What I’m Watching: 24 (4-Four Season Premiere)

24: Season 8, Episodes 1-4 “4:00PM-5:00PM,” “5:00PM-6:00PM,” “6:00PM-7:00PM” & “7:00PM-8:00PM” (B-)

If nothing else, this four-hour dose of adrenaline is exciting. “24” used to be the best show on TV, at least in its first season, and seasons five, six, and seven were all pretty dismal and reliably awful. Now, the show has a fresh start in a new city and a new cast to go along with it. It’s still a mixed bag though, but there’s something refreshing about a new storyline and the chance for this show to become good again. The show opening with Jack as a grandfather trying to live a calm and peaceful life was a nice indication that Jack was at least able to achieve that for a bit. The fact that it took the entirety of four full episodes to reel him in is a bit outlandish, but the way everyone talks to him about how he can’t just walk away from doing the right thing transforms him into the legend that people on the show seem to think he is. What’s endlessly frustrating and hopelessly repetitive on this show is the inability of anyone except for Jack and Chloe to ever be right and their inane insistence on not listening to anything anyone says. Would it really hurt for CTU to have a director who actually knew how to do his job? That’s one of the reasons I like Cole, who respects Jack immensely and isn’t afraid to go against his orders to make sure he does the right thing. His speedy move to save President Hassan was impressive, and I’m actually very happy with Freddie Prinze Jr., which is probably the most exciting surprise of the four-hour opener. Unfortunately, Katee Sackhoff isn’t as great, but that’s mostly due to the fact that she couldn’t possibly have a role as good as Starbuck on “Battlestar Galactica.” Still, she was better in her stint on “Bionic Woman,” and that’s saying something. This part deprives her of the ability to use any of her talents and follows along in the tragic tradition of cable stars coming to network television and losing all of their edge (see Diane Farr and Sarah Shahi for recent examples of this). What makes it worse is that she’s saddled with the non-terrorism stupid plot of the season, which apparently involves a jealous ex hellbent on controlling her by threatening to expose her oh-so-secret past. Doesn’t CTU vet its employees before hiring them? A name change would definitely have come back. That’s another thing that is pretty unbelievable about this show that continues to happen over and over. People in high positions of power and with a direct ear to the president of some nation constantly end up being traitors and the ones behind all the plots. The lengths these people go to in order to frame someone else makes it seem like they wouldn’t possibly have time to commit any of the treason they’re up to anyway. Rob catching Ethan popping a pill is a much better and far more interesting subplot, though hopefully they’ll leave it at that and it will just be one powerful, smartly underplayed moment. President Hassan being a good guy is also a great part of the show, and the fact that he’s so involved in everything is great. His stop at CTU, while nowhere near as powerful, reminded me for a minute of when Senator Palmer stopped by CTU in season one to yell at Jack for trying to kill him. Jack really does have an in with people in high places, and his constant threats to tattletale on everyone are pretty hilarious. At least now he’s back on the case, though Renee really did go from not even being mentioned to going undercover in like half an hour, which felt a bit rushed. Obviously all these things couldn’t really happen in a day, but that was pretty crazy. While it’s akin to Jack chopping off a guy’s head with a hacksaw in the season two opener, Renee cutting off her contact’s hand within two minutes of meeting him seems a bit extreme. Haven’t these guys ever heard of Plan A? This season could be pretty fun, as long as Hassan and Cole stay in focus and Renee’s craziness, Dana’s identity crisis, and the stupidity of all who hold a significant office aren’t emphasized too much.