24 Might Return to TV, FOX in talks with Kiefer Sutherland for limited series

WHOA indeed! Well this is a helluva surprise if ever there were one… and a very welcome one at that if proved true!

Let’s be honest about it here, this is only happening because FOX are too damn cheap to stump up for the film – even though it has a finished script and a mere $45m budget requirement – that being said, if they can craft an awesome final story arc for Jack, with Jon Cassar directing, I’ll be the happiest camper out there and no mistake!

What exactly does ‘limited series’ mean anyway? Will we get six episodes, twelve episodes, thirteen episodes, what are we talking about here? Ah screw it, why don’t they just make one more final 24-episode season and just go bananas on it, plot the whole thing out in advance, bring back the team behind the series and make it one final bow for J.B. that’s one for the ages…

Either way, we’re FINALLY getting more ’24’ and who can complain about THAT…?

I don’t know why the folks commenting on Deadline think this is great news, it bloody isn’t! This is the death knell for the 24 movie, pure and simple, and all because those cheapskates at Fox wouldn’t pony up for a big screen release, the cheap SOB scumbags! And just what the hell is a limited series while we’re at it, is it a full season made but with the understanding that it will be only one? And what is the line in the aforementioned Deadline article about a brand new story arc from scratch? Does that mean they’ll ignore the end of Season 8 or does that mean it wil be a brand new story that will merely follow on from Season 8 the way previous seasons followed on from their preceding seasons? So many questions, so little answers, I too wish they were shooting the movie script as a television movie ‘event’ like they did with Redemption in 2008, but I guess Fox just couldn’t care less about Jack Bauer anymore! Kudos to Howard Gordon for fighting the good fight and helping to bring 24 back in some form, but screw Fox for pushing us down this route to begin with… bastards!

I don’t see why it matters honestly Kiefer’s in talks to return you have Howard Gordon involved imagine/fox David fury… Why people don’t find this as good news. yeah its a mini series it sounds like. But we have just about the same people involved…. I hope it happens I want to see Jack! Be happy guys that there considering this.

For anyone who is curious about what “Limited Series” means, David Fury posted on his Twitter feed that he’s involved. Someone asked him about the episode count, he said it’s 12.

Sorry to comment again here so soon everyone, but I’ve been ‘checking’ (and let’s just leave it at that) around on this story, and David Fury’s confirmation of a 12-episode arc may indeed be true, but that’s not all, I may be proved completely wrong on this, and please don’t shoot the messenger if I am, but what I’m hearing from some is that it may be twelve FEATURE-LENGTH episodes not twelve 43-minute ones!

This would be simply awesome if it proves to be the case – and I’m taking it with a pinch of salt until confirmed by FOX – this would give the show a whole new dynamic to work with; we would see each episode play out in a two-hour period as opposed to just one, meaning less need for a cliffhanger every 43 minutes and more time to let the story breathe and play out in a more natural way, and still retain the 24-hour time frame for the larger story arc.

I’d still have much rather seen the big-screen theatrical movie, but consider me stoked no end for this… I sense a ’24’ marathon coming on, break out the DVD’s, the beers are on me everyone, just flush the toilet after you use it!

I hope it will happen because I miss the tv show 24 and Kiefe Sutherland as jack

OH MY GOD, MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED!

Good call X. I will bow to Jack Bauer every chance I get. In regards to what the “12 episode count” actually means, spoken by David Fury, I suspect it is most likely 12 hours worth of broadcast time because “event television” is characterized as this.

I honestly think this would be an incredible decision to make, mainly because the quality of the show would go way up. Think about it – the show has to retain the 24-hour period so if you were condensing that into 12 hours, each 1 hour broadcast would represent 2 hours of time in the 24 universe – so the real-time aspect would be gone but what you would get is no filler and moving characters from point A to B without having to follow them to every actual second.

I agree that FOX branding this 24 reboot as “event television” would result in multiple hours shown on one night. But my guess is that a two hour broadcast would actually be four hours worth of “24-world” content – so Kiefer (Jack Bauer) would be saying for example: THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 12:00 P.M. AND 4:00 P.M. If FOX continues this pattern you would be looking at presumably one night a week for six weeks.

EVENT TELEVISION BABY! That would give the show its highest chances of long-lasting success, by not dragging the show out and the average viewer more likely to tune in. Let’s not forget the 2-night, 4-hour premieres that Fox broadcasted of 24 five times were generally the most talked-about and most watched hours of each season, respectively.

