The real new TV season starts tonight

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© St. Petersburg Times,
published November 6, 2001

Forget all the stuff you've read about the new fall season starting in October.

Sure, some new shows hit the air then (some, like ABC's Bob Patterson and CBS' Citizen Baines, are already gone). But the heart of the 2001-02 season takes flight tonight with the debut of the season's most-anticipated new show, Fox's 24.

Named television's best new series by TV Guide, 24 debuts at 9 tonight on WTVT-Ch. 13 with a raft of critical raves (including mine) and an intriguing premise -- portraying 24 hours in the lives of its characters, in real time, over 24 one-hour episodes.

Kiefer Sutherland makes the transition from film in this taut thriller, playing government agent Jack Bauer, who is unexpectedly called to his office in the government's Counter Terrorist Unit at midnight before the California presidential primary.

There's one problem: His daughter, Kimberly (Elisha Cuthbert), has picked this evening to sneak out with friends for some late-night fun.

Forced to head to the office while his once-estranged wife, Teri (Leslie Hope), looks for Kimberly, Bauer finds himself charged with uncovering a plot to kill the first black man with a chance of winning the White House, Sen. David Palmer (Now and Again's Dennis Haysbert). It's a plot that likely includes agents in Bauer's office.

This describes the episode's first 10 minutes. Now you know why critics have fallen in love with this show.

Critics also love the way 24 breaks new ground, often splitting the screen into two, three or four segments, showing different characters in different locations at the same moment. While Bauer pumps one of his agents for information, a man who may or may not be an assassin romances a lovely young woman and Sen. Palmer considers an important speech (a digital clock flashes onscreen to tie it all together).

By the time the episode ends, a plane has exploded (since Sept. 11, footage of the explosion has been snipped), Bauer has crossed a serious line on the job and viewers learn there may be more to Kimberly's disappearance than first indicated.

To preserve the buzz, Fox hasn't released review copies of subsequent episodes (raising fears they may not live up to the pilot's promise). But 24's first episode is easily the most groundbreaking piece to hit television this fall.

If that weren't enough, ABC's NYPD Blue returns at 9 tonight with a two-hour episode that finally explains what happened to Det. Danny Sorenson (Rick Schroder), while the WB's Buffy the Vampire Slayer unveils a musical episode at 9 that sets important character developments to music that blends a '70s-era rock vibe with alternative pop grooves.

In particular, the Buffy episode signals a singular achievement, featuring songs largely written or co-written by series creator Joss Whedon folded into an episode that fits into ongoing story lines while proving that star Sarah Michelle Gellar actually can sing.

And that's just the beginning. Delayed by baseball playoffs, Fox begins rolling out its most ambitious shows: a special Temptation Island 2 premiere Wednesday (the show airs regularly on Thursdays), the live-action superhero comedy The Tick on Thursday, the return of Malcolm and the Middle and The X-Files on Sunday, and The Bernie Mac Show on Nov. 14.

With duds like Inside Schwartz and Emeril out of our hair for November sweeps, it's time to enjoy some ambitious television. Let's hope postattack America is ready to be entertained.

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