movieking

I couldn't agree more:

By BILL BRIOUX -- Toronto Sun

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- There'll be no more cliffhanger finales on 24 if Kiefer Sutherland has his way.

The Emmy-nominated actor told a scrum of reporters at the Fox press tour last week that he strongly disagrees with how this past season of the real-time series ended.

"We have an audience committed to watch a full day," he said. "That day should have a conclusion."

Last May's Season Two finale ended with badly injured agent Jack Bauer (Sutherland) somehow beating the daylights out of a group of terrorists but unable to stop an assassination attempt on U.S. president David Palmer (played by Dennis Haysbert). Did Palmer die at the end? We'll have to wait until the show returns Oct. 28 to find out for sure,

A few other juicy details have surfaced, but, as Sutherland says, people don't really want to know. He's been stopped on the street by people pleading for him to spill the beans. As soon as he opens his mouth to tell them he can't, they shout, "No, don't! Don't!"



Sutherland prefers the way the first season ended, on a final, if deadly note. Bauer's wife Teri (Canadian actress Leslie Hope) died in the shocking final minutes. Some people were upset, but at least audiences weren't left hanging for six months, he says. "If you're going to ride this 24-hour thing with us we're going to give you an answer at the end," is how he'd like to see it.

And he has some say. Sutherland is an executive producer as well as the star. Not that anybody's job is 100% safe on this series. "There's not a single actor that can get all that comfortable on our show," he says. "We get removed rather quickly."

Cigarette tucked behind his right ear, Sutherland was backed up against a wall by a crush of critics eager to get the scoop on Season Three. He was just back from Montreal where he took a small part opposite Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke in Taking Lives.

The cool Canadian news is that Wendy Crewson, who just shot a cable movie in Calgary with Tom Selleck, is about to join 24. This would make the sixth Canadian on the series (Elisha Cuthbert, as daughter Kim, is the other regular), making the True North a real real-time resource.

"I'm the real-time guy," he joked, noting that his last film, Phone Booth (he was the menacing voice on the other end of the line) also played out in real time.

As for rumours of a 24 feature, Sutherland says nobody has talked to him about it. "I think it could be amazingly cool," he said and even has a title: 1:47.

Trigger

guess I should've known there was gonna be a spoiler... my fault. :/

mkdevo

yeah, i stopped reading about 2 word too late... grrr....

rfduncan

USE SPOILERS, Dude! ARrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggh!

huzefa

Whats with Sutherland? He's bringing the funny all off a sudden?

Groucho

I'd complain about spoilers, but why bother? It's the most predictable show on television.

Deftones

spoilers? where are the spoilers? everything i've read so far has already been mentioned.

movieking

Sorry, didn't realize that there were spoilers since I had heard everything before. I will spoilerize it...

PacMan2006

Guys, these aren't spoilers. This is truly old news, and won't affect any plot points...basically, it's just an overview of how the show will be structured this season.

One thing that strikes me is that Sutherland is thinking about making a "24" movie. This makes me think he maybe really enjoys the show, and that season 3 might not be his final season afterall...thoughts?

mkdevo

well, it's a spoiler for those of us who didn't watch season 2 on tv and are waiting for the dvd... i'd say "the last season ended with..." is a bit of a spoiler..

Trigger

exactly. I didn't come in this thread expecting to read how the second season ended...

Roto

I think the fact that he's annoyed by the cliffhanger shows that he likes the show, or at least gives a rip about how they write it.

I think anybody waiting for the DVDs shouldn't be reading any news about 24. It's nearly impossible to talk about this show without spoilers.

movieking

Mentioning anything that already aired months ago is not a spoiler. Mentioning what will happen in season three is, and that is what I have spoilerized...

mwj

Truer words were never spoken. Hopefully the conclusion will be honest for season three like it was for season one.

Jlbkwrm

I understand wanting spoilers spoilered out in a general thread (like 'best/worst cliffhangers of all time', or something), but this I don't understand. You came into a thread about the ending of season 2, and didn't expect them to talk about the ending of season 2?

On the article itself, I have no problem with 24 ending on a cliffhanger if the following season acts as a direct continuation (one big, long 48 hour story). But gratuitous cliffhangers suck.

kevin75

i don't have a problem with the cliffhanger...

Trigger

Hey - I did say it was my fault... however, I guess I came in here thinking he would just be talking about the ending without revealing what actually happened. I thought it would be some news article or something about Keifer or something - I don't know. Anyway - that's what spoiler tags and spoiler warnings are for - so dummies like me don't have to assume someone's gonna spill the beans.

Buck Turgidson

Actually, it was the perfect ending for season two, which was (in spite of scattered good moments) one colossal middle finger to people who had liked the first year. Not good, but fitting.

Cast note for season 3: