The Morning After: Tick, Tick, Tick...

at some point near the middle of the show, I stopped watching Animal Planet during commercial breaks on 24, and switched to watching 24 during commercial breaks on Animal Planet.

The best part of the show was Bill Buchanan's new look (and where's bill's wife?; I really liked Jayne Atkinson in that role). The worst part of the show was the plot -- it reached the point of absurdity way too soon.

And not even an actress of Cherry Jones' caliber could make the White House scenes plausible -- when she can't carry a scene, you know something is terribly wrong.

I'm not digging the White House stuff, either. I think it would have been more narratively interesting to leave that story out of things, at least until later in the story -- I mean, Jack is an outsider now (so, for that matter, is Tony/Bill/Chloe), so just as Jack probably wouldn't get to talk to the President, the audience also should not be privy to what's going on in the White House. I mean, wouldn't the pay-off that someone is rotten in the White House be BIGGER if we didn't see the White House until much later in the season -- that Bill/Tony etc. didn't know how high the conspiracy went until they "discovered" a White House link?
.
Still, nice handling of the SPOILER ALERT******Tony reveal. I actually kinda bought it (except for the hypothermic solution bit): Tony would be pretty bitter at the government that betrayed him and killed Michelle....and I like that they didn't really sugarcoat it and say he was ALWAYS working undercover...that he only switched back to good Tony when he realized that innocent Americans might get killed.
.
And Chloe's "You looked good" to Jack regarding his Senate appearance was pitch-perfect. Nice to have her back, and Bill with his cool new look, too.
.
@pukasiak -- you know far too well (as I do) that Jayne Atkinson (aka Karen Buchanan) will show up at SOME point soon. Along with, I imagine (i.e. no first-hand knowledge, just pure guess/speculation), Aaron Pierce.

@Chaddog: AARON!!!!! One of my favorite 24 supporting characters. I haven't yet watched the opening episodes, due to a bad case of food poisoning that I'm just recovering from, but Mr. Shara Says just called and told me that he thinks the season is off to an awesome start, so I guess I'll commit eventually.

chad...
unless I missed it (and I may have), no reference was made to Karen (thanks for the name) by anyone so far. I mean, wouldn't Jack have asked "what about Karen?" if she was coming back? (Indeed, its the Karen angle that would best explain how/why Buchanan and Chloe found out about the 'conspiracy'.) I fear she's been written out entirely...

But I do think (and hope) Aaron Pierce shows up again. The President's inner circle (indeed, the whole White House) is rather underpopulated at this point.

And speaking of Aaron Pierce, doesn't Henry Taylor get secret service protection? I mean, its like he can just walk to the park without any problem, or coverage....

shara...
just FYI, Fox is making the first four hours (and redemption) available for viewing on its website....

@plukasiak: Muchas gracias!

@plukasiak -- Henry Taylor did have Secret Service protection. It was the rather sinister looking fellow driving him around, spying on him from afar, revealing his movements to the Chief of Staff, and interested in the thumb drive.
.
In other words, Henry Taylor is in mortal danger from his Secret Service agent. There's only one man not named Jack Bauer that can help with that, and his name is Aaron Pierce.
.
Also, I don't think failing to mention Karen as part of the small team is a sign she's gone, necessarily. It could mean that Bill is doing the "I can't tell you in order to protect you" thing that I think she did last season (or 2 seasons ago)....she may be getting a call later on when the ex-CTU All Stars get into trouble.

We've gotten back to classic yelling Jack, so that's a plus. I view 24 as I'd view Walker Texas Ranger, just asinine situations that can only be laughed at for being truely upsurd, but still fun to watch. That is of course until they run out of initial story and change the plot around hour 15 like the previous couple seasons.
-
You guys (and girl) are right, it does feel like an Aaron Pierce reveal coming up. Can we start placing bets at what hour?

@yogi -- we just finished hour 4, right? Aaron Pierce seems like a good bet (and again, I avoid all spoilers, so this is blind guess) for an appearance around hour 9.
.
I think that, not-coincidentally, would be in the midst of February sweeps. Cue the FOX promos: "Narrator: And you'll never believe who's back. (Shot of Jack, holding a gun, hidden behind a barrier, talking to an unseen person next to him) Jack: WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

@James, et al.
I'll totally be back for hour 5 . . . I think the season has started off pretty well, especially compared to the farce that was season 6. I like it that Bill has gotten the old band back together, and while I agree that the White House plots are kind of weak, they do have potential. I'm mostly happy to see Jack, pen-wielding insanity and all . . . for me, the high point last season was in like hour 2, when he bit a guy's neck. Jack Bauer, Special Agent/ Vampire.

I will continue to watch if there is a Janeane Garofalo/Chloe nerdgirl computer smackdown.

@jarais -- or Chloe using a gun again. That was hysterical.

I will totally keep watching...I totally gave up on the last season (which was really 2 years ago right b/c of the strike? I can't keep up) in the middle of it when I was too bored to even want to watch it without commercials on DVR. But I big puffy heart Tony Almeida, and I love Chloe too. So I'm sucked in, for now at least, and I felt the familiar pulse-quickening in some scenes that I used to feel in the older seasons...like when Jack and Emerson were squaring off, even though I KNEW what was going to happen. My husband likes to roll his eyes while saying "nope, you're right, you SHOULD be nervous, I'm pretty sure this is the episode where Jack Bauer dies." But still. It's good entertainment and I'm glad to be hooked again. I am over the moon about Tony's return. Seriously.
.
My biggest beef so far is the chief of staff guy, whatever his name is, who can't act. Plus it's gratingly annoying that the president only has one advisor that she's talking to about this whole situation. Overall, I agree that the white house staff is sorely lacking. And I hadn't thought about Aaron, but hope you're right Chaddogg!