From exploding planes to derailing trains to unleashed viruses to an assassinated ex-president, the producers of 24 may not always know how to stretch the middle of a story, but they're aces when it comes to kicking things off with a bang.

It's a bit of a surprise, then, that the sixth season -- premiering in four hours over Sunday (Jan. 14) and Monday nights -- starts off slowly, with as flat and awkward an hour as the show has ever produced. The season's first couple hours are mostly, in fact, dedicated to cleaning up the mess that producers left at the end of last season when Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland who, like the show itself, was Emmy-decorated in the fall) finished saving the world and was promptly carted off to a Chinese prison.

The new year begins 18 months later. The country is in the midst of not one single terrorist attack, but an outbreak of violence that has claimed hundreds of lives. For reasons FOX would probably prefer I not reveal, New President Palmer (D.B. Woodside, whose political ascendancy has yet to be explained) has to get the Chinese to set Jack free, or at least remand him in the custody of our favorite surviving CTU operatives not named Chloe, which is to say Bill Buchanan (underrated James Morrison) and Curtis Manning (Roger R. Cross).

Physically, Jack is in perfect condition. However many beatings the Chinese may have administered, they don't seem to have skimped on jail cell servings of General Gao's Chicken. Jack also seems pretty sharp intellectually as well, though he may only be thinking three or four steps ahead of his adversaries as opposed to his standard eight-to-ten. The problem appears to be with Jack's mental state. The Chinese may not have broken him, exactly, but they made him question his own confidence and his ability to do his job. Even still, when New President Palmer actually calls one of Jack's judgment calls into doubt, I found it impossible to resist instructing him -- though my unique direct TV-to-fiction-world-connection -- that in five previous important days, Jack Bauer has never once been wrong.

Suddenly, though, Jack is feeling doubts, which mirrors the feelings of the 24 producers. For five seasons, the show's writers have taken a ends-justify-the-means approach that has condoned torture, racial profiling and the abridgment of all variety of Constitutional rights. Whatever Jack has done, we've known it was for the greater good and he's never failed to do what it took to save the day. But in the sixth of the toughest days of his life, Jack isn't sure he has the stomach for it anymore. And, after a slew of presidents for whom doubt was seen as a sign of weakness, New President Palmer is also a bit uncertain of his moral course.

Actually reviewing the show is nearly pointless by now. The writers and directors working on the first four episodes of the new season are mostly long-time veterans of the show and they know how to deliver basic thrillers and how to gloss all but the worst of logical implausibilities.

I may be the only one who laments some of the technical things the show has abandoned in recent seasons. While still nominally real time, 24 has ceased to care about whether things could really take place in the allotted time, which makes everything seem that much more conventional. In addition, I miss the days when the various split screens served to highlight different perspectives, rather than just being an autopilot aesthetic choice.

The show has also become a bit guest star obsessed to the point of periodic distraction. The first couple episodes highlight familiar faces like Peter MacNicol (almost stripped of his familiar John Cage-ian tics), Kal Penn, Regina King, Harry Lennix and Alexander Siddig. Penn in particular seems totally wasted, in what is becoming a disappointing career trend for a man I have to believe is much more than merely Kumar.

Did anybody really need Eric Balfour's Milo back? Didn't think so. And why didn't somebody realize that having brother-of-presidential presence (which Woodside possesses) is very different from having presidential presence (which Woodside lacks)? 

But as long as 24 has Sutherland doing his intense thing, the show is never rudderless and as long as Mary Lynn Rajskub's Chloe is allowed to survive, 24 has a core of common sense.

The season's first four episodes are sloppy and my attention frequently waned. On the other hand, the fourth episode ends with such a spectacularly 24-esque cliffhanger that I'll be eagerly awaiting the episodes to come, even as I'm rolling my eyes.

After you've seen the episodes check back in and let us know what you thought ...

Comments

it just keeps getting better!

Ken | Jan 16, 2007 4:10:32 PM | #

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The premiere was disappointing, and this review is dead-on. I especially agree with the bits on Eric Balfour, who was dreadfully painful to sit through, and DB Woodside, who really didn't seem to have 'presidential presence'. I found his character a bit unnecessary even last season. Also, the guest stars truly were distracting.
I did really enjoy the ending and Kiefer's believability in showing Jack's doubts.
As for those who say that Mr. Fienberg and everyone else who criticizes the show are not really fans, being a fan doesn't mean you have to blindly accept everything the show feeds you.

Sarah | Jan 16, 2007 7:52:47 PM | #

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I liked the premire. It was sad when Curtis died (do we have any characters left?) but I think its amaizing how the writers keep thinking up new and intreging plots. I hope it doesnt change and that no more good people die. Oh and maybe let Jack have a little bit of happiness every once in a while.

Karen | Mar 13, 2007 2:28:40 PM | #

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