 9) so grossly misrepresents the show that my first reaction was simply to ignore it. But on the chance that readers unfamiliar with “24” might think Zak’s article made sense, I decided to respond on behalf of the show.

Zak notes that some of our villains this past season were Americans. From this, incredibly, he concludes that we must believe America “is responsible” for terrorist attacks against it, including 9/11; that we believe Americans are the “true source of terrorism”; and that we portray “evil at the very heart of America.” These leaps of logic are as ludicrous as they are offensive.

The season centered on the attempt of a fanatical Islamist terrorist group to detonate a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. The group is supported by an international cartel with its own agenda.

Like all countries, America has been afflicted with traitors, from Benedict Arnold to, sadly, the present day; and we posit the existence of a few such villains as part of the cartel. But for every American villain, the show portrays countless American heroes.

There is no evil at the heart of “24’s” America. Like its real-world counterpart, the America of “24,” while not perfect, is a great and good country, of which most people, including the producers of the show, would be, and are, proud and grateful to be citizens.

Robert Cochran

Los Angeles

Robert Cochran is co-creator and an executive producer of the Fox network’s “24.”