24: Again! Again!

Fox has just renewed 24 for two more seasons, which means that Jack Bauer will be screaming himself hoarse through at least 2009. I've said this earlier this week, but it bears repeating: it doesn't matter if they change up the format, as long as they bring some variety to the plotlines. Stop making the show so predictable. Stop making it so easy for us to play 24 Bingo at home. Stop writing the scripts like they're Mad Libs. Stop ripping yourselves off. Of course it's to be expected that in its sixth year, a show is going to be a little stale and repetitive. But this season is ridiculous. Think of all the plot points that have been recycled from previous seasons: the teenage terrorist next door, the invoking of the 25th Amendment, the CTU agent helping the terrorists to save the woman he loves, the woman sent to entrap her enemy agent lover, the invasion of CTU, the invasion of an embassy, Jack cutting off digits, Jack being targeted by a terrorist looking for revenge for the death of a family member…. When 24 began, it was entirely original, like nothing we'd ever seen before. But now we can't say that, because we have five other seasons to compare it to, and those five seasons all did this season's plotlines better than this season did. 24 should be suspenseful, and that's difficult to achieve when a sense of déjà vu pervades every episode.

So, yes, shake things up next season, and the next. Shake whatever you can up. Get out of this rut. And for the love of Jack, get out of the White House. The only time the presidential scenes have ever been interesting was last season, when the president was evil. (Which reminds me: are we ever getting closure on Logan?)