Can’t believe I didn’t think of this myself, but trust Howard Gordon to – a genius who seems to be on a non-stop creative surge at this point. The fact that he was the one that came up with this brand new story arc is beyond my wildest expectations. Quoting Deadline: “Everybody jumped on board” – evidently breathing life into this franchise I had no idea could possibly exist. Better news than a 24 movie in my opinion!

*over 24 episodes

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/05/10/24-return-episodes/

Me too. Although I would wouldn’t call this a “fitting send-off” because if the show continues to be successful in this new iteration, additional seasons are sure to be ordered. I don’t think Fox, Imagine and the other original players would propose this if they were just thinking in terms of one year only.

David Fury says 12, EW says 13 – I wonder who will end up being right? 12 makes more sense as they could easily divide the 24-hour time period into two hour increments, but if the order is 13, that leads me to believe that Howard Gordon and co aren’t concerned with the time aspect at all. Very eager to find out the truth.

I’m sticking with the twelve-episode prediction, I think David Fury – only one of the new series’ writers and producers – would have a little more insight into what’s being planned than a EW reporter, don’t you?

If it’s twelve hour-long episodes, it won’t be in real-time, if it’s twelve feature-length episodes, it will be, period! I’m still pining for the movie that never was, but onward and upwards as they say, and if the upcoming (limited) series creates a new story arc whilst still acknowledging the end of Season 8, and has a bigger budget than a routine television series episode (meaning some pretty awesome kick-butt action par excellence), then I see no downside to this development whatsoever… Go Jack!

OMG YES YES YES Bring Jack Back, I can’t wait bring Carlos Bernard back too yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa can’t wait!!!!!

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!! It’s fucking erfect, I’m over the moon..I too wished thre was a movie or a whole 24 season but it’s far more better than nothing.I JUST CAN’T WAIT FOR IT!!

Oh, and fuck you damn FOX!If it wasnt for 24 and Homeland, action series would still be a load of rubish!

This is great news IMO – the “limited series” reference only implies that it will be done more along the lines of great theatrical series on cable right now (i.e. Gordon’s “Homeland” series on HBO does only 12 shows per season; “Sopranos” was always 12-13 episodes per season; “Game of Thrones” and “Justified” both are also of limited episode runs but get critical acclaim for their quality). During its run, “24” was always produced so well like a movie more than conventional TV series and we all read the stories during the show’s run of how their production costs kept rising each year to do so. Making it a 13-episode season just reaffirms that they will want to keep the production quality just as good – it’s easier to afford over fewer episodes.

I also think that the trend that occurred in every season o “24” other than the 4th one – where the first half of the season featured a different villain and story arc from the villain and arc that appeared in the second half – was a big reason why there was this sense of fragmentation and over-the-top believability in the stories. A 13-episode arc will bring a more direct story that can stay on track without all of the tangential stories that used to take away from the main story Jack was involved in. Did any of us really care about the side stories about Palmer’s son in Season 1 or the Kim Bauer mini-dramas of Seasons 1-2 or the length of time devoted to the all of the moles, etc. inside CTU? They often felt like filler to help make for 24 episodes IMO.

And for those who think this news means “either-or” for the “24” movie, I would say this: maybe FOX is skeptical of the kind of gate receipts and interest a movie would generate 3 years after the series ended? Bringing a reboot of shorter episodes to TV may be a lower-risk gamble on their part to see if there is still avid support of the series/character – and if it does well in the ratings, one would think that FOX will then feel more confident in either: 1) doing a feature film after ending the 13-episode series; or 2) renew the series for a second season (or more) of the limited episode quantity.

Entertainment Weekly in its report of the same news did raise the most salient question – how the show’s story will work within 13-episodes. Will the 24-hour day still be the frame for the story’s duration but allow larger time gaps in between? Or will each season be half-day arcs? Their report also added:

“Fox is in talks to bring back Kiefer Sutherland the long-running action drama 24 for a limited run. Since the network is revving up a division that will eventually churn out event miniseries like a remake of Shogun, a revisit to the successful 24 franchise could be just the ticket.

Insiders caution, however, that talks are early. If the dream becomes a reality, the series’ longtime executive producer Howard Gordon — who reportedly pitched the return in the first place and has since moved on to Showtime’s grown-up domestic terrorism hit Homeland — would return with the show.”

