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We're down to the final 5 hours of 24 and they need to take it up a notch.

Starting tonight, it's got to throw some serious plot twists and actions from here on out. Either way, you can expect changes for next season.

Here's a story from the LA Times:

SCOTT COLLINS

LOS ANGELES TIMES
April 30, 2007

JACK BAUER, America's favorite counter-terrorism agent with the violent code of honor and the weird sadomasochistic bent, is squaring off against a stealthy and unforgiving new enemy.

His fans.

After peaking in the ratings last year, Fox's thriller "24" has been getting dumped on by seemingly everyone in this, its sixth season. Critics and fans alike are aiming tomatoes at the stage, carping about the soapy and repetitive plotlines that unspool Jack's unlikely familial past, tiresome romantic triangles in the security bureaucracy and endless bickering among Oval Office advisors.

Last week, with a fresh episode designed to lay the groundwork for what the creators promise will be a typically suspenseful finale next month, "24's" ratings in the key young-adult category swooned to their lowest level in more than three years, with a total audience of just 10.4 million, according to figures from Nielsen Media Research.

More than one-third of viewers have bailed since the special four-hour season premiere that aired over two consecutive nights back in January. And if that wasn't enough bad news for the series, last week "24" was one of the prime-time shows that the Federal Communications Commission singled out in urging Congress to curb TV violence.

The vox populi protests have not escaped the attention of the show's producers, who promise that some big changes are on the way for Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) and other regulars next season. There's also speculation that something else might be at work in accounting for viewers' tune-out this season, but more about that in a minute.

"It hurts to hear the criticism," said executive producer and writer Howard Gordon, who spoke with me last week by phone as the cast and crew crashed to finish shooting the season's final episode, set to air May 21.

"I don't dispute it's been a challenging season to write for us. But it's reinvigorated our determination to reinvent the show. This year could be seen to be the last iteration of it in its current state."

Oh, dear. Reinvention? That does sound ominous. But Gordon says not to worry, as Jack "won't be flipping burgers."

"It won't be a musical or a half-hour," he added. "I've got a couple ideas, none of which I could even begin to share responsibly."

So "24" — the TV institution, to say nothing of the show's ongoing narrative — has at last arrived at a crossroads, and what an odd trip it's been.

Premiering less than two months after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, "24" initially amounted to barely a blip on the pop-culture radar. The premise — each episode unfolding in real time over the course of a single day as Jack races to foil some dastardly conspiracy — sounded gimmicky. And given recent American history, Jack's missions against Middle Eastern bad guys could easily have struck too close to home. (As it is, the show has prompted plenty of complaints for propagating noxious ethnic and religious stereotypes; witness this season's major plot involving a diabolical terrorist overlord named Abu Fayed.)

But Fox stuck by the show, and, thanks in large part to the about-to-explode television DVD market, it steadily grew a fan base that finally made it blossom into true hit-level status sometime during the critically acclaimed and Emmy-winning fifth season.

I always loved "24's" willingness to work without a net, to go to crazy extremes in expanding the thriller format and somehow live to tell the tale — to outLudlum Robert Ludlum, as it were.

But two personal anecdotes brought the show's mass appeal home for me: My 70-something mother-in-law, a rock-ribbed Republican with narrow TV tastes outside of "The O'Reilly Factor," confessed that she never missed "24." And last year, while walking in downtown Burbank, I happened to observe a middle-age man take his female companion's hand and inquire, in a tone of voice at once soothing and conspiratorial, "What do you say we go home, build a fire and watch '24'?"

But the clock is ticking, for fans as well as for Jack Bauer. Longtime devotees are struggling to keep the faith during this trying season.

"The writers have recycled some plots this season that are glaringly obvious: a recording, an almost removed president, an assassination attempt on that president, an attack on a Middle Eastern country, an impending nuclear strike, a person close to Jack kidnapped, etc.," Victor Lana, a novelist who follows "24" for BlogCritics Magazine, wrote in an e-mail. But "the bottom line is that we still care about Jack Bauer."

Meanwhile, with apologies to my mother-in-law, "24's" audience is getting noticeably grayer, typically a sign that a show is losing its purchase on the windy crags of pop culture. According to Brad Adgate, senior vice president at the New York ad firm Horizon Media, the median age is 47.4 so far this season, compared with 45.1 last year and 42 in the 2003-04 season.

Those born with resistance to "24's" charms have noted that in the second and third seasons the show benefited from following "American Idol." Now, though, its scheduling is cutting the other way: In recent weeks the show's Monday lead-in was "Drive," a new cross-country caper that bombed and got yanked last week. (The network hastily replaced it with reruns of "House.")

"We had every hope that 'Drive' would be a good companion to '24' and successor to 'Prison Break.' We were wrong," Fox Entertainment President Peter Liguori told me, adding quickly that he nevertheless believed "24" would bounce back stronger next year.

But Gordon said he and his writing staff were wondering if something else was afoot besides the normal cycles of storytelling and network scheduling.

Could it be that the vague but gnawing post-9/11 fears that helped turn "24" into a hit are ebbing — the nightmares that envisioned great cities laid low by chemical weapons spilled into the water supply, say, or suitcase nukes wielded by shadowy assailants?

"It's something we talked about at the beginning of the season," Gordon said. "9/11 is becoming, quietly, a memory; the memory is starting to fade…. I do think that people are looking at the world differently, with less fear."

