Bob Gunton, Cherry Jones, James Morrison, 24
This Monday, Fox's 24 delivers double the Bauer with a two-hour event kicking off at 8 pm/ET. The occasion? None other than the disgruntled General Juma's extremely bold attack on a Washington, D.C., landmark.
Indeed, just when you thought 24 had attempted it all, the writers push that envelope just a bit more. And further ratcheting the tension? Savior-by-trade Jack Bauer is thrown behind bars at a critical juncture.
"We're so proud of these [episodes]," executive producer Howard Gordon shares with TVGuide.com. "We've been looking forward to this week."
Gordon says the two-hour outing serves a specific purpose, in that it ...
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Kiefer Sutherland by Amy Sussman/ Getty Images for Fox
Not that 24 fans needed to be made more excited/impatient for the long-delayed Season 7, Kiefer Sutherland at Fox's upfront presentation promised truly super-Bauered times ahead — and in a way, you have the WGA-AMPTP feud to thank for it. "After so many postponements, I can assure you that none of us at 24 took for granted the significance of this upcoming season," the series star-producer said. "But the time allowed us to do something that has never been done before — create a map of the entire season before we started shooting. So I can tell you without hesitation, I know for a fact, that Season 7 is going to be the best season yet."What's more, Sutherland — who leaves for South Africa in a few weeks to begin filming the two-hour 24 movie airing Nov. 23 — says the real-time "prequel" to Day 7 will be a good time as well. "[Writer-executive producer] Howard Gordon is most proud of this [script] of anything he's done," Sutherland shared. "I can't tell you how exc...
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Kiefer Sutherland by Kelsey McNeal/Fox
Last spring, when ratings for 24 began to nose-dive along with President Bush's approval ratings, producers decided to address the backlash against their protagonist, whose tendency to torture terrorism suspects hit too close to home. "The fear and wish fulfillment the show represented after 9/11 ended up boomeranging against us," head writer Howard Gordon tells the Wall Street Journal. "We were suddenly facing a blowback from current events."Gordon says the original Season 7 "fix" would have found Jack building houses for orphans in Africa, doing "penance… for things he's done in his life." This scenario also would have marked the first time 24 deviated from its real-time structure, since returning Jack to the U.S. would have demanded a transcontinental flight. Ultimately, Fox rejected the Africa concept, claiming it was too far afield from the show's identity.Although producers ultimately settled on a different Season 7 storyline, it's still not clear if/when we'll be seeing ...
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Kiefer Sutherland by Kelsey McNeal/Fox
Let's face it — 24 simply ain't what it used to be. Granted, living up to last season's benchmark was a near-impossible feat, but still... this season has been lambasted by many for being highly derivative of "days" gone by and even harder to believe than expected. Addressing the backlash, executive producer Howard Gordon tells the Los Angeles Times, "It hurts to hear the criticism," then goes on to say that such words which haven't killed Jack Bauer will only make him stronger next time around. "It's been a challenging season to write... but it's reinvigorated our determination to reinvent the show," says Gordon. "This year could be... the last iteration of its current state."What sort of "reinvention" does Gordon have in mind? "I've got a couple of ideas, none of which I could even begin to share responsibly," he says. "[But] it won't be a musical." So much for ever hearing "It Had to Be CTU (Bauer's Ballad)."How would you "fix" 24? Vote in our new poll.
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• ABC ordered a quintet of pilots on Tuesday, including The Call, a single-camera comedy from 24 gurus Joel Surnow, Bob Cochran and Howard Gordon, and focusing on "two offbeat L.A. paramedics who save people's lives while messing up each other," says Variety. The series is likened to a mash-up of Emergency!, M*A*SH and Seinfeld — but not Saved. No, not a hint of Saved. Also greenlit by ABC: Sam I Am, in which a woman awakens from a coma with amnesia, yet determined to atone for her supposed bad-girl past, and The Middle, a dysfunctional-family sitcom fancied as "Roseanne meets Little Miss Sunshine."• Fox has added SNL alum Cheri Oteri and That '70s Show's Kurtwood Smith to the voice cast of The Life and Times of Tim, and ordered the pilot Deeply Irresponsible, in which an uptight family is shaken up when their free-spirited grandpa moves in.
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When Fox's 24 celebrated the Season 5 DVD release on Monday night in Hollywood, TVGuide.com was there to procure the following bits of Season 6 intel:— Exec producer Howard Gordon told us that although he got a call about Kim Raver's availability the instant ABC put The Nine on hiatus, the actress has yet to film any scenes. At this point, Audrey would not put in her first appearance until mid-season, as Gordon says there are no plans to post-tape.— Emmy nominee Jean Smart was tight-lipped about the circumstances of the disgraced First Couple's return: "You haven't seen the last of the Logans, that's all I can say. I think it was hard [to have us back], but they figured out a way to touch on that [story] a bit."— Carlo Rota, who plays Chloe's ex-husband, revealed, "I'm back in a rather large way. They’ve written a fantastic story arc for Morris. I couldn't be more thrilled the way in which they've developed this character." As for leading lady Mary Lynn Rajskub, ...
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24 cocreators Robert Cochran, Joel Surnow and Howard Gordon have secured a pilot commitment from Fox for NSA Innocent, about an average joe recruited to spy for the NSA.... Also per Variety: CBS has spent seven figures on a pilot for a U.S. adaptation of BBC's Viva Blackpool, a "mystery-musical miniseries" about a small-time casino owner who tries to launch a Las Vegas resort. Hugh Jackman will exec-produce the series and guest in the pilot.... ABC is eyeing a drama centered on the post-Katrina New Orleans police force. NBC already has a Spike Lee-penned NoLa in the works for next fall.
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Veronica Mars' Kristen Bell
For months, many of you have been hounding me to increase Ask Ausiello to two times a week. And now, at last, your wish has been… well, not granted, exactly, but at least considered. As a result, I present you with the next best thing: an Ausiello Report dedicated to answering six of the biggest questions in the TV world (that I have answers to). Think of it as a mini-Ask Ausiello without so much legwork or typing on my part.
Has UPN canceled Veronica Mars?In a word, no. In another word, phew. But fans were understandably reaching for their Xanax stash when an official-looking press release began circulating around the Web Thursday claiming, "UPN has announced the cancellation of cult classic Veronica Mars." Turns out the whole thing was a big, nasty, cruel, heinous, unfunny hoax. But that's not to say there isn't cause for concern. Wednesday's
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Question: Do you have anything big on 24?
Answer: Well, this will be big, provided Fox can pull it off. Exec producer Howard Gordon tells me he wants to take the show on the road — i.e., outside Los Angeles — next season. "We flirted with going to London last year for six episodes," he says. "Not with Kiefer necessarily, but to tell another story in another part of the globe. That's something that I would really love to try to do next year."
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Jean Smart, 24
Jean Smart wants to make a cheesy little movie called "All the Scenes I'd Really Like to See on 24."
"Wouldn't it be fun to find President Logan floating in the moat around the western White House?" jokes Smart, who plays Martha Logan, the show's unhinged first lady whose motto ought to be: Just Say Yes... to Prescription Medication. "Or — here's one! — we see Logan coming out of Martha's closet in a little Chanel dress with high heels!"
Smart and her presidential costar, Gregory Itzin, need to "fill in the blanks with our characters," she says, because 24's producers, eager to maintain dramatic tension, "don't want us to know a thing about where our characters came from or where the hell
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