Jack Bauer needs a Vacation

And new writers.

Finally got around to watching 24 last night. It's a measure of how far this television show has fallen that I was able to use the restroom, dig around for soda, and cook myself some pasta with homemade meat sauce without caring if I missed snippets of dialogue here or there. I miss Tony and Michelle. Killing off those characters was criminally irresponsible. For Tony to get taken out by Robocop in such an anticlimactic fashion, and then to not get a silent clock, put 24 on probation before season six even started.

In hindsight, the decision to regurgitate, ad nauseum, the exact same plotlines of prior seasons and have the show take place in CTU LA, again, was disastrous. Everyone wanted the China plotline to be resolved: why'd we have to sit through sixteen hours of yet another unnamed terrrorist group having a nuclear weapon on U.S. soil? This season was just pure, unadulterated, crap. Bad writing, bad acting (the President's cabinet was woeful, and Powers Boothe was over the top evil for his first ten appearances), and bad execution. I understand that given the situation in the Middle East, the producers are reluctant to name the countries involved in 24's plotlines. But, at this point, it's getting ridiculous. Having presidential advisors refer to "the target country", or "Akhmed's country of origin" instead of using the proper name is headache inducing.

Has 24 lost its steam? That actually happened back in season three, but the season four renaissance regained my interest and dragged me into the abysmally stupid season five and the soul crushingly awful season six.

My "WWJBD" bracelet lies cold and forgotten in my closet.