If so, that's probably good for America. And alas, that's probably bad for "24." Real-life political tension does wonders for creators of thriller fare. Look how kind the Cold War was to Ludlum and Tom Clancy.

Even so, Gordon sounds optimistic that "24" can recover from its annus horribilis and deliver the goods next season, no matter what changes are ultimately in store for the ever-suffering Jack Bauer.

"Certain tropes of the show will remain the same," Gordon said. "It'll keep its contract with the audience. We'll keep the adrenaline going."

This might have been one of the best episodes of 24 ever. Wow. So many plot twists!

First, President Palmer's brilliant bluff that he was going to nuke the nameless Middle Eastern nation that was helping the terrorists.

Second, Jack and Doyle get hit and Fayed gets away. OK - I knew neither of them were dead-- but that whole sequence played out beautifully.

Third, Fayed gets killed and the bombs recovered. That leaves you wondering - what the heck are they going to do in the final 7 hours of the season? I'll get back to that in a second.

But I've been itching to blog this for weeks: "How did they pick the name of the bad guy? I think it's not just coincidence that his name is Fayed. Didn't we all hate phy ed. when we were kids. I mean who liked wearing those geeky matching uniforms that they made us wear. And the cold showers in a giant privacy-free room and all the towel snapping!

But I digress.

So Jack has killed Fayed and the phone rings-- did anybody guess it like me and my wife! We both looked at each other and said: It's Audrey! Still a great twist even though we all saw it coming...

Now things are going to get interesting! As long as we don't get bogged down with too much of the Milo/Nadia storyline...

Good to see that Peter MacNicol is not a total weasel. He helped out President Palmer big-time (even if he's just doing what he thinks is best for the country).

But then WOW! The President is even worse than the VP. I bet there's not a single viewer that saw that one coming.

I'm not a doctor (and I don't play one on TV), so I'm not sure what adrenaline would do to your system...

And now it looks like Jack is getting shot (like he's going to die or whatever)

Let me preface my remarks by saying I love 24 and will never change my opinion of the show.

But the whole hokey Milo kisses the girl who just 8 episodes made sexual harassment allegations against another male employee was pretty weak.

Let's change the consonants: less kiSSin' and more kiLLin.

Back to the good stuff... I like the way they play games with Ricky Schroeder only to see that he did things the right way,

Wow - I wish I was as tough as President Palmer - out of a coma and on the phone. Next week he's back in charge...

What's up with President Logan? Is he dead? Still bleeding? It's been 2 episodes and not a word...

OK - let me start by stating that I don't really think Audrey is dead. But it poses an interesting question-- how many people is Jack running around seeking vengeance for? Here's a short list that I can recall

1) His wife, Terri

2) President David Palmer

3) Tony Almeida

4) Michelle Dessler

5) Ryan Chapelle (even though he was the one who had to shoot him)

6) Edgar (and his grandma) -- OK, so now I'm reaching... HA!

But that's a solid 4 and a half that I could think of right away (with an assist from The Mole)

Speaking of moles-- who' s letting out information from CTU?  I would love to hear somebody else's theory (I think its Milo -- but not really sure)

Anyway, this show was a great one. Very exciting and moved quickly.

I mean, it took 14 hours (a rough estimate) for somebody to tell Jack his girlfriend was dead? I mean, somebody in passing just couldn't say "I'm sorry about Audrey."?

Powers Boothe is awesome!!! Such a jerk but so believable.

Thoughts? Comments?

OK - it was a knife, not a nail that Martha Logan stuck into her weasely ex-husband Charles Logan. And she may be crazy, but she's got good aim (right in a major artery?)

Anyway, even with all the foreshadowing, that caught me off guard.

Jack's rescue was no suprise and it sets up one of those great episode where Jack goes on the rampage...

Sorry - I don't know what happend to what I thought was my original post-- I must not have clicked to post it...

Maybe Charles Logan has changed...

He warned Jack about his stupid decision: to re-enter another country's Embassy right after spending 2 years in a Chinese prison for the same damn thing.

Any thoughts about the VP who's now running the show  (played beautifully by Powers Boothe). I think he's totally evil and I love him for it.

I can't wait for next week for:

1) The raid on the embassy.

2) The reunion of Logan and his wife

Any thoughts?

Anybody got a guess on the guest who played Morris O'Brian's AA sponsor from the Feb. 26 epdisode? HINT: She stars on another Fox series.

My apologies for the dark photo. It's the best image we could produce here at CTU Milwaukee. 

The much-hyped meet-and-greet between Jack Bauer and former President Charles Logan was all I hoped it would be. Great writing with tension and a total lack of distrust from Jack. I loved the entire exchange.

But I still want to know what's Logan's motivation?

On the "No Way President Palmer is Dead" front, how does this play out from now? Is the former terrorist Hassad dead in the bombing? Or is he-- like one of my workplace co-conspirators things -- alive but will blame the U.S. for trying to kill him. Pretty interesting theory I thnk-- Any thoughts?

And will we ever see Karen Hayes again? She left on a plane for L.A. like 4 episodes (hours  ago) and should be able to come back again if anybody wants that...

Kiefer Sutherland is on the cover of this week's Entertainment Weekly. I did not read the story for fear of future plot information. Here's a thumbnail of the picture.