Some problems are best left to a pro.
For Fox, the problem is a ratings collapse, fueled by an aging American Idol and the age-old failure to create new hits. And a stop-gap solution is the temporary, 12-week return of one of its best and most popular series, 24 (*** out of 4; Monday, at 8 ET/PT) , once again produced by Howard Gordon (who has since given us Homeland), and once again starring Kiefer Sutherland.
What that means is that the show and the spy genre it helped revive are in extremely good hands, with Sutherland quickly proving that Jack Bauer's ability to snap necks, and the star's ability to add gravitas to absurd situations, remain intact. There's nothing much new here, but if it seems odd that a series with a real-time structure, split-screen shots and whiplash-inducing twists that once broke the mold now seems to be easing back into it, just chalk it up to the natural side-effects of familiarity and success.
Since its inception, 24 has mirrored our latest security concerns, our then-preferred solutions, and our current feelings toward the people charged with protecting us. While Jack has always been the steady, self-sacrificing hero at the center, the show's view of his methods, and of the competency and ethical morality of those around him, seemed to darken each year of its run.
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