12:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m.

"12:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m."
24 episode
Mandy (Mia Kirshner), a freelance terrorist, moments before exploding a 747. This scene, broadcast two months after the September 11 attacks, delayed the airing of the 24 pilot. This scene was also edited for sensitive content.
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 1
Directed by	Stephen Hopkins
Written by	Joel Surnow Robert Cochran
Cinematography by	Peter Levy
Production code	1AFF79
Original air date	November 6, 2001
Running time	43 minutes
Guest appearance(s)
Mia Kirshner as Mandy Carlos Bernard as Tony Almeida Penny Johnson Jerald as Sherry Palmer Michael O'Neill as Richard Walsh Xander Berkeley as George Mason Rudolf Martin as Martin Belkin Richard Burgi as Alan York Daniel Bess as Rick Allen Matthew Carey as Dan Mounts Jacqui Maxwell as Janet York Tanya Wright as Patty Brooks Karina Arroyave as Jamey Farrell Devika Parikh as Maureen Kingsley Jeff Ricketts as Victor Rovner Gary Murphy as Vincent O'Brien
Episode chronology
← Previous — Next → "1:00 a.m. – 2:00 a.m"
24 (season 1) List of 24 episodes

"12:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m." is the pilot episode of the Fox television series 24. It was written by series creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran and directed by Stephen Hopkins. It premiered in the United States on Fox at 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 6, 2001.

The episode takes place between midnight and 1:00 a.m. on the day of the California Presidential Primary. It chronicles one hour in the day of a government agent called into work at the Counter Terrorist Unit, his daughter Kim who has sneaked out of the house, his wife Teri who goes out searching for Kim, and a Senator named David Palmer who is seeking to become the first African-American President of the United States. CTU believes that David Palmer is being targeted for assassination.

The 24 pilot was originally scheduled to air on October 31, 2001, but was preempted due to the September 11 attacks. A quick scene of an explosion was also cut from the episode after the attacks. It was met with very positive critical reception. Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for this episode.

The pilot episode intercuts five different storylines, all occurring simultaneously in real-time. It takes place between Midnight and 1:00 a.m. in Los Angeles on Super Tuesday.

Jack Bauer is trying to work through and repair his relationship with his wife, Teri (from whom he was briefly separated) and his teenage daughter Kim, who blames Teri for their separation. Just as Teri and Jack realize that Kim has snuck out of the house, Jack gets a call from his co-worker Nina Myers, who informs him of an emergency briefing at the Counter Terrorist Unit. Jack reluctantly leaves his disappointed wife. When Jack arrives at the Counter-Terrorist Unit, Richard Walsh, Jack's mentor, informs the CTU staff that African-American presidential candidate David Palmer is a target for assassination. Walsh takes Jack aside for a private conversation, in which Walsh tells Jack that someone inside CTU is a mole working for the assassins. "Trust no one," he tells Jack.