Over the years, Jack Bauer and company have faced off against terrorists, turncoats, spies and occasionally a wild cougar or two. But there's one foe too deadly for even Bauer to overcome: ratings.

Now it appears that '24' is about to lose that final fight, as Variety is reporting that the venerable Fox action franchise will likely end at the conclusion of their current season. Though Fox declined to comment on the rumors, its believed that rising production costs and shrinking viewership will lead to an official announcement form the network within the next two days.

'24,' of course, became a pop phenomenon and a critical darling when it first debuted in November of 2001, less than two months after the events of September 11; tapping into the national zeitgeist, '24' revitalized star Keifer Sutherland's career and helped Fox surge from a fourth place afterthought to the leading broadcast network in the country.

(S08E09) Now the clock is really ticking.

Farhad's crew raised the stakes for the season with a plan to set off a radiological bomb in New York. And things finally erupted in a big way with the Dana/Kevin/Cole storyline. Jack got Renee out of the hot seat, but it cost him his plane ride back to his family (again).

The moral of this episode? You just can't trust anyone these days.

Josef stabbed his daddy in the back by stealing the nuclear rods, only to get gunned down by Farhad and friends. Looking to make a big bloody statement, Farhad's goons double-crossed their boss with a plot to use the rods as a weapon. And Weiss set Renee up to take the fall for the mission's failure (I never trusted that guy). Let's talk about that last development.

Heads up, '24' fans: Logan's back. In a reprise of his Emmy-nominated performance as Pres. Charles Logan, Gregory Itzin is set to wreak a bit more havoc this January.

Itzin's character will be a part of a multi-episode story arc, which should come as a surprise to most fans. He was last seen at the end of season 6, flat-lining en route to the hospital. But, as evil often is hard to kill, we learned that Logan survived. At the beginning of season 7, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) was alerted to this fact, but didn't have to worry too much, as his absence was explained by the simple fact of his being on house arrest.

I was playing Call of Duty: World at War with my son the other day (hey, I'm the cool mom), and he said, "You know, that sounds like Jack Bauer." I listened, and sure enough, that unmistakable "Fire!" was indeed Kiefer Sutherland, a.k.a. Jack Bauer on 24.

It's always fun when stuff like this happens, where you recognize a beloved TV character's voice elsewhere. I surfed around YouTube and found a video of Sutherland in the recording studio, along with Gary Oldman, who played James Gordon on The Dark Knight, among dozens of other films.

Early on in 24's run, and long before Fox knew it was going to be a staple of their network and one of their few reliable sources for solid ratings, Kiefer Sutherland talked about the possibility of the show going on without him. But that was before 24 became a phenomenon and Jack Bauer became an icon in his own right. Now, it's hard to imagine the show without him. And there hasn't really been any talk of it lately, but you do have to wonder if Fox isn't thinking about it.

Don't get me wrong, Season 7 is shaping up to be the second best season of the series so far (sorry, I don't think it will be possible to top Season 5), but what Monday's two-parter showed me was that 24 can be just as compelling without Jack Bauer. For the first hour of the night Jack was behind bars or being lead around by Secret Service agents. And yet there was plenty of action and excitement to keep the adrenaline pumping. Annie Wersching is a blast to watch as FBI Agent Renee Walker. Her ballsy dive both onto Juma's boat and off of it was pure Bauer.

He hasn't won an Emmy (although that might change in a little over a week from now) and he's not going to win People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive (although I think he very attractive), but at least Hugh Laurie, the star of Fox's House, is being rewarded in another way -- the wallet.

Laurie is getting a raise in salary to $400,000 an episode. That's not as much as 24's Kiefer Sutherland ($500,000) or CSI's William Petersen ($600,000) or Two and a Half Men's Charlie Sheen ($825,000), but it's pretty darn good.

Whether you think Charlie is worth that much money or Bill (who's actually only going to be in half the shows on CSI in 2008-2009) or Kiefer, for that matter, but Hugh Laurie has earned this raise. He's the center of House, the most important character, and there is no show without him.

Even though 24 isn't actually coming back on the air for another, what is it? Nine years? Ten? (Okay, January '09, but still), there's news coming out about next season. While a very pregnant Mary Lynn Rajskub, who plays Chloe, has already begun filming on Day 7 of the series, Rajskub's impending due date will force her to take a hiatus from Jack Bauer's really long, bad day. So who's going to lie for Jack and help him out with all of his nerd toys? None other than Chloe's sourpuss ex, Morris O'Brian (Carlo Rota).

