24 may be back soon.

[Fl_Gulfer]

Jack Bauer may be returning to TV screens much sooner than first expected.

Word is that Fox and '24' producers are developing a two-hour 'prequel' to the upcoming seventh season of the hit show. The movie will be designed to bridge the, what has now been, a two-year gap between Season 6 and 7, and also look to bring in new viewers to the real-time drama.

'24' was one of the first casualties of the writers' strike, after Fox said it would not air any episodes of the show until it could guarantee the season could air without interruption. With only eight episodes filmed before the strike, the seventh season was pushed back to 2009.

Star Kiefer Sutherland took the downtime during the strike to serve his 48-day jail sentence for a drunk driving charge, but was still swamped with fan mail in prison, receiving more than 100 letters a day.

The upcoming seventh season is set in Washington, features the first female U.S. president, and presumably does not include the familiar backdrop of the CTU. Production on the remaining episodes will begin next month.

http://www.tvshark.com/read/?art=arc1552

[appleye1]

Word is that Fox and '24' producers are developing a two-hour 'prequel' They'll call it '2'. Right? :)

[Mike10]

I have read a few articles that said it would air in the fall

[spikedavis]

Tell Me Who You Work For!!

[cwoody222]

I have read a few articles that said it would air in the fall

I think because of the Christmas and New Year's holidays they refuse to air it in the Fall. Because they'd either have to run episodes over that 2 week period (what?! and destroy rerun tradition! never!) or take a break which they don't want to do.

Stupid reason, but I think that's why Spring is the only thing they consider.

[Indiana627]

Done deal.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3ib9ecd214eaeda2c0d0d56a2af0af12c8

[jeff125va]

Why do they need to bridge the gap? I assume that season 7 is the same one they already filmed the first however many episodes they had completed before the strike started, right? I wonder if people will suddenly look like they're a year older some time during the middle of the season. In any case, presumably S7 would have started in January without this gap-bridging movie, so why do they need it now? Or are they not just sticking with the episodes already in the can?

And will the movie be set over a two-hour period or a 24-hour period? I can't imagine it would be anything other than one of those.

[SoBelle0]

I think because of the Christmas and New Year's holidays they refuse to air it in the Fall. Because they'd either have to run episodes over that 2 week period (what?! and destroy rerun tradition! never!) or take a break which they don't want to do.

Stupid reason, but I think that's why Spring is the only thing they consider.

I think maybe Mike means the movie in the Fall, the show starts in Jan - right? That's what the article states...

Thanks for the info! I have really been missing this show - and look forward to suspending all realities and disbelief, to get to the goodness that is Jack Bauer. :)

[gchance]

Why do they need to bridge the gap? I assume that season 7 is the same one they already filmed the first however many episodes they had completed before the strike started, right? I wonder if people will suddenly look like they're a year older some time during the middle of the season. In any case, presumably S7 would have started in January without this gap-bridging movie, so why do they need it now? Or are they not just sticking with the episodes already in the can?

And will the movie be set over a two-hour period or a 24-hour period? I can't imagine it would be anything other than one of those.

Two reasons, both extremely valid.

- Money. 24 on the air makes more money than 24 off the air.
- Making viewers happy. For a change, FOX has made it very clear they want to make 24 viewers happy, which is why they didn't show a partial season to begin with. They feel viewers will tune out and be upset if they split the saeson. But they do want the viewers, so a prequel fits the bill.

Look at it this way. The last two seasons in a row, they've filmed 10-minute sequels for the DVD sets. This is the same thing, but 2 hours. I don't see the problem with it.

Do you want FOX to burn in hell?

Greg

[jeff125va]

Two reasons, both extremely valid.

- Money. 24 on the air makes more money than 24 off the air.
- Making viewers happy. For a change, FOX has made it very clear they want to make 24 viewers happy, which is why they didn't show a partial season to begin with. They feel viewers will tune out and be upset if they split the saeson. But they do want the viewers, so a prequel fits the bill.

Look at it this way. The last two seasons in a row, they've filmed 10-minute sequels for the DVD sets. This is the same thing, but 2 hours. I don't see the problem with it.

