Pilot Review: 24: Legacy

24: Legacy (FOX)
Premiered February 5 at 10:30pm

I’m not sure whether to classify this is a pilot or a season premiere, but, sadly, it’s a shadow of a once-great thriller and therefore should be considered as part of that original show. Granted, it’s not as bad as “Heroes Reborn,” partially because “Heroes” was never as good as “24” was in its first season, but it doesn’t have much to recommend it. Now, I should note that the first season of “24” was incredible, seasons two through four were pretty good, and everything after that was absolute garbage which pretty much defines jumping the shark, over and over and over again. What we have here is an attempt to reboot a show that signed off long after it stopped being engaging, and it’s back without its best asset, Kiefer Sutherland, love him or hate him. The real-time aspect is cool, sure, but when it’s a truncated twelve-season episode that doesn’t actually chronicle a day, the appeal is reduced considerably. The bigger problem is that the story is far from intelligent, and it’s only thrilling because there are people running around with guns and the music is fast-paced. We’ve gone from Jack Bauer insisting that people had to trust him to Corey Hawkins’ Eric Carter deciding that he’s the only one who can trust. In such an insular world, it’s hard to get attached to anyone. There are a few familiar faces in the cast, like Miranda Otto playing a somewhat similar role to the one she played on “Homeland” last year, Jimmy Smits, Dan Bucatinsky, and Teddy Sears. I think it’s probably better than I don’t start watching this show, but given my initial enthusiasm for “24,” I’m going to give it at least one more hour.

How will it work as a series? Just in this first episode, there have been at least a dozen people executed for no reason, which doesn’t make this storyline inviting, we have a poor student-teacher-terrorist plotline, and Otto’s Rebecca essentially did the same thing to the head of CTU that Jack did in the first-ever hour of the original show. That doesn’t suggest much potential for strength and quality in the future.
How long will it last? The reviews aren’t great, but that’s partially because I don’t think anyone was really clamoring for a reboot of this show after it went off the air less than a decade ago. Sutherland’s absence doesn’t help. Scoring the headline “lowest-rated post-Super Bowl debut in years” doesn’t recommend its enduring nature, and performing equally unimpressively in its time slot premiere in episode two is bad news too. Twelve episodes will be all this show gets.

Pilot grade: D

What I’m Watching: 24 (Series Return)

24: Season 9, Episodes 1 and 2 “Day 9: 11:00am-12:00pm” and “Day 9: 12:00pm-1:00pm” (B-)

There are a number of shows recently that are being revived years after they ended and recommissioned for new episodes. In many cases, it’s hard to believe that this or that show is the one that netted enough attention to merit a revival. With this show, however, it’s different. By the time it went off the air back in 2010 after eight seasons and nearly two hundred hours, this show had burnt out most of its original energy and creativity. It was nonetheless a blast to watch, and it would be difficult to find anyone who didn’t find the notion of watching more “24” at least a little bit exciting. Set four years after Jack went on the run following his express act of treason, this show picks up in a world in which CTU is just a distant memory and Jack is a wanted fugitive. This show does like to keep its Presidents in the family, and therefore it’s former Secretary of Defense Heller’s turn in the Oval Office, though he happens to have a debilitating and continually worsening memory and mental state. Kim Raver’s Audrey is back too, this time with a new last name and a new husband, in the form of Tate Donovan’s Chief of Staff, who hates Jack with a fiery passion. The other returning faces are none other than Chloe O’Brian and our very own Jack Bauer.

Having Jack back on TV comes with the same stipulations and suspension of disbelief that was crucial to enjoying this show in the first place. Jack doesn’t even speak for most of the first episode, and it’s to be understood that as soon as he is in custody, much like Nina before him, nothing anyone can try to do to stop him can control or contain him. Contrary to popular belief, he does not possess superpowers, yet he certainly acts like he does. It was great fun to watch Jack overwhelm his escorts and look at the camera with that token look of his, and to see that Chloe was a prisoner in the Special Activities division and immediately understand what was going to happen next. But the fact that he managed to get into a secure facility and break his way out within minutes – an instance of this show’s real-time format working against its believability – is purely ridiculous. That only Yvonne Strahovski’s disgraced Kate Morgan can deduce what Jack is up to, and exactly that, for the record, is equally preposterous, especially considering her conveniently familiar story of not knowing that the person she loved was a spy. I don’t see how Jack is going to be able to convince anyone that he’s trying to save Heller’s life when everyone believes the opposite, but I guess that’s the point. Michelle Fairley from “Game of Thrones” seems like a formidable villain, and hacking drones to use against the very army that’s supposed to be controlling them is an intriguing storyline.

Basically, I know what to expect with this show, and most other people do too. Will it be completely over-the-top and unbelievable? Yes. Will it be a blast at the same time? I think so.

What I’m Watching: 24

24: Season 8, Episode 21 “12:00PM-1:00PM” (F)

I’m very much looking forward to all of this nonsense being done with once this show is over. It’s really at such an irreparable and irrecoverable point where there’s no hope of it achieving any quality for the rest of its run. I’m not addressing anything specifically but rather the show as a whole. Bringing Meredith Reed, a character who had some duplicitous, weird, unexplained connection to President Hassan, back into the plot of the show at this point feels a bit strange, but I suppose there needs to be something going on to keep Jack hungry for blood. Now that he’s spouting lines like “see you in hell,” he clearly has no regard for the life he’s living and he’ll on go on killing people until he’s done what he thinks he needs to do in order to exert justice. Cutting the SIM card out of the guy’s stomach after violently murdering him was even more extreme than most of the things he’s done before, and I have a strong feeling that it won’t be the craziest thing he does before the show goes off the air in less than two weeks. Regarding the revelation of the identity of the person who called the Russian Jack killed, haven’t we been here before, with Logan being behind everything? Is this a twist or just what we’ve known all along ever since Logan showed up? I can’t even sort it all out, and I really don’t think I want to. Another quick note to newbie Cole – it’s not a good idea to say to someone, “so you’re involved in the cover-up.” That usually leads to death. Watch your back, Cole.