Good news for fans of 24…not only is it coming back with a commercial free premere, but the format is going to remain the same.
From today’s Hollywood Reporter:
With slight adjustments, Fox stays real with ‘24’
July 22, 2002
PASADENA – It’s a year later. David Palmer is president. Jack Bauer is distraught over the death of his wife and estranged from his teenage daughter. He’s packed up and left the government’s elite Counter Terrorism Unit for good, but then he gets a call from Palmer, who needs his help to short-circuit another calamity in the making. So will begin the second season of “24,” Fox’s real-time drama series whose story line for the upcoming season is shrouded in secrecy. Fox entertainment president Gail Berman offered those hints on Sunday during Fox’s portion of the summer Television Critics Assn. press tour. Berman announced that the season premiere episode of “24” will run Oct. 29 without commercial breaks through a sponsorship deal struck with Ford Motor Corp. Berman and Fox Television Entertainment Group chairman Sandy Grushow told reporters that they had considered altering the “24” format, shifting it away from the one-hour-per-episode premise of last season. The show launched with critical raves but never caught fire with viewers, possibly because its highly serialized format made it hard for viewers to follow if they missed an installment. But in the final analysis, “we decided to make a commitment to that show that we’d supported all year,” Berman said. (Cynthia Littleton)
Sounds good to me! And now that Kiefer was nominated for an Emmy, and the first season will soon be coming out on DVD, maybe this show will finally find the audience it derserves!