BuzzSugar

"24" Returns January 13 - With Tony

BuzzSugar — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:15:37 PDT

When is that again?
"24" will be starting right back up with a two-night season premiere starting on Sunday January 13 from 8:00-10:00 PM and continuing on Monday January 14 from 9:00-10:00 PM.

And what's this about Tony?
According to a Fox press release, "Day 7" will begin like this: "With CTU dismantled, the show's setting moves to Washington, DC, where Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) faces trial for his actions in the pursuit of justice. Bauer's day gets off to a shocking start when former colleague Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard), last seen in 'Day 5,' returns after being left for dead by a terrorist conspirator in CTU's infirmary." Tony's back!

Will you be watching?
It's a bit of a ways off, but I'm cautiously excited for this next season of "24." It lost me - along with plenty of other viewers, from what I can tell - this past season, so I'm hoping it can only go up from here.

Photo courtesy of Fox

Jack Bauer's Last Mission on "24"

GiggleSugar — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 00:02:00 PDT

And it's a doozy--involving a floozy, and an offer for some boozey. (Sorry, I couldn't help myself.)

Why Has "24" Lost Viewers?

BuzzSugar — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 15:03:03 PDT

Undoubtedly, "24" has experienced a rapid decline in popularity this season, what with all the repetitive plot lines and its time slot that conflicts with that of "Heroes." According to a post in the LA Times TV blog Channel Island, "24" will undergo some serious changes next season, prompting me to wonder if the show's format of "24 hours in real time" is no longer new and interesting.

Yet Channel Island writer Scott Collins attributes the show's decline to something else: the "fading memory" of 9/11. Collins wonders if the initial popularity of "24" was due to its proximity to 9/11, when peoples' fears made the experience of watching the show more real, and therefore more "thrilling." The drop in popularity, then, can be attributed to the fact that 9/11 is fading from memory. As Collins points out, "Real-life political tension does wonders for creators of thriller fare."

What do you think?

Love It Or Leave It: Bauer Power Shirt

GeekSugar — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 10:01:43 PDT

I'll admit, I am not as dedicated a 24 fan as YumSugar and PartySugar, but I can certainly appreciate a good Jack Bauer fix every once and a while. Case in point: This Nerdy Shirt "Bauer Power," which showcases good old Jack in his famous stance with a colorful rainbow and some geeky, and slightly feminine, flowers.

Totally Geeky or Geek Chic? The Name's Jack Bauer

GeekSugar — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:00:43 PST

In Geeks We Love news this week, a British man has changed his name to Jack Bauer, the lead character on Fox's 24. A computer expert by trade, Tim Annan, 35, told the Sun that his friends and coworkers at a top London bank call him "Bauer" as a tribute to his hero played by Kiefer Sutherland.

Tim is single and lives in Watford, Herts. Just in case you ladies are looking for a Jack Bauer of your own. Oh and if you want to give him a gift, I found the Jack Bauer messenger bag.

"24" Recap: Episodes 8 and 9, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

BuzzSugar — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 11:36:08 PST

On this week's two-hour special night of "24"...

President Palmer asks Assad to make a speech asking Islamic communities everywhere to help bring down Fayed. Assad is afraid his people will think he has become an American puppet, but President Palmer insists. Tom Lennox and the Vice President see this as the terrorists "winning."
Lennox is fed up with the President and asks his man Reed to draft up his resignation letter. Unfortunately, Reed can't do that because he is a shady guy with his own agenda and needs Tom to stay in the White House so he can go through with his evil plans.

For more info about these afternoon hours,

Morris is tortured into programming the nukes, and Jack saves his life in the nick of time - not to mention everyone else's by disabling the one suitcase bomb Fayed left behind. The other three suitcase nukes are now programmed and in the hands of Fayed, who is answering to Gredenko.
Jack wants to be noble and take full responsibility for Graem's death.
Jack asks his father, Phillip, if he knows anything about Gredenko, and Phillip lies, saying he doesn't. Graem's widow Marilyn has a fuzzy memory about where his house is, so Jack takes her with him to find Gredenko. Meanwhile, Phillip offers to take Graem's son Josh to his house but instead brings him to a hotel.
The writers sidestep the sticky issue of making Arab-Americans responsible for the terrorism thusly: Russian Gredenko comments that his country was scared to use nuclear weapons on America during the Cold War, but now he can enact terrorism his way “and the Arabs will take all the blame." That's right, blame the Russians; they're not as controversial.

Morris returns to CTU, broken and ashamed, and Chloe gets annoyed with his surly, post-traumatic attitude and slaps him, which it sort of seems like he got enough of for one day.
Phillip calls Marilyn and tells her that he killed Graem and will kill Josh, too if she leads Jack to Gredenko. Terrified, Marilyn keeps quiet as they pass Gredenko's house and instead leads Jack to an address Phillip gives her.
Jack sees the place is empty, except for a blinking explosive. Milo realizes they are being attacked and hurries Marilyn away in a van. Bad guys shoot out their tires, so Milo explodes the van as he and Marilyn flee the scene. Jack wakes up amid the rubble, calls to his team on the radio, but nobody responds.

