Media Critic 24 — The Clock Keeps Ticking January 2007

by Richard Koscher

The waiting finally came to an end. I had been left hanging high and dry after terrorists kidnapped Jack Bauer (played by Kiefer Sutherland) and transported him on a ship to China. He was one U.S. export item that we weren’t happy to ship to China.

When a series as excellent as 24 ends with such a dramatic cliffhanger, it’s torturous for passionate fans to wait for months until the tardy and highly anticipated pilot of the new season finally shows up.

For any uninitiated readers, the Fox Drama, 24, expands a single day in the life of the director of an anti-terrorist organization into 24 episodes, each episode covering a single dramatic and tension-filled hour. (To be precise, there are 20 episodes since two of them, including the season’s pilot, covers two hours each.)

My sense of keen anticipation was only intensified by the trailer, which was aired live on Times Square. I viewed it (a number of times, actually) at www.24trailer.com. The preview, by implication, answered a few of my questions, but the first four episodes of the new season were, if anything, even more exciting than I had anticipated.

Jack Bauer is back! And he has returned with a grand flourish! Even though, following several months in captivity, he looked more like Saddam Hussein’s cousin, he was able to get cleaned and groomed without any problem or large delay in returning to his dashing self.

Season six picks up 20 months following last season’s shocking finale. The season opens with the strong-minded U.S. President, Wayne Palmer (played by DB Woodside), and his lawyer sister, Sandra (Regina King), a powerful advocacy lawyer, responding to a series of terrorist attacks. Palmer and his team of advisors, as well as members of the CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit) team, Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub), Curtis Manning (Roger Cross), and Bill Buchanan (James Morrison) begin one of their 24 hours of terror, despair, and (for the spellbound viewer) sheer excitement and fun.

The show last year was nominated for more Emmys than any other television series and during the first five seasons combined have been nominated for 51 Emmys.

The creators of the series, Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, invest the flow of events with edgy, seething, and even capricious qualities designed to keep viewers firmly perched on the edge of their seats.

For sure it kept me on the edge of my seat. °