Kiefer Sutherland needn't have bothered dropping those oh-so-obvious hints in the entertainment press that the days may be numbered for special agent Jack Bauer, the character he plays on the Fox action series "24."
After watching tonight's third-season premiere, many viewers may well conclude that the hours are numbered for Jack.
As the show begins, we see Bauer -- who was a pillar of physical and emotional strength just two seasons ago -- now looking like a complete wreck. He's sweating and shaking from some unrevealed condition, he snaps at everyone around him at Counter-Terrorism Unit headquarters, and worst of all, he insists everything is OK.
"24" continues to distinguish itself as the most original show on television -- although much has changed in the three years that we're told have passed since the end of Season 2. For one thing Bauer now has a protege, played by James Badge Dale. Jack's daughter, Kimberly (Elisha Cuthbert), has joined CTU, as have a few others who are supposedly seasoned counter-terrorism experts, though none of them looks a day over 30.
Meanwhile, President David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert), who was last seen writhing on the sidewalk in what appeared to be his death throes, appears to be alive and well.
In tonight's premiere, which aired at 9 p.m. ET on Fox, he has returned to Los Angeles, where he received that toxic handshake from a terrorist in last season's cliffhanger finale. Just his luck, L.A. is about to become a terrorist target once again, this time of a deadly virus that could wipe out millions before the government is able to come up with an antidote.
Now Palmer has to decide whether to stay there or duck out of a scheduled debate with his opponent in the coming election. In addition, though Palmer survived last season, there are hints that his marriage did not. First lady Sherry is nowhere to be seen in the first hour.
And that's as much as I'll disclose about this season. Once again it will adhere to a unique format in which one hour of TV time equals one hour of actual time and 24 episodes compose a single -- albeit unbelievably action-packed -- day in the life of Bauer and company.
Two years ago I worried that the novelty of real-time storytelling might wear thin. But now I see the advantage of it. Characters on conventional dramas must stay frozen in time to go through the same motions week after week. (Other than his partners at work and in bed, what really has changed for Andy Sipowicz in 10 years?)
On "24," by contrast, characters can undergo radical change because they are tethered to the clock and the calendar. Recall that 18 months passed between the end of "24's" first and second seasons. This summer the gap was twice that.
Among other things, this allowed Kim Bauer to do some much-needed growing up.
Poor Kim! Everyone wanted her dead, including most of the people who watch "24." But her first appearance in tonight's episode is a scene calculated to persuade those viewers that maybe, just maybe, Kim has toughened up and won't be playing the damsel in distress any more. We'll see about that.
We'll also see whether Sutherland's recent declaration that Jack should've been killed off last season proves prophetic. That would certainly be a bold move. It would give the show's creators and mad geniuses, Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow, even more freedom to reshape CTU. And it would cement "24's" reputation as the Show That Keeps You Guessing.
But it would also deny prime time its most compelling dramatic figure (sorry, Emmy, it wasn't Tony Soprano). Though it is TV's least conventional drama, even "24" needs a star at its center, and Sutherland is undeniably that.
