Since they’ve developed mobile phones with television capability, it stands to reason that they’d have to come up with something to watch on those tiny screens. And so they have: Fox is going to create a drama series of one-minute episodes, based on the series “24″, exclusively for wireless provider Vodafone/Verizon Wireless.

Just as each one-hour episode of “24″ unfolds in real-time, I’d expect each one-minute episode of this little series would be paced in real time. Of course, when you’ve got only 60 seconds, that’s enough of a plot restriction where you have no choice but to run it in real time…

I think something like this is ideal. The concept of watching TV on your phone is a bit shaky anyway, but presented in very short bites like this, I could see it working. It’s a good example of shaping the content to the particular medium, instead of just repackaging something like “Friends” reruns (not that that wouldn’t work too). And content drives adoption: Rabid fans of “24″ could be motivated to sign up for the high-speed wireless service needed to get these episodes (although I’m sure they’ll find their way onto P2P networks in short time).

The short-attention-span-theater format reminds me of a spoof from “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”. They parodied the concept behind “24″ by introducing their own real-time series, with episodes running for one second. In real-time, obviously.