I'm hoping by making this initial point, Side Bar will chime in and give a counterpoint as to why he is still watching, and apparently as engaged as ever.The point here is that I quit watching 24 this season. When 24 didn't air last season because of the writers' strike, I didn't really miss it. I had watched every season up until then and I was certainly a fan of the show. I had felt, however, that the last couple of seasons had really left something to be desired.
In the last few seasons they had really gone overboard with these terror scenarios and while I concede that what happens in each of their seasons is plausible, it just got less and less believable. At one point in their 6th season there was a nuclear bomb detonated in downtown Los Angeles, and that was in like the 6th episode. It just got more and more ridiculous after that. I really felt like they were stretching for new plot contrivances by the end of that season.
As great as the first 3 or 4 seasons were, was as bad as the 5th and 6th were. I felt like I knew what was going to happen at the end of every episode, because the arc of the show never really changed. I mean, how many different ways can you tell the story? Imminent threat, no leads, ooh we've got a lead, he won't talk, we'll threaten torture, we'll blur the line between interrogation and torture, he talks, we save the day despite some necessary casualties. Those necessary casualties were indeed shocking, weren't they?
And I didn't just quit the show this year because I thought it would suck. I watched the first 4 or 5 episodes. Then the next 3 or 4 episodes started building up on my DVR and I just didn't have an interest in watching them. It's just the same thing over and over again. Terrorist threats diffused at the last moment, Jack Bauer ruminates over his lot in life, so on and so forth.
I assume this season picked up after I stopped watching, Side Bar? Please to explain.