So the season is over and we must wait once again until January for Jack to get back in action. Until then, we have a few months do think about whether or not this show is on its way out, so to speak.

Let’s face it: this season was disappointing. In fact, for me it was really disappointing. However I can’t really get mad at the producers of the show. After all, there’s only so much you can do with the show’s format and premise. Generally speaking, every major form of terrorism has been explored on the show:

(Season 1) - Assasination/kidnapping
(Season 2) - Nuclear bomb
(Season 3) - Biological virus
(Season 4) - Nuclear meltdown/nuclear warheads
(Season 5) - Nerve gas/assasination/world war
(Season 6) - Nuclear bombs/world war

Also, the real-time format is restricting. Only major threat plots like the ones listed above are worthy of an “every-minute-counts” treatment. Even so, the show stretched reality several times in order to make the show work.

Another problem: nearly everyone Jack cares about has died. The only ones left are Chloe and Audrey. And Chloe has pretty much exhausted her character’s value to the show. We’ve all had enough of her. And more than that, all the new characters that have been introduced have not come close to matching the veterans in connecting with the audience.

So all this is to say that the writers have done the best with what they’ve had. Some shows aren’t wired to go 15 seasons. But let’s get specific on the problems with Season 6:

Bad Characters

This season was a wasteland for character development. Did anyone come to care about any of the characters besides Jack and Audrey? Negative. I think the worst of the bunch was definitely Wayne Palmer. Ugh. Let’s even look past the improbability of a 35-year-old-shaved-head-and-gotee-sporting-dude-who’s-assasinated-brother-was-also-president getting elected to office. But besides that - D.B. Woodside (the actor) did a incredibly poor job. It’s not all his fault. He played his character pretty consistently with other seasons, but Wayne Palmer just isn’t a presidential type of guy. And I think the writers figured this out pretty early on in the season, which may have been the reason he was written out of the plot for most of the second half of the season.

And it doesn’t get much better. Ricky Schroder as Mike Doyle was pretty bad too. He had potential, but his performance never improved. He ended up just another 24 newbie that people couldn’t connect with. To solidify his status, he delivered some truly cheesy lines in the finale - “Get ‘em Jack. Get ‘em.”

The list goes on: Nadia Yassir, Abu Fayed, Josh Bauer, Dmitri Gredenko, Marilyn Bauer (really bad), Lisa Miller — all sub-par characters who had to deliver some truly sub-par lines, which brings me to:

Bad Writing

I don’t know what was going on in those writing sessions, but it seemed to me like they were sleeping on the job. You could literally take the scripts from the previous season of 24 and regurgitate them into what we got this season. Nothing new. Nothing exciting. Actually, to be honest, the 4-hour season premier was dang good stuff. But they completely ran out of gas after that. And why am I surprised? What else can you do after a nuke goes off? There’s not much to work with after that. Regardless, the writers were simply out of ideas and completely uncreative. They simply tried to stick with a formula that had already been exhausted.

The plot overall was weak too. Suitcase nukes? Ok, but that was pretty much what Season 2 and 4 were about. We’ve done nuclear. I know there’s not much more threatening than that, but that’s your job as a writer — to keep it interesting. I think they should have followed the plot that was the backstory for the premier. Muslim terrorists were suicide bombing all over the U.S.! Now that’s a plot that’s fresh, exciting, and very relevant, which makes it all the more threatening. Why didn’t they go with that? Islamic terror should still be a major player in this show. It’s the most serious threat in the world these days. I understand the political correctness of not wanting to stick with that, but still — its relevant and it cuts to the core of the audience’s mind, which makes for a successful show. Not to mention that we Americans could use a good reminder about the seriousness of the threat of Islamic terror, but I digress…

On the bright side of things, the season actually ended very well…..very melancholy. The 2 hour premier was pretty lame overall, but the last 15 minutes was superb. Kiefer’s final scene made every other actor on the show look like soap stars. His scene was so good, that it nearly erased from my memory how average this season was. It gave me hope when I had been fed up with bad acting and lousy, useless dialogue. It made me root for Jack even though he’s facing challeneges from both the terrorists and the producers.

What’s Next for Jack

So all of Jack’s friends and loved ones are dead. Except for Chloe, who I bet will not be back next season (since she found out she was pregnant in the finale). And there’s Audrey, who’s psyche has been fried from Chinese torture. Plus, her dad won’t let Jack be a part of her life anymore, and in the finale we see that Jack understands and submits to his wishes.

So Jack is completely and entirely alone now. He’s still probably wanted by the Chinese, so he can’t exactly get a condo on the beach. He’ll have to either go back in hiding or, more likely in my opinion, get the Chinese thing straightened out since the government owes him big time, and he’ll start a new life, probably with a new job. C.T.U. and Jack Bauer need to break up. The gov’t is always screwing up Jack’s methods and they don’t appreciate what he does anyways.

Of course, my predictions have something to go on. The producers of the show have publically acknowledged that this season has been tough and they have announced that a radical change will need to take place next season in order for the show to keep working. That’s all the info we’re given, but to me that spells the end of C.T.U. and possibly even dropping the whole “terrorist-fighting” thing.

The fact is, Jack needs to get away from it all. Kind of like he did in Season 4, but instead of him going back to help C.T.U. out of a bind again, he needs to stay away from that and stick with something else. The question is, what else can a guy like Jack Bauer do? He’s not going to be selling insurance. He’s an action hero. He needs to be fighting someone.

If it were up to me, I’d have him go back into special ops or some kind of foreign spy program. Jack doesn’t have any ties in L.A. anymore (unless Kim has a change of heart). I think it would be great to see him fighting off terror plots in eastern Europe or the Middle East.

Another option would be to have him go undercover in a terrorist sleeper cell in the States. I stole this concept from the show Sleeper Cell that Katy and I have started watching. It would be interesting to see Jack have his morality tested as he tries to keep his cover with terrorists, forcing him to allow and maybe even participate in some really bad stuff. That would be a pretty dark plot, but very interesting to me.

The Status of the Show

Many think that 24 has peaked and there’s no sign of it returning to its former glory. I have to be honest and say that this is probably true. 6 years is a great run for a TV show and especially good for a show with as many restrictions as 24. I just can’t imagine characters as good as David Palmer, Terri & Kim Bauer, Nina Myers, and Tony & Michelle will ever develop again on the show. And I think we’ve seen Jack at the end of his rope. There’s really nothing that can push him further. He’s been maxed out.

But I’m willing ot be optimistic still. I’m willing to be very supportive of the “new direction” the show takes next year, whatever it is. Even if Jack’s selling insurance, I’m going to see this series through until the bitter end. I’ve been a fan for 6 years and I’m not gonna bail just because they missed the mark this time. We owe Jack more than that. So now the wait begins until we see what happens to Jack. Still looking forward to it.