Do you want FOX to burn in hell?

Greg

That makes sense, and I didn't mean it as a complaint. I was just thinking "why" in terms of the story. Is it just sort of "bonus" information like you're basically saying, or is it going to answer questions that we would have had if they'd just started the season two months ago with presumably the same episode that will be on in January 2009? Would we have realized that there's a gap that needs to be filled? I can't even remember how the last season ended, but thinking back to the season after President Palmer was poisoned by Mandy shaking his hand, there definitely was a big gap with the start of the next season where he was all fine and dandy. But it didn't really affect the next season or anything, we just had to live without those questions ever really being answered. I guess the bottom line is how critical is the movie going to be to the following season, or is it just stand-alone filler stuff?

No, at least not for this. :-)

[gchance]

Well seeing as they know what's happening, they could have a cliffhanger ending to the movie which leads into the next season.

Also without giving away spoilers for next season (that are available all over the web for the asking, and discussed earlier on TCF as well), I can say that there are certain elements of the next season that didn't exist in the prior one that could use some 'splainin. I can mention them in spoiler tags if you want, but I would assume these things would be covered in the movie.

Greg

[SoBelle0]

Spoiler me, Greg!! ;)

I've not read anything about the upcoming season, as I didn't think I wanted to know... I've changed my mind! :)

[gchance]

Hehe, okay, you asked. :) It's really not that big a deal but could easily make for a 2-hour plot.

CTU's been dismantled and Jack Bauer is on trial concerning the activities we've seen during the series, in particular, the torture of a terrorist who targeted a bus of 45 people. I remember the bus, don't remember the torture. :) There's also a woman president. The big spoiler that's in the preview of course is the return of Tony Almeida. My guess is the movie would cover some generic crisis, culminating with the dismantling of CTU and a cliffhanger with Tony. Or something.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_(season_7) for spoilers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0KtyHCuAtA is the official trailer if you haven't seen it. The best part of the whole trailer is when it says, "This January." Yeahhhhh.

Greg

[SoBelle0]

Sweet! Thanks!

The trailer was great - I had half the office in here... sooo exciting!

[gchance]

Sure, no problem. So at my count, that makes 5 people from Robocop in 24:

Peter Weller - Christopher Henderson, S5
Ray Wise - Vice President Hal Gardner, S5
Paul McCrane - Graem Bauer, S5/S6
Jesse D. Goins (tricky one here) - S1, Secret Service Agent

And of course now:

Kurtwood Smith - as yet unnamed Senator

Of course some of those are likely because Manny Coto is a producer. :)

Greg

[Langree]

Tell Me Who You Work For!!

:up::up:

[gchance]

OH DEAR GOD, NO!!!!!!!!!!

I gave you the Wikipedia reference but hadn't read the whole thing myself. It says Brannon Braga has joined the writing staff!

So here you have Manny Coto, who could have saved Star Trek but wasn't given enough opportunity, and Brannon Braga, who threw it away willy-nilly.

God save us all.

Greg

[Langree]

OH DEAR GOD, NO!!!!!!!!!!

I gave you the Wikipedia reference but hadn't read the whole thing myself. It says Brannon Braga has joined the writing staff!

So here you have Manny Coto, who could have saved Star Trek but wasn't given enough opportunity, and Brannon Braga, who threw it away willy-nilly.

God save us all.

Greg

So much for 24.. that is sad news.

[aindik]

The timeline for 24 could use some slowing down. Assuming Season 1 took place in the "present," i.e., in 2001 or 2002 when it aired, Season 6 took place four or five years into the future.

S1: Assume March of 2002 (California presidential primary), aired November 2001-May 2002
S2: 18 months later (September 2004), aired October 2002-May 03
S3: 36 months later (September 2007), aired October 2003-04
S4: 18 months later (March 2009), aired January 2005-May 2005
S5: 18 months later (September 2010), aired January 2006-May 2006
S6: 20 months later (May 2012), aired January 2007-May 2007

If S7 takes place 18 months after S6, that's still way into the future even if it airs 24 months after S6 aired.

[Fl_Gulfer]

Tony will tear off his mask and it will be Leslie Nielson.