24 Returns: Jack is Back.

January 16, 2007

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He’s beaten, he’s worn down, he’s not the man he used to be. But Jack Bauer is back for the sixth worst day of his life. And this one is really, really bad.

Fox once again presented “24” with a special 2-night, 4-hour (get it … 2-4?) premiere. The network has wisely held the series to a beginning-of-the-year debut the past three years preferring to show all 24 episodes on a weekly basis without a break. It has also started each season with a major event: The broadcast of the first four hours over two nights, literally jump-starting the new season. This showcases the show in a format fans have become accustomed to seeing in the DVD boxed sets, viewing multiple episodes in one evening.

(Creators of “Lost”, “Heroes”, et. al. are you paying attention?)

As premieres go, this two-night total emersion into the life of Jack Bauer at first lacked the power of the season five premiere in 2006, which started with a literal bang: The assassination of former President David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert), an integral star of the series for its first four seasons.

Season five ended with Jack kidnapped by the Chinese for something he did in season four. (Yes, it’s complicated.) For season six, when we first see him he is bearded, bedraggled and been gone for almost twenty months. He’s back for a specific reason: He’s part of a terrorist demand to stop a series of attacks in the United States. That terrorist, Abu Fayed (Adoni Maropis), wants Jack for killing his brother years ago.

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