The writing staff on 24 is running out of time. Production on the seventh season, scheduled to begin this month, was pushed back three weeks after FOX executives nixed the entire plot the writing team had cooked up for the seventh longest day of Jack Bauer’s life.

According to TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello, the original plan was to film several episodes on location in Africa, but the network deemed it too costly. After considering the idea of finding locations in Los Angeles to serve as Africa, the writer’s decided it would be easier to just rewrite the whole thing.


Mary Lynn Rajskub, who plays socially-awkward CTU analyst and newly expectant mother Chloe O’Brian, told Ausiello she didn’t know what was happening and that “they’re going crazy. I’m excited because … they’re really having to dig in there and come up with new stuff.” Rajskub also said that she only learned last week that her fan-favorite character would even be making an appearance in the upcoming season. Aside from Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer, the status of the rest of the cast remains a mystery.

Setting a story in Africa would have been unheard of in years past, but earlier this summer producers on the Emmy-winning series announced plans to move away from L.A. and the show’s home base at CTU. Along with the news of a female president, the writers seem desperate to do a total makeover on the show, a good idea as the sixth season was largely panned by critics and fans alike.

After winning the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series for its fifth season, as well as Sutherland winning for Lead Actor, 24’s sixth season was met with harsh criticism, some calling it the worst season yet, claiming the show had finally jumped the shark. Season 7 won’t premiere until January 2008, so the 24 team still has a while to get their ducks in a row.

What season 7 will have in store is now anyone’s guess. Rumors on the Internet have indicated that London or Washington D.C. are possible settings for Bauer’s next marathon of heroics and torture, while in late June, reports began popping up that someone had posted all the details of the first episode. Whether or not those pages were real may be a moot point with the new plot overhaul.


-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: TV Guide
(Image courtesy of FOX)