24 SPOILERS FOLLOW





Almost eight months after he chopped off his partner's arm with an axe and saved the world from a killer virus, Kiefer Sutherland is back as superspy Jack Bauer in the fourth-season premiere of 24. Fired from Counter Terrorism Unit's Los Angeles bureau, Jack is now working in D.C. for the Secretary of Defense (that old Cheshire-grinner William Devane) and bopping his boss' daughter (THIRD WATCH's Kim Raver). But before the first hour of Jack's day is over, his boss and his girlfriend have both been abducted by Arab terrorists, and away we go with another 24 hours slam-packed with intense violence, backbiting, suspicion and the threat of a huge cataclysm certain to shake up the free world.

Four hours later, 24 continues to reign as the best show on television. It would have to be in order to disregard its sillier plot contrivances. As in Bauer pretending to hold up a convenience store just to hold the man he’s tailing hostage and stall for enough time for his CTU compadre to hack into a surveillance satellite. I mean, really, Jack, couldn’t you just shoot his tire out or something? Seems like an awful lot of wasted effort and an enormous amount of risk when a much simpler solution would do. And certainly whoever wrote the first four shows doesn’t know much about the Internet. In Hour 1, a hacker downloading software illegally freaks out when a stream of red text pops up on his monitor. Instantly, he realizes that this SuperCode is capable of destroying the entire Internet. Later, the terrorists are able to hijack the ENTIRE INTERNET and broadcast their demands. Think about that for a minute.

But that’s what 24 is all about, climbing that mountain of disbelief every week in order to get swept away by the tight editing, intense action sequences, wild twists, and the enormously dedicated performance by Kiefer as Jack Bauer. This show couldn’t possibly work without the gravitas he provides; you can almost see his brain constantly at work, as Jack jumps from one reckless scenario to the next by the seat of his pants. That the writers always portray Jack as being right and everyone else, particularly his bosses, as being wrong helps, I suppose.

Jack is back without his familiar cast of supporting players. Bubbleheaded daughter Kim (the twinkly Elisha Cuthbert) is shacking up with boy toy Chase (James Badge Dale), who somehow landed a gig with a security firm despite having just one arm (I hope he has a cool hook). Soul Patch Tony (Carlos Bernard) is presumably in prison, having committed treason last year to save plucky wife Michelle (Reiko Aylesworth) from kidnappers. President David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) found himself in a heap o' legal and PR trouble after his ex-wife committed some murders in an effort to blow up L.A. last season, so he decided not to run for a second term. The cast member I miss most is Aylesworth, who gave a wonderful Emmy-worthy performance last year as she struggled to maintain order in a quarantined hotel filled with terminally ill guests, especially as she sweated out whether she herself was dying from the same virus that affected nearly everyone else. And she's easy on the eyes.

I’m still a bit uneasy with 24’s new cast members. With the exception of Kiefer and Mary Lynn Rajskub as meanie Chloe, the cast has been completely overhauled, and I haven’t quite gotten attached to the new breed yet. Particularly wrong are Alberta Watson, stiff and unconvincing as CTU’s icy boss and wooden, and wide-eyed Lukas Haas (WITNESS) as a dude with excellent computer hacking skills. I’m glad to see hottie Lana Parilla in this year’s cast; she was a part of NBC’s excellent BOOMTOWN ensemble. Of course, William Devane is badass, as always--interesting that he and former KNOTS LANDING lover Nicollette Sheridan (DANGEROUS HOUSEWIVES) would find themselves back on TV in hit series. Geoff Pierson, the Poor Man’s Al Bundy in that dreadful WB ripoff of MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, is the new President, having blackmailed the position away from his predecessor; he hasn’t had much to do yet, but knowing what we do about his slippery grasp on morality, it could be interesting to see what happens with his character.

Fox is following an unusual programming strategy by kicking off the season with a four-hour 24 miniseries. The real reason is so they won't have to do any preemptions during the rest of the season, and they want the season finale to land during May sweeps. I'm all for as much 24 as I can get in the shortest amount of time. Tonight's installment packed more plot, drama and excitement than most theatrical thrillers do, and I'm curious to see where the story leads us. And it's good to know that Jack is still in character, ignoring rules, disrespecting authority, torturing the crap out of anybody who stands between him and whatever short-term goal he's obsessed with at the moment.

It is going to be tough to adjust to one hour a week after getting that double dose of double episodes. I got the first 24 minutes on a freebie dvd a few weeks ago and knew just from that, I was gonna get sucked in again. Of course if you stop to think about it, the story is just absurd. That's what is so much fun about the show, they rarely give you any time to ponder what just happened until after the credits roll.

This is the first time I watched "24" and I was immediately sucked in, watched all four hours and want MORE!!!

Oh well, I guess it's off to Hollywood Video to rent seasons 1,2, and 3 and see what I've been missing until now :D

Excellent write up, BTW, Marty.

Vincent

Damn, Vincent, what took ya so long to jump on the 24 bandwagon? Are you looking for a new weekly fix for when there's no more Sipowicz?

:D

Well, we still got Sipowizc for a few more weeks at least :) *

Honestly, I just never happened upon it before, and on Sunday night I intended to watch "The Simpsons" but saw that "24" was on instead, so I watched it and was hooked. Now I know what everyone's been talking about :D

Same thing happened with "Strangers With Candy"- I missed this brilliantly subversive comedy series when it originally aired on Comedy Central back from 1999-2001, but happened onto repeats a year or so ago while flicking through cable channels late at night and became instantly hooked. Now, I own all three seasons on DVD and salivate in anticipation of the upcoming feature film version (if you haven't yet experienced the brilliance that is "Strangers With Candy", do yourself a favor and track it down!).

Vincent

* I just wish they'd get Charlotte Ross back for at least a couple episodes this season.

I love STRANGERS WITH CANDY.
Along with TWIN PEAKS, my favorite TV series of all time.
For me, SWC is the most hilarious TV series ever.

Vincent, I am jealous! I got sucked into this show from the beginning in 2001 when the premiere made news as it featured a harrowing sequence that mirrored the then quite recent 9-11 tragedy. Never missed an episode either ( god bless the vcr ).
Sometimes the wait between episodes was grueling! I can only imagine the sheer endless satiation of watching them on dvd!
This season is one step ahead of previous ones as Marty mentioned. Previous seasons had several 3 week breaks that allowed you lose track of the story. Glad to see this year that trend has been eliminated.

I think it's time for a 24 spinoff, CHLOE, where she takes on America's enemies and the Homeland Security bureaucracy in hourly increments. I just love Mary Lynn Rajskub; she leavens the show with her brittle, distracted humor, and had a very affecting crying scene in the opening episodes. Much as I miss Tony and Michelle and the rest of the CTU gang (and Rajskub's former LARRY SANDERS co-star, Penny Johnson Jerald, as the viperish Sherry--but not Elisha Cuthbert), I'm glad they've kept her on.