How can they fix 24 for Season 7?
 

Since someone created an unneccessary thread a week or so ago about fixing American Idol, why not talk about 24 and how it needs to be fixed.

No CTU. No Los Angeles. No President. No nukes. No prisoners. No mercy.

das

You can't fool me! This isn't the first time I've been tricked into looking at somebody's poll!

Zombies

I would like to see bad guys giving Jack 24 hours to do something they wanted him to. Perhaps 24 hours countdown till his daughter will be murdered by bad guys, Jack will have to jump through lot of hoops in order to save his daughter - had to be in read time.

The most obvious improvement would be to get the show out of LA and do some location shooting.

But anyone of these would be cool:

1. Take the lead from a Tom Clancy Jack Ryan novel and set up a series of events that results in Jack BECOMING the President of the United States.

2. Make Jack the "bad guy". Not like past years where he's at odds with the President and CTU, but essentially a good guy...but literally the bad guy. He can redeem himself in Season 8.

Not air it for a season. Honestly. Take a year off to retool and revise. Then when it comes back, it will be anticipated and seem fresher. It's just so stale and been there done that this season.

But perhaps, maybe more Jack Bauer? Seems like he's a guest star this season.

I haven't been following the episode threads lately, but I am glad to know I am not the only one who finds it has sucked this season. It has been boring as hell.

They need to stop killing off interesting characters. I was intrigued at the start of the season by Alexanger Siddig's character but then they stopped showing him for a few eps then just anti-climactically killed him off.

I think the only ways to fix it would make it less appealing to the carbon blobs.

Why isn't "show Marisol Nichols in every frame" an option?

:drool:

No moles! don't have one; don't suspect someone of being one; don't mention one; don't even hire someone with a blemish on their face. NO MOLES!!!

Alien Invasion.

Start off like Invasion of the Body Snatchers then move on to ID4 mode.


Then in Season 8, Jack storms Heaven and takes on God.

Jack beating up Jesus - "Who are you working for!?!"

I have been 24's biggest fan and supporter. Turning on more people to the show then i should be allowed to. But I am feeling this show is getting to be a parody of itself. Definitely All of the above.

I voted for move it out of LA, but all of the ideas could have some merit if used properly. I'm hesitant to say dump the President/White House storyline, but would change that to "Don't feel forced to use the President storyline". If you actually have a good storyline for the President like in season 5, then go ahead. But this season it feels like a bunch of silliness is thrown into that element just to have something to cut to.

More cowbell?

They need to stop relying on old tactics, and come up with a few new things. The show felt fresh at the beginning of the season, this despite being it's 5th. Then it got back into its old grooves and tricks of inside moles and obvious/unimportant events. Bringing back old characters is nice and refreshing... for a minute, then you have to actually do something interesting with them -- which doesn't seem to happen.

I agree with the year break, give them time to come up with something good.

All (or at least most) of the above. "24" has become a parody of itself. Another mole, sneaky terrorist escapes, a shocking major character injury/death, Jack's bad-ass torturing of people, a "Damn it!!!" or "There's not enough time!!!" at a key moment. These things make me laugh now, which is surely not the show's intent. It's suffering like the Bond franchise did with later Roger Moore (esp "Moonraker") and Pierce Brosnan outings.

The writers need to make an effort to stay away from "24" cliches. The real-time gimmick is still great, Sutherland still is great, and the premise is wide-open to do a variety of stories. A change in scenery would help. A return to a smaller-scale character driven story would be good (but still with some action and excitement). You have to make some fudges for the real-time, but make an effort. That means no more characters be in intensive care in the morning, and running around in the afternoon. Like so many things - it's dramatic the first time, it's laughable after that.

Unlike other shows the "jump the shark", 24 is fixable. We just have to hope the producers see that it needs fixing. How is it doing in the ratings this year?

Taking a year off would be ideal. Been saying it for a couple seasons though I know it's not realistic--I suppose.

