TVSquad

(S06E15) *Warning, spoilers from recent episode ahead*

It's really sad when the best part of a show is the last minute of a program, when you have to slog through 59 minutes of other material of so-so quality that seems very much like filler in order to get to something good.

That's how I felt about this new episode of 24. Did anyone in their right mind really believe that Nadia was a mole? Of course not, but I didn't expect her story to be resolved so quickly and simply, in less than an hour.

*If you haven't watched this week's 24, don't read this post. Period.*

While I'm still recovering from my dire disappointment over a Logan-less 24 hour -- following on the heels of last week's fruit-filled episode -- here are four moments to muse until the next installment of the Jack Bauer hour:

Quote of note: Chloe O'Brian wins this category again this week. (This gal gets some of the best lines.) When Chloe unceremoniously locked lips with her ex, Morris "Drill Bit" O'Brian, in the middle of CTU, he asked her why she kissed him. "Just checking your breath," she replied, nonchalantly, confirming that Morris hadn't been hitting the bottle. At least not recently.

So the 24 writers are trying to create an air of mystery around Ricky Schroder's new character . . . er, brawler/tough guy Mike Doyle.

(*Fair warning, spoilers*) Brought into CTU during the 13th episode as the new head of field ops, Doyle wasted no time ruffling feathers, harshly ordering people around and wrenching a staffer by the neck for not working fast enough.

Then there was the Denver comment.

Milo Pressman -- still nursing a bullet wound sustained while saving Marilyn Bauer's bacon several episodes ago -- has decided to take on Doyle instead of constantly harassing Morris "Drill Bit" O'Brian. After Doyle's first abrupt CTU meeting, Milo said that he doesn't like Doyle and that he knows him "from Denver."

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.

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?