Photos courtesy of Fox

"24" Recap: Episode 7, 12:00 P.M.-1:00 P.M.

BuzzSugar — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 12:24:25 PST

Yikes! Jack's dad is a real heartless bastard! And that James Cromwell looks so gentle and kind, doesn't he? In this week's episode of "24," Jack's emotions are really jerked around, and he grapples with his sense of familial duty. Meanwhile, the President mulls Tom Lennox's plans for homeland security, which threaten to dismantle the Constitution. Check out the highlights from this week's episode:

President Palmer is resistant to sign Lennox’s plans, knowing they abuse power and civil liberties. Yet he is swayed by Lennox's arguments and tells his cabinet to convene and put the plans in effect.
Karen tells Bill Buchanan that she resigned, but she refuses to tell him why.

Handcuffed in the van, Jack's father Phillip wearily says that everything he ever did was for Jack, and that after Jack left, Graem was all he had. Jack and Phillip arrive at a cement plant and - just before Graem's men are about to shoot them - Jack and Phillip overtake them and free themselves. They then head back to Graem's house.

Many more riveting highlights, so

McCarthy tells Fayed he has found someone to program the bomb triggers but warns him that the engineer will have to be "coerced.” The phone call is intercepted by CTU, and Morris gets to work trying to salvage an image of the engineer that McCarthy sent to Fayed.
Back at Graem's house, Jack straps Graem into a chair and starts questioning him about his knowledge of McCarthy. Graem denies knowing anything, and Jack begins torturing his brother, screaming at him to tell him what he knows. Graem continues to say he knows nothing, though finally admits that he was responsible for the assassinations of David Palmer, Tony Almeida, and Michelle Dessler. He also admits that he'd tried to have Jack killed before. Jack believes that Graem doesn't know anything about McCarthy.
At CTU, Morris is told that his brother was harmed in the bombing in Valencia and is in critical condition. He leaves for the hospital, and the photo image of the engineer comes up on the screen: it's Morris. Just as CTU calls Morris to tell him that he is the engineer McCarthy is bringing to Fayed, McCarthy takes Morris into his car at gunpoint.
Sandra Palmer tells her brother everything that went on with Walid at the detention center. President Palmer sees how things can get out of hand if civil liberties are taken away. The Vice President, who is in agreement with Tom Lennox's plan, is patched into the cabinet meeting. The President, however, surprises them by saying that he is rejecting Tom's plan once more. The Vice President asks him to listen to other peoples' ideas, but President Palmer says the discussion is closed.
Drained from all the emotional torturing of his brother, Jack sits with his father and they have a tired heart-to-heart. His father asks for some time alone, and Jack leaves. Phillip then goes into the room with Graem, who proudly says he never told Jack about Phillip's involvement in the plot while being tortured. Phillip, not confident that Graem can stay closed-mouthed for long, injects Graem with a full dose of hyocine-pentothal. Graem convulses as Phillip stares into his son's eyes and then Graem’s body goes limp. Phillip kisses him on the head before calling frantically to the CTU agents that his son has had a seizure.

Photos courtesy of Fox

"24" Recap: 11:00 A.M.-12:00 P.M.

BuzzSugar — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:33:34 PST

In this week's "24," we get an inside look at some of the Bauer family dynamics, while Walid is revealed to be a mole at the detention facility. Read on for my highlights from the sixth hour of this season's "24" and tell me what you thought of last night's episode.

Karen Hayes calls Tom Lennox on his sneaky practices, such as employing racial profiling tactics without presidential consent. Tom decides that Karen is going to get in his way too much, so he blackmails her into resigning. He says he knows that Karen's new hubby, Bill Buchanan, previously had terrorist Fayed in the government's possession but let him go. In the end, Karen asks the President to be reassigned.
Jack bullies his brother Graem into admitting that Darren McCarthy stole nukes from the company that Graem runs with their father, Phillip; McCarthy then sold those nukes to terrorists. Phillip has a security team staking out McCarthy in Simi Valley, so Jack unties Graem and the two set off to find their dad.

Lots more action, so

Back at CTU, Nadia is being denied access to normal operations, as she is under scrutiny for being of Middle Eastern descent. Outraged, Milo illegally signs her in with his ID so she can resume her normal work.
At the detention center, Walid finds out that one of the detainees, Heydar, smuggled in his cell phone, and the FBI man wants access to the SIM card. Walid notices Heydar checking a message and pretends to fall down in front of him. When Heydar helps him up, Walid pockets the phone. The FBI man instructs Walid to dial a particular number using the phone so they can trace it, and Chloe manages to log the phone's SIM card.
Jack sees his father again and chastises him for not handing over all his information about McCarthy and the nukes. Phillip claims he wanted to spare Graem from going to prison, and ultimately decides to do it Jack's way and tell the government everything they know.
McCarthy and his girlfriend Rita check into a motel, hoping to avoid being found.

Chloe discovers that the cell phone's SIM card has no numbers that connect to Fayed, and determines that the detainees are not directly involved in the bombings. She orders Walid out of the detention center, but before he can leave, Heydar realizes that his phone is missing. The other detainees find the phone on Walid and start attacking him until a guard pulls them off.
Graem isn't satisfied with his father's decision to reveal their information to CTU, so he has his cronies hold his father and Jack at gunpoint. He takes Jack's phone so he can't call CTU, and the episode ends with Graem's men loading Jack and Phillip into a van.

TV Tonight: "24" Sneak Peek!

BuzzSugar — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 11:35:40 PST

On tonight's episode of "24," Jack gets closer to figuring out what the deal is with these nukes that Fayed and Co. have in their possession. Jack's brother Graem is clearly a shady character, but exactly how evil he is remains to be seen. Check out a clip from this week's episode in which we find out about Graem's involvement in the terrorist bombings.

Also: did anyone notice that Jack Bauer's dad is going to be played by the great James Cromwell? I can't wait to see him be evil!

To see the clip,

"24" Recap: 10:00-11:00 A.M.

BuzzSugar — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 13:18:12 PST

At the beginning, of this week's "24" we're reminded that a nuclear bomb has gone off in Valencia, a suburb of Los Angeles. Tom Lennox reports that there have been no less than 12,000 casualties thus far. Four more tactical weapons remain, and the government has no idea where they are. Civilian air traffic has been shut down. The Secret Service move the president down to a bunker, and the President says he wants to deliver a televised speech to the public within the hour.

Fayed calls McCarthy, the man who sold him the weapons. Fayed says the bomb blew up before it reached its target and offers to pay McCarthy double if he can find someone who can make sure the triggers work on the remaining four weapons. Later, in the car with his whiny girlfriend, McCarthy tells Fayed he can find someone, and to have his money ready. Fayed then instructs one of his men to "tell these men these bombs will go off as scheduled, today."

Meanwhile, people in the suburbs are panicking. Jack saves a man from a crashed helicopter and then calls Bill Buchanan and says he wants back in. To find out what happens next,

read more The Admiral, a member of President Palmer's team, wants to strike multiple countries suspected of being involved in the attacks, saying, "These people want to live in the stone age, let’s put them there.” President Palmer disagrees, wishing to target only the enemy. Tom suggests using the bomb to make people get on board for the detention centers, deportation, and other extreme “national security” measures. The President refuses, wanting the speech to have a calming effect. Assad arrives at CTU and meets Bill Buchanan, who refuses to shake his hand. Assad keeps saying that he came to U.S. to enact peace and knew nothing of nukes. He does name the source of the bomb: Dmitri Gredenko. Morris finds a list of people in L.A. who had contact with Gredenko on business channels, and one is Phillip Bauer, Jack’s father. Bill informs Jack of everything, and Jack says he’ll find his dad and talk to him. When he calls his father’s house, however, Sam the house servant says Jack’s father left the day before without saying where he was going. Apparently, even Jack's brother Graem doesn't know where he went. Liddy, the head of security at the Bauer mansion, overhears Sam’s conversation with Jack and calls Graem. Graem says they should have killed Jack when they had the chance instead of handing him over to the Chinese. Jack then calls Graem, who claims not to know where their father is. Graem goes back to his house and tells his wife Marilyn that Jack is back. (Anyone notice she's the same woman who plays Nathan Petrelli's wife in "Heroes"?) Graem then accuses Marilyn of still harboring feelings for Jack. Nadia believes that Assad wants peace. Bill tells Assad they have arranged to take him to Washington DC via military jet and they shake hands. (Tell me: Do you think Assad can be trusted?) At Walid’s detention center, the FBI men come in again, this time to put a wire on Walid. Sandra objects, saying he’s not trained for it, but FBI guys ignore her. The FBI men approach Walid and haul him into the bathroom to put the wire on and make the other detainees think that he's not with the FBI. One of the men who was overheard talking about the four other bombs goes over to Walid and asks him questions. Walid lies, saying he was going to set up a meeting with Abu Fayed but his efforts were thwarted. The man denies knowing Fayed, but invites Walid to join his group of suspicious characters. Jack goes to Graem’s house and meets Josh, Graham’s teenage son. In a private room, Jack tells Graem about their dad’s relationship with Gredenko, and Graem claims not to know anything yet again. Jack punches his brother, ties him to a chair, and then smothers him with a plastic bag. Finally, the President begins his speech to the American public.