But my quick thoughts:

Stop killing off characters for the sake of killing them off. Sometimes it's shocking, sure, but sometimes it's just unnecessary. If anyone watches "The Shield," the officiers on that show, although they pull out their weapons a lot, rarely shoot and kill people. That's why, when someone in fact did die on that show, it was shocking to the audience, it had more weight and impact.

Stop repeating previous things we've seen. This season we have seen a nuke go off (season two), a President being manipulated by terrorists (season 2, 3, 5), an attempted Presidential assassination (season 2, 4), and Jack breaking into another consulate (season 4). It's just not fresh anymore. Make the threat smaller, and ideally, take it to a new location. If we can't base it in NY for all of season 7, do what they did in season 2 and 3, start in L.A, then have Jack and company get on a plane, and travel to somewhere else in Cali, or to Mexico, or just another location where the threat may take you.

I'd ideally like to see a more personal threat. To me, season 1 is still the best because I truly was on the edge of my seat. It was more personal. The stakes and consequence wouldn't necessarily impact MORE people, but the threat being personal makes you more invested and worried about the characters on the screen. Jack fighting to save his family impacts me more on a personal level than Jack trying to save the world. How many times can he save the world? They treat the guy like a Superhero.

Lastly, bring back the real time aspect. No more getting from one spot to another within ten minutes.

Season 6 is by far the worst season. The producers got caught up in trying to get a good script for 24 The Movie and I believe this has hurt the quality this season.

But at this point, what could 24 do that hasn't been done before?

Outside of moving the show outside of LA (which I would like to see) and making Bauer President, I don't see any original ideas from you guys. The problem with moving the show out of LA is how would you bring back the rest of the cast. Don't tell me everybody in CTU LA just transferred to a new CTU location.

I've heard a lot of people mention how they would like to see a smaller threat next season. What threat could it be? We've already had the Bauer family kidnapped storyline and people trying to kill the US President storyline. What original small threat do you guys have in mind?

I'll be honest, I can't think of a small original threat that would be really exciting.

Chloe Naked!

That plus all of the above in the poll!

They should recast the show. The only indispensable cast members are Jack and Chloe, IMO.

Well, those two and Marisol Nichols, anyway.

Less moles, more cougars FTW

It's kind of silly to say that the only possible ideas to do for a show about a CTU agent is: bomb threat to LA, pres assasination, biowarfare threat to LA, nerve gas threat to LA, kidnapped family member. Yes, by definition the show has to have terrorists. But that should no more limit good storylines than cop shows, doctor shows, spy shows, war shows, lawyer shows.

I think you're having the same problem the writers are having. You're hung up on thinking about this show from the "threat" perspective. What's the threat? Bomb? check. Gas? check. Assassination? check. Bio-weapon? check. Moles? check. Threatened family? check. The better the threat, the better the story? Not true. If you're thinking that way, there really aren't any original stories to be told in any genre. What has hurt 24 more than anything is the loss of realism and character-relating. When you care about the characters is when you really get into a show. Supporting characters have been killed, and Jack has turned into a cartoon. Get me invested in the characters again. That's what I want.

And why not set the season outside of CTU? A season only takes place in 1 day anyway. You can have Jack in the field, and others at CTU (maybe a smaller side story going on in LA). Everyone in the cast doesn't have to be within driving distance of each other. I doubt they'll do it, but for instance: why not a story with Jack in China? Investigating the death of Audrey (who may not be dead), and its shady circumstances. Maybe forced to ally himself with the very people who tortured him. Uncovering a shadow operation, perhaps involving rogue Americans and Chinese.

Yes please.

No LA. No CTU. A smaller, more personal threat to Bauer. And can we take a break from terrorists? I'm thinking of a villain more in line like Ira Gaines (1st half of season 1).

They need to quit being so damn politically correct. And get with the times!

Russians are the bad guys. RUSSIANS! That's so 1980's, it's not even funny. They should be a little more modern with their bad guys. Like make them muslim extremists. Or French.

And whenever they do have a muslim be the "bad" guy, they put disclaimers on the episode and/or make every white guy be a racist, raging lunatic.

I think I'm done after this season.