TVSquad

TV Squad previously reported that production on the two-hour prequel to 24 season 7 was underway. Now, it's been learned that a few cast members have been added to that TV movie.

The movie has Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) battling terrorists in Africa while the new President of the United States Allison Taylor is sworn in. Already cast are Cherry Jones (as Allison Taylor), Robert Carlyle (as a mentor of Jack Bauer) and Carlos Bernard, who will be returning despite his apparent death in season five.

The new cast members are:

• Tony "Candyman" Todd (who also has a recurring role in NBC's Chuck) as cruel African dictator General Juma.
• Eric Lively (an alumni of the series The L Word and the brother of Gossip Girl star Blake Lively) as the president's son.
• Gil Bellows (best known for his role on Ally McBeal) as a State Department officer ordered to serve Bauer with a subpoena to appear before the Senate.

The project is scheduled to air on November 23rd on Fox.

The video for the new season of 24 premiered yesterday. It first aired on the bigscreens in NYC's Times Square, became available online shortly after, and aired nationally later in the evening during game two of the World Series. A lot of you have probably already seen it, but may be wondering: hey TV Squad, why are you reporting on this a day late? Well, this sat forever on the "assignment desk" and to be honest, I think we were all afraid of incurring the wrath of you readers for spoiling the fun. Well I stepped up and here's your warning: read on with caution, because after the jump there is a trailer and I do talk about the season seven plot. There. I said it.

In mid-April, we reported that the '24' producers were studying potential story lines for the seventh season of the FOX hit series, one featuring Quebec's separatists. About two weeks later, it was confirmed that Jack would go through his next action-packed awful day in a different scenery. In early July, we learned that writers had planned to have the action set in Africa and the U.S. but that the network sent them back to the drawing board because that story line would be too expensive. Eventually, official spoilers started to leak and FOX announced the names of actors joining the show (more after the jump).

But yesterday, FOX sent out a press release so juicy that it had some people pinch themselves to make sure they weren't dreaming!

Spoilers after the jump!

Kiefer Sutherland and 20th Century FOX reached a deal for three more seasons of 24. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sutherland will make at least $40 million for playing Jack Bauer for three more seasons, making him the highest-paid actor in a drama series. Sutherland's title improves from co-executive producer to executive producer, which will undoubtedly rake in some more cash for him. And, the deal also includes a development fund for Sutherland to develop and produce projects for television and the internet (what? FOX has heard about the internet?).

I tried. I really did. I wanted to be one of the cool kids and watch 24, but I can't handle it. Over the summer, my husband and I rented season one of 24 and we suffered through every episode. The show is chock full of obvious stall tactics. Does anybody else notice these? They come in the form of long, drawn-out, repetitive conversations and of unimportant sub-plots. For example, the current season began with various versions of the same conversation between President Logan and his wife about her apparent craziness and her insistence that she's not nutso. Do people in the real world actually have the same conversation over and over again within one hour? I don't think so. And, during season one, the whole storyline about President Palmer's son's involvement in a crime was a total time suck (and, of course, the infamous Kim vs. the cougar incident in season two). While most shows also use sub-plots as fillers (i.e., Lost uses flashbacks), it is most obvious to me on 24 because, quite frankly, who cares about any of the other crap that doesn't involve Jack Bauer?

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?

NBC's gamble paid off. Last year, the Golden Globes got its butt kicked by new episodes of Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. So, NBC moved the Globes to Monday night where it faced part two of the 24 season premiere. The Globes prevailed, capturing an estimated 18.7 million viewers, which is about 2 million more than watched the awards show last year. 24 ended up with an estimated 14.9 million viewers.

I guess I'm not too surprised by that story. ABC dumped its programming and CBS ran repeats so all those viewers had every reason to flip to NBC. Personally, I chose 24 over the Globes. I find awards shows to be disappointing because the winners never say anything interesting.

"Somebody has lost their mind."

That quote from an angry Columbia, SC fan of 24 pretty much sums up this situation. Some genius over at WACH, Columbia's FOX affiliate, decided to start the news on time on Sunday night... cutting off the last 10 minutes of the season premiere of 24. For East coasters, 24 started about 10 minutes late on Sunday night because an NFL playoff game went over the time allotted. Apparently no one who works at WACH actually watches the programming there, because they just flipped over to the news right at ten o'clock. Even if they weren't watching 24, the newsroom should have known to slide their programming by 10 minutes because FOX usually notifies all of its affiliates over an audio "black box" when schedule changes occur.