TVSquad

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."

Quick: how old is Jack Bauer?

If you guessed "in his 40s," you're wrong. He's actually in his 50s! At least he will be when the new season of 24 starts on FOX in early 2009. The network has revealed that Bauer will have aged four years when the show returns in January. Chloe will no longer be pregnant -- she'll have a four year old. At least this is more realistic than what you see on soap operas, when a character will have a kid and then that kid will come back two years later and suddenly be a teenager.

In the first season of the show, Bauer was 35 years old, so 17 years have passed on the show. In real life, actor Kiefer Sutherland is 41 years old (he's younger than me? Jeez).

24 joins the ever-growing list of TV shows that are using time jumps as pivotal plot developments, including Lost and Desperate Housewives.