Mid-Week Poll: Are You Excited for the Return of Jack Bauer?

Since we all can’t stop talking about Jack Bauer, Fox has heard our cries and is looking to bring ’24’ back to television for an all-new season. This time it will be a limited series, most likely meaning only several episodes. Yes, Kiefer Sutherland will reprise his iconic role on the show. Will you watch?

’24’ ended in 2010 after eight seasons. When the series went off the air, the producers hinted that a feature film project was in development. Unfortunately, that never got off the ground. But now, ’24’ show runner Howard Gordon has pitched an idea to the network that has gotten everyone excited. Gordon is an executive producer on ‘Homeland’ and is currently working on a new high-end show for FX called ‘Tyrant’, which will be directed by Ang Lee. Former ’24’ producer David Fury also took to Twitter to announce that he’s involved in the ’24’ relaunch, saying:

24 Eyes Return As Limited Series On Fox, Yep, I’m pulling double duty along w/ TYRANT. Whoo & Hoo!

Now, I was a big fan of the original series. Those first two or three seasons were some of the best television programming of that time. The show was very suspenseful and even induced heavy sweating due to the complex and terrifying situations that Jack Bauer got himself into. However, after the show passed season 5, the storylines became redundant. How many times could we see a terrorist plot in a major city? How many times could CTU and the FBI ask Jack for help and then completely not trust him? How many times would Jack Bauer have to go rogue and kill all of the bad guys and save the day by himself? It just got old after a while.

The last season amped up the stakes pretty high and ended on a solid note. So, since the feature film isn’t happening, I for one am excited to see Bauer on the small screen again. I think that enough time has passed to garner new and fresh interest in this show. I just hope that it doesn’t follow the same formula as the previous seasons. It would be nice to see something different.

I’d like to see Jack Bauer face a diabolical situation in a confined setting like a small building where he just happened to be at the wrong place and the wrong time. Please, no more of these threats against the entire planet or country, just something small and intense.

Your thoughts?

Are You Excited for the Return of '24'?

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16 comments

  1. Dubious. Extremely dubious. The last four seasons of the show sucked. It only looked like it was getting better for a few episodes before the end, but the series finale was dreadful. The show should have stopped after Season 5.

    Fox must be really desperate to drag this back from the dead.

  2. William Henley

    This time it will be a limited series, most likely meaning only several episodes.

    Doesn’t that kind of defeat the whole premesis of the show? Each episode focused on one hour of the day, supposedly in real time.

    I never was a fan of the show. I can see why people liked it – the story (at least the first season that I watched) was good, it had great action, good visual effects. It just was not my thing.

  3. Mike

    I enjoyed this show for what it was. Sure, all the seasons might not be great but there was something to appreciate in each, and I personally liked them all because of the formula.

    To those naysayers whining that the last 4 seasons sucked or what not–what else is better out there? Is there any action show on tv right now that’s better than 24 at its worst? And that there is reason alone for why this show should never die, and go on for as long as all those drab ncis, csi, law & order shows in their 100th seasons.

  4. Season 4 was great, and the later casting Peter Weller was inspired, but the whole Jack Bauer/CTU story still seems played out. Now I might be on board if they wanted to utilize a ‘Batman: Beyond’ style set-up, but otherwise it’s hard not to think that Fox is just bereft of ideas and going back to ’24’ way too soon.

  5. Tom Haggas

    I never even finished the final season. It just became something I felt like I HAD to do, not something I wanted to do.

    But if it makes someone else happy, who am I to complain? I got Arrested Development.

  6. “What else is better out there?”. Well, fresh air? Taking a walk?

    Regarding the real-time aspect with fewer episodes, how about this: 12 two-hour episodes?

      • Yes, but the commercial breaks are included in the “real time” counter. That’s when Jack goes to the bathroom. 🙂

        So it would have to be four half-hour episodes plus a 24-minute finale. That still seems fitting.

  7. MrAngles

    After the first season I thought that the “premise” of being in real-time was always the weakest part of the series. Of course that was before the writing got completely generic.

    As bad as I thought 24: Redemption was, I still think there’s potential for a Jack Bauer adventure that doesn’t involve CTU or politics. When it came down to it, those were the two parts of the show that had the worst writing towards the end. A more stripped-down old-school Die-Hard adventure is what the series needs. Something else that could help would be to put it on FX instead of Fox.

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