Post-24 Depression

Sigh. Well, it's mid-May, and Jack Bauer has yet again saved the world, the U.S., California, Los Angeles, a bus full of nuns, a cute kitten that got stuck in a tree, a 3-2 Dodger win over the Giants, and 15% by switching to Geico. Seriously, is there anything you can't do, Jack Bauer?

But now, Grego is left with a hole in his heart as he sees his favorite TV hero...(omitted for spoilers). 24 has long been my must-see TV show, and those who have called me in the past during that time know that nothing disturbs my weekly date with Jack Bauer. But now I must wait until January for the new season of 24 and an as-yet unknown time in 2008 for Battlestar Galactica.

For those who missed Day Six, it revolved around five missing suitcase nukes. The day is prefaced by weeks of violence and suicide bombings in the US at the hand of Muslim extremists. I won't go into too much detail for those who plan on watching it on DVD or MySpace (which I thought was ingenious on FOX's part), but I enjoyed the season for the most part. There were parts of it I thought were unforgivable (Curtis...WTF?), and at times it tried too hard and forsook development for more action (12 hours to see your first explosion in Day One vs. 12 seconds in Day Six), but it definitely got better as the season developed.

It reminded me a lot of Day Three. In it, there was a viral scare and the writers tried far, far, far too many plot twists throughout the day (Jack's heroin habit?). They ended up cleaning house and introducing an almost new cast for Day Four (my favorite), and I can see the same thing happening for Day Seven.

I definitely see a new cast, and possibly a new non-LA location. Hmm? Any takers? Or is LA destined to be the #1 terrorist target for the seventh season in a row? Seriously, how does CTU Los Angeles continue to get funding? Not only do they make their employees work 24-hour shifts (where's the night shift in all this?), but with all the leaks, the attacks, the moles, and infiltrations, shouldn't we be evaluating CTU's effectiveness? And how much has LA's population dropped over the course of these six days (which I would guess is around nine or ten years).

I'm not sure where they'll go with the next season, but I think Jack Bauer killing some terrorists in new scenery would do him well. Those questions will be answered in time. Until we meet again, Jack Bauer, vaya con dios; you will be missed (until I start rewatching Day Four. Heart.).