'24' Creator Joel Surnow Remembers Energetic, Hip Andrew Breitbart

I have a smile on my face just thinking about Andrew Breitbart. Every time I ran into him he was bursting at the seams over something: a story he was about to break, an idea, an opinion, some injustice. The energy inside the guy just spilled over … and all the time.

There were no casual conversations with Breitbart. Everything was conspiratorial, imminent. Where many are ponderous and predictable with their politics, Breitbart always felt hip and interesting. He was very much west coast and proud of it.

It was his idea to take the political conversation away from the narrow confines of  D.C. and New York and move it west. Who cares what the “smart people” think, the Ivy Leaguers – they just talk to each other, anyway. West Coast is where it’s at. Los Angeles. Hollywood. America’s culture is born here – our movies, TV, music, fashion trends, all of it. He felt that’s where the war of ideas needed to be fought. That’s where hearts and minds are won and lost. It’s such a damn shame that his work has been cut short, but thankfully, among the many great things Breitbart did, he inspired.

There will be others who will pick up the baton and carry it … and hopefully follow the path he carved out. But, there will only be one Andrew Breitbart.

Joel Surnow is the co-creator of the Fox television series “24.” His other credits including producing and co-creating “La Femme Nikita” and writing and co-producing “The Equalizer.”