TVSquad

(S07E23/S07E24) "You don't know what I've done." - Jack

When 24 first premiered back in 2001, we were all taken off guard. It was so different, innovative, and action packed - like nothing we'd seen on TV ever before. But do you remember why it worked so well? Sure, there was a vast conspiracy that enshrouded the whole day in darkness, but for the most part, it was all about Jack and his family. The Bauers were what made Day 1 so memorable.

You felt horrible when Jack held Teri's lifeless body in those final seconds, and it was because the season focus was weighted towards them and not Drazen or Nina. Because of that formula, the show took off and with each season from then on, 24 became bigger than itself and so did the conspiracies. Then the bubble burst with Day 6 when it all came crashing down - we'd seen enough nukes, bio-pathogens, and Middle Eastern terrorists. The difference? All of that became more important than Jack. After Day 7's stellar finale, I think we can all agree that 24 has found its roots again.

(S07E22) "Why did you betray me?" - Jack

Since next week's finale is actually the last two hours of the season back-to-back, I think it's safe to refer to tonight's hour as Day 7's penultimate episode. As is so often the case with pivotal installments that precede a finale (especially with 24), going into it, I couldn't help shake the feeling that the bio-terror threat would be erased for good only to reveal one more crisis ready to spill over into next week. I'm not trying to say that it was predictable, but ... well ... nevermind. It was predictable.

(S07E21) "I have to see this through." - Jack

After a run of so many good episodes, it had to happen sooner or later - the calm before the storm. Hour 21 wasn't much more than that. A lot of filler and only a little bit of action.

All the events that are going to play out over the season's final three episodes were set in motion, but it was done with such a deliberately slow pacing that you probably would have been fine just watching next week's "Previously on 24" clip.

Early on in 24's run, and long before Fox knew it was going to be a staple of their network and one of their few reliable sources for solid ratings, Kiefer Sutherland talked about the possibility of the show going on without him. But that was before 24 became a phenomenon and Jack Bauer became an icon in his own right. Now, it's hard to imagine the show without him. And there hasn't really been any talk of it lately, but you do have to wonder if Fox isn't thinking about it.

Don't get me wrong, Season 7 is shaping up to be the second best season of the series so far (sorry, I don't think it will be possible to top Season 5), but what Monday's two-parter showed me was that 24 can be just as compelling without Jack Bauer. For the first hour of the night Jack was behind bars or being lead around by Secret Service agents. And yet there was plenty of action and excitement to keep the adrenaline pumping. Annie Wersching is a blast to watch as FBI Agent Renee Walker. Her ballsy dive both onto Juma's boat and off of it was pure Bauer.

There's been some scuttlebutt stirred up to suggest that next season's two-hour 24 prequel TV movie will be considered part of the 24 hours in Day 7, therefore leading some to think that there'll only be 22 episodes. But how could there only be 22 hours in a day, right? Well, TV being what it is, I'm sure they'd find a way to do two hours in one -- other shows do! -- but that won't be the case. There will be 24 hours, 24 episodes in the 2009 season of 24.

Part of the reason for all this confusion is an interview that actor Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty) gave to Premiere.com. Carlyle, who will be playing someone who'd been a mentor to Jack, said that the 24 TV movie, which is meant to cover what's happened since the end of Day 6 with the new Day 7, would apply to the Fox episode commitment. He told Premiere.com, "This is two hours in real time, and there'll then be 22 episodes."

Here's an interesting casting choice: Janeane Garofalo is joining 24. According to TV Guide, she'll be a regular cast member on the next season. Her character is a government agent who will be investigating Jack Bauer and his CTU co-workers. I can imagine her playing someone Jack (and the rest of the audience) really hates.

This is Garofalo's first return to mainstream television since she her role as Louise Thornton on The West Wing in 2004-2005. She also starred in a dramatic pilot for CBS called Law Dogs, but it has not been picked up by the network.

So, 24 fans, does the news about Janeane get you more excited for the next season? Or, would you rather have a decent plot line this time around rather than celebrity casting?

Ricky Schroder, the child star of Silver Spoons (formerly of NYPD Blue and Strong Medicine) will make his first appearance on 24 next week as a rough-and-tumble CTU agent named Mike Doyle. (He wants to be called "Ricky" again, according to a recent newspaper article.)

Of his new 24 character, Schroder said, "He's very physical and he likes to get information from people by any means necessary." Maybe, in the height of irony, we'll see Schroder's character -- a younger version of Jack Bauer -- using a silver spoon as an interrogation tool.

I'm just hopeful that the Doyle character won't be as wooden as Chase Edmunds, Jack's useless sidekick from 24's season three.

When you think of the FOX network what's the first thing that comes to mind? Perhaps the fact that its been on the air for over 20 years now, or maybe that it's the home to The Simpsons. Yes, those things are certainly true. Yet, when I ponder about FOX the first thing that comes to mind is . . . Good Lord, they certainly know how to pimp their most popular shows!

