I Want Those 9 Hours Of My Life Back

I've been a loyal viewer of 24 since it first premiered in 2001. The first five seasons were thoroughly enjoyable, but the sixth and seventh ones started to really show the strain of trying to keep a show like this going. The eight season is now airing and last night I found myself more agitated than enthralled and deleted the series from my DVR's recording schedule after watching this year's 9th episode. I've officially quit on 24. Sorry Keifer, but I think you should do the same.

I was already skeptical about this season when I heard it was going to be set in New York City. My first thought was that they were going to do ridiculous things like have Jack Bauer get from one part of town to another in the middle of rush hour in some thoroughly unrealistic amount of time. And sure enough, early in the season Jack made it from midtown Manhattan to Queens in about 5-10 minutes during rush hour by car. Any New York native will tell you that is basically impossible. That being said, shows like this require that you ignore little details like that. The bigger problem with this season is that not only is Jack Bauer not as engaging and charming as he used to be, but the supporting cast is easily forgettable and completely uninteresting. The President and Renee Walker aren't likable at all, Chloe has worn out her welcome, the head of CTU isn't believable at all (and my friend pointed out that it is the same actor that played Forrest Gump's slow army buddy who loved shrimp which makes him an even harder sale as the head of a government agency) and the Russian and Middle Eastern bad guys are completley stereotypical. But the two characters who have really killed this season for me are Freddie Prinze Jr.'s character "Cole" and his fiancee Dana. FPJ is way too dopey looking and sounding to buy as a tough guy CTU agent and it is beyond annoying that YET AGAIN, CTU has had a flaw in their human resources department and hired someone who is not who they say the are in Dana or Jenny or whatever her name is. Her entire storyline is ludicrous. Are we really supposed to believe that an officer would be severely beaten on CTU property and there wouldn't be a serious lockdown and immediate investigation? And she goes missing in the middle of a crisis involving nuclear weapons and her boss never demands to know her whereabouts immediately? I'm sorry, but simply having someone "cover" for you isn't going to cut it in that type of environment.

I could go on longer, but I won't. I simply can no longer partake in the suspension of disbelief that is required by 24. They've asked too much of this viewer and I'm done dammit. DAMMIT! DAMMIT!