Morris, who on Day 6 was kidnapped by terrorists, forced to arm a nuclear weapon, slipped up on his sobriety, broke up with Chloe, found out that he was going to be a daddy and got back together with Chloe, will be having some problems of his own come Day 7.

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILER AFTER THE JUMP

To tie us over until 24's seventh season premieres in January 2009 (it's closer than we think), Fox is appeasing us with The Rookie, five-minute webisodes following the adventures of American Counter Terrorism agent Jason Blaine, played by Jeremy Valdez. Check out Keith's post about The Rookie here.

It all ties in with the TV series. Blaine was first seen in 24's fifth season aboard a Russian sub. "If Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne had a love child, it would be Jason Blaine," says co-writer Kevin Townsend in an Associated Press story. "He's a younger, more ambitious, less experienced -- but no less talented -- version of those two characters."

Ok, that's kind of a creepy way to put it, but we get it. Now in its third phase, titled Day 3 - Extraction, the web series finds Blaine sent to Mexico City to rescue his mentor, Alton Maxwell (Eric Beck), who's been kidnapped by drug czar, Estaban Salazar. Remember him? The Salazar brothers were introduced to us in 24's third season.

Fans of 24 will have to wait until January 2009 for the seventh season to commence, but in a move that's likely to be met with cheers all around, Fox has announced that the producers of the Keifer Sutherland action drama are creating a 24 two-hour TV movie which will be a prequel to the next new season. The story will cover the two years between the end of season six and the beginning of season seven. The actors are being cast now, presumably the essential members of the team who survived the previous 24-hours of a nuclear disaster, terrorism, lies, betrayals, shootings and tragedies.

Fox is set to kick off the new season of 24 with a two hour premiere tonight. To get you in the mood, have a look at this list of all the people Jack has killed in his first five days. If you're playing along at home, Jack's kill count stands at 136 going into day 6. Not a bad 120 hours worth of work.

This isn't just any list though. Along with who Jack killed, each entry has a video or picture of the kill as well as the method or weapon. It's well done, and the kind of crazy fanaticism that makes television and the internet a great match. Imagine how hard it was back in the day for Green Hornet fans to track the kills of Britt Reed and Kato.

[ via Digg ]

...himself!

Keifer Sutherland says that the upcoming season of 24 will have everyone's favorite, tired hero Jack Bauer not saving the world, but saving himself, from bad guys who are hunting him around the world and want to kill him.

I think this is a fantastic idea. It would make the show more Bourne Identity and less James Bond. Meaning, more a personal story about survival than a story about bad guys trying to destroy the world. I think I'll even watch this upcoming season, even though I haven't watched any of the other seasons (not a knock against the show. I love spy/action shows, but there was always something else on).

The FOX show returns in January.

[via TV Tattle]

So you missed season four of 24 and feel like you might be left out of the next season when it resumes next year? Well if you've got a full 24 hours in a row of your life to spare, you can check out a full season four marathon of the show on A&E this coming Sunday. The new season kicks off January 8.

(Thanks Ryan!)

Hey, here's some precious casting: Sean Astin is joining 24! He'll play a new member of the team battling the bad guys.

The show is coming back on January 8, which is sort of a happiness/torture scenario for fans. It's too bad fans have to wait until January instead of September for new episodes, but it's good to have it start late (a la Alias last season) because that means a solid 5 months of new episodes with no repeats.

Last night's 24 might not have been the most exciting of the whole season, but it definitely showed the sensitive side of the tortured souls (and torturers) that work at the CTU offices. Tony Almeida has yet another sitdown with Michelle Dessler, which seems to perk her attitude up a bit more, while Jack and Audrey seem to be so far on the outs it's not even measurable. Family ties come into play yet again, as Richard Heller gets connected once more to the terrorists after a cellphone call made to Marwan is found by Chloe. Bringing him in yet again for interrogation seems to be the only solution, and let's just say the plotline twists a little bit there in a direction that was probably a bit unnecessary, to be honest.

The more I watch this show, the more I have three questions: What exactly is Audrey doing there and who made her so self-important, and, how exactly do these folks think they're going to stop a nuclear missile that is on its way to Some City, U.S.A.? Anyone want to clear these up for me? Didn't think so.