Case in point is that small action-adventure program named 24. We already got two full nights of double episodes last week to kick off the season. Yet, the network isn't done shoving it down our throats giving fans more Jack. So, they have scheduled another two-hour event for Monday, February 12th. This, of course, is conveniently placed smack-dab in the middle of sweeps. The event will cover the hours between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and co-stars Chad Lowe and Powers Boothe.

By the way, just because the network pimps its most popular shows to death doesn't mean they don't know what they're doing. The two-day, four-hour launch of 24 that premiered last week exceeded the fifth season premiere by 14 percent for all viewers.

Look, I know that his years on NYPD Blue redeemed him from a crash course with the child star curse of reality shows and cultural irrelevance, but he'll always be Ricky Schroeder to me. Ricky Schroeder - Silver Spoons star, friend to "Tap Dance Kid" Alfonso Riberio and owner of the racing car bed. Fortunately for Ricky, he overcame the 80s with the aforementioned three seasons on NYPD Blue, a comedic turn as Nurse Paul Flowers on Scrubs and his latest outing as Dr. Dylan West on Lifetime's Strong Medicine.

Ricky has made another great career move - further distancing himself from that plucky young lad in The Champ. He'll be joining the cast of 24 as CTU operative Mike Doyle. Expect to see Schroder team up with Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer in executing "key field ops." 24 is really pulling out all the stops with its latest casting decisions. Schroder is just one of a list of fancy new cast members including Chad Lowe, Regina King, Powers Boothe, Peter MacNicol, James Cromwell, Kal Penn and David Hunt. That's right - Deadwood's Cy Tolliver meets Babe's Father Hoggett meets The Boondocks' Huey Freeman meets Kumar. Who doesn't want to see that?

Eric Balfour was the only good thing about Conviction, NBC's short-lived prosecutor drama. Luckily, he'll be back on television in the winter to reprise his role as CTU independent contractor Milo Pressman on 24. I honestly can't remember what happened to his character ar the end of the season but apparently he didn't die.

According to Michael Aussiello over at TV Guide, Balfour has signed on to a role as a 'series regular', which means we'll see him for more than one episode. Maybe he'll replace poor, sweet Edgar Stiles (Louis Lombardi)?

I have one word for this piece of news: YUM.

Hey! Don't kill the messenger. I had it on good authority (USA Today) that Elisha Cuthbert would be back on 24 on Monday night. And, in case they change their story, here's the original quote: "It's official. The magnet of mishaps is returning to 24 tonight. Though actress Elisha Cuthbert took a season off to star in big screen flicks (House of Wax, The Girl Next Door), her character, Kim, will be back to complicate matters for her dad, Jack Bauer." The story printed February 13, 2006.

By popular demand? I don't think so. Jack Bauer's daughter, Kim, returns to 24 tonight. First of all, she's going to be surprised to find out that her dad is alive. Then how will she react? Will she want her old job back at CTU? Who knows what storyline awaits Kim this season. She's already been tormented by a cougar and held hostage by a psycho in an underground bunker. I'm guessing she had a baby since Jack "died". Why not?

And just as soon as we've all sat down and taken a deep breath from the first night of action and adventure, we're given a second double dose of the 24 serum last night. While not as shocking as the first night, it was pretty much just as explosive. Jack is hiding out in the airport in his quest to save his girlfriend's son, Derek, and a number of other travelers who are threatened with death by the terrorists, and the CTU team now knows that he's in action and running the scene. We're also introduced to a new character, Lynn, played by Sean Astin. He's immediately thrown into the fray, or more specifically throws himself into it, by effectively taking over the CTU offices from Buchanan.

One by one, hostages are being executed by the terrorists, who want Logan to halt signing off on a treaty with Russia. The details of the treaty are unclear at this point, and Logan is facing pressure from all directions, all while barking orders to Mike Novick about "fixing" the situation. All the while, his wife is searching for another way to find the conversation she had with David Palmer the night before, the chat that was "altered" on the recording Logan played for her. Thankfully, it turns out his overall antics may be in her favor, as there are apparently transcribed copies of every phone conversation kept in a storage room on the premises.

Last night's 24 might not have been the most exciting of the whole season, but it definitely showed the sensitive side of the tortured souls (and torturers) that work at the CTU offices. Tony Almeida has yet another sitdown with Michelle Dessler, which seems to perk her attitude up a bit more, while Jack and Audrey seem to be so far on the outs it's not even measurable. Family ties come into play yet again, as Richard Heller gets connected once more to the terrorists after a cellphone call made to Marwan is found by Chloe. Bringing him in yet again for interrogation seems to be the only solution, and let's just say the plotline twists a little bit there in a direction that was probably a bit unnecessary, to be honest.

The more I watch this show, the more I have three questions: What exactly is Audrey doing there and who made her so self-important, and, how exactly do these folks think they're going to stop a nuclear missile that is on its way to Some City, U.S.A.? Anyone want to clear these up for me? Didn't think so.