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Sunday, January 11, 2009
1/11: “24” is back tonight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jack Bauer and “24” finally returned tonight after the writers’ strike wiped out last year. The producers actually shot the first eight episodes before the strike but could not finish out the entire season in time last spring. So the show was pushed back a year.
The good news, according to actress Annie Wersching, who came into Atlanta late last week to promote the show, is the writers had time to map out the entire season and finish production before the show even started airing. “It turned out pretty good in the end,” she said.
Wersching (right) plays an FBI agent who takes Bauer out of the Senate hearing where he’s being grilled harshly by a fictional Senator. The Senator is played by Kurtwood Smith, the dude who played Red on “That 70s Show.” You almost expect him to call Jack Bauer a dumbass. Rather, he just thinks the means did not justify the ends when it came to Bauer’s torture methods. Bauer eloquently defends himself before Wersching has him help out with a case which involves the return of Tony Almeda, who Bauer thought had died a couple of seasons earlier in his arms.
She said they did quite a bit of the show on location in Washington D.C. She said they even got to tour the National Counterterrorism Center, the closest to what CTU is on the show. And they were treated like heroes. “It was fascinating,” she said. “They were really excited to meet us. Yet we’re meeting the people we’re pretending to be.” The biggest difference between real life and “24” is how fast people in “24” can get from place to place, she said they told her.
Wersching herself said she’s a “24” geek. She watched the show religiously from season one, not on DVD. “I know all of the show,” she said. “I can’t believe I’m in it!”
The storyline, which involves some atrocities at some fictional African country, isn’t all that compelling and the new characters are mostly cookie-butter boring in the early going. (Wersching’s character does some surprising things, though, in hour four that would make Jack proud.) The bad guys have stolen a special (presumably fictional) device that can control the entire utility grid and the FAA’s air traffic control system. They are threatening to kill many Americans if the U.S. military does not pull out of said African country. The “24” world is a world where the mortgage crisis didn’t happen, the economy didn’t tank, the U.S. did not enter Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s all kind of strange.
The most annoying of the newbies: Janeane Garafalo. She basically plays Chloe’s role but without a modicum of charm. Totally miscast. You basically want to throttle her anxious computer expert self. The new president (played by Cherry Jones) is female, playing her tough yet humane. The First Husband is a ball of paranoia over his son’s mysterious suicide.
Kiefer Sutherland acquits himself sympathetically as usual. He can do this character in a catatonic state and still make him compelling.
So tell me what you think? Was it worth the wait?
And if you were disappointed by the first two hours, the third hour, which is on Monday night, is the best of the four. That’s when a couple of beloved characters do show up from past seasons.