EW.com corrected their mistake today. It’s 12 episodes. Fury tweeted today they are still negotiating. So nothing is 100% set in stone.

TJ dude, you’ve hit the nail on the head, that’s the single best assessment I’ve yet heard on this developing news regarding all things ’24’…

It was clear from the Deadline article in March 2012 that detailed the reasons behind the movie’s postponement that FOX were a little shaky in their confidence of the movie’s box-office potential – hence the extremely cautious $30m budget offer – and if the upcoming limited series gets gangbusters ratings and widespead critical acclaim from critics and viewers alike, this could give the franchise both a creative and a commercial reinvigoration… and maybe it would give the studio more confidence in making a movie with a more appropriate budget (in the $60m range hopefully), but as you rightly said, Kiefer isn’t getting younger and they have probably about three years at absolute most to do it (if they’re going to do it at all) before Le Kief is no longer capable of doing everything that may be physically required of him!

So it’s definitely a 12-episode series then, I knew it all along, so it will likely NOT be in real-time, meaning Jack could travel between destinations thereby giving the new story a broader and more epic canvas – especially if it’s a biger budgeted affair than a normal series – to work on, and without 24 episodes and approximately 1, 100 minutes to fill, the new story arc stands a very real and likely chance of being all killer and no filler… EXACTLY what the ’24’ franchise needs right now!

I am officially stoked for this now, roll on 2014…

Here’s another factor that could be in play: we all read from past reports that the script for a movie was close to being, if not already done. FOX obviously invested money in it and both Sutherland and Gordon were reportedly pleased with the final edition. Instead of the risky venture of a movie that will probably require more money to produce / film / market than a series would, I wouldn’t be surprised if the script for the potential movie instead becomes the storyline / plot for the series. Whether all those involved would want it to be a sequel to season 8 (and Sutherland mentioned some hints in past interviews that it might take place in Europe with him being on the run from Russia) or just a clean slate storyline like these current reports suggest, who knows.

Personally, I wouldn’t mind if the series would make references to the first 8 seasons (i.e. events & characters) but not try to answer every question that was raised at end of S8. There were so many references throughout the series’ original run to Jack’s international missions and experience abroad – I think it would be an exciting way to kickstart a reboot to see him on a mission that either starts or ends in the middle East, similar to how “Homeland” did for a few shows this past season. “Redemption” was refreshing to see him outside of the US. And we all saw the huge marketing success that “Zero Dark Thirty” had.

As for Kiefer’s timeclock, he definitely looked more weathered and older on “Touch” – especially after re-watching a lot of the “24” DVDs recently. And unlike other franchises, I just can’t see any version of “24” ever working without him. Even if Jack isn’t the focus, the show with a different lead character would feel false.

Let’s face it though – FOX has been pretty cheap in regards to producing more 24. So I highly doubt they will keep the Europe aspect in the script, whether or not they use the movie version. I suspect Howard’s “story from scratch” is exactly that, and we will be completely surprised by what occurs (hint – BRING BACK AARON PIERCE!)

Having it take place on domestic land would make more sense production wise, and I have no problem with that as Jack Bauer is all about service to his country. However, going back to Los Angeles seems counter-intuitive as it has been done to death and the East Coast has had its time in the spotlight. So how about Miami? It would be easy to fake that location while still shooting the bulk of it in L.A. and it won’t feel crowded because CSI: Miami, Dexter and Burn Notice are all finishing/have finished.

Plus Jack Bauer looks totally bad-ass with bright sun shining on his aviators. I miss that weather on 24.

http://www.deadline.com/2013/05/kiefer-sutherland-signs-on-for-more-24-new-limited-series-is-a-go-at-fox/#utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Interesting to hear people referring to Jon Cassar on here. Stephen Hopkins was the director of the pilot episode and as well as directing half of the episodes in the first series, kept a close eye on the guest directors for that first season. He gave us the tone and the feel of 24, something which has faded over the eight seasons. Bringing that gritty feel of an old fashioned British kitchen-sink drama, as they’re called here. What started out as a thriller seems to have become a more generic action series over the years. The design of CTU became too slick and glamourous. The first 13 episodes of season one were the best in the show’s history. Not to mention that final episode. The music, as well as the fantastic lighting design and long takes combined to give a very cinematic dimension to a television show. If the producers of 24 are looking to revive this show, this is where they need to start….