'24' Canceled: Fox Ending Show After Current Season

LOS ANGELES — The drama "24" won't be ticking much longer on TV. Fox announced Friday that its action-packed real-time show starring Kiefer Sutherland as anti-terrorism agent Jack Bauer will wind down at the end of its current eighth season on May 24.

Sutherland said in a statement that the show's cast and crew "always wanted '24' to finish on a high note, so the decision to make the eighth season our last was one we all agreed upon." He also said he was looking forward to creating a film version of "24."

The show has received 68 Emmy nominations, winning for outstanding drama series and for Sutherland as lead drama actor in 2006.

"This has been the role of a lifetime, and I will never be able to fully express my appreciation to everyone who made it possible," Sutherland said. "But when all is said and done, it is the loyal worldwide fan base that made it possible for me to have the experience of playing the role of Jack Bauer, and for that I am eternally grateful."

Premiering Nov. 6, 2001, "24" used an innovative real-time, split-screen format to present fast-paced interwoven storylines. Each episode covered one hour of the season's 24-hour story arc.

The first six seasons were set in Los Angeles. Following a one-year break forced by the writers strike, season seven went to Africa and Washington, D.C.

The current season has Agent Bauer thwarting a terrorist attack in New York.

By the end of this season, "24" will have presented 194 episodes, making it one of television's longest-running action shows.

Comments

[alieninvader]

03:34 PM on 03/29/2010

I've never watched it. The idea of watching someone get tortured doesn't appeal to me at all.

[dubious63]

01:28 PM on 03/28/2010

I have watched the show from the beginning and it has been very entertaining. But, this season is a dud a very bad dud...

So, goodbye "24", you won't be missed.

[Plissken]

01:14 PM on 03/28/2010

CONSPIRACY!

[therriman]

12:23 PM on 03/28/2010

They lost me when they drove across the LA basin in 10 minutes.

Please!

[Nonpartay]

12:05 PM on 03/28/2010

I watched the first two seasons and then decided it was just too violent. Apparently, it got even worse after that. Glad I gave it a skip. The concept was clever, but I just don't like watching all the murder and mayhem. It's not good for my mind.

[motoGpifupleez]

12:01 PM on 03/28/2010

I never thought i would see this day come. The Cheneys are NOT going to be happy about this one.
They never got he real world scenario of "The Ticking Timebomb" they have so desperately craved, so this was their one outlet to justify their policies, as well as give their acolytes a taste too.

[EastVillageNYC]

11:57 AM on 03/28/2010

Lately it's been twenty-snore.

[CmdrTomalak]

11:50 AM on 03/28/2010

About time.

[gerontion72]

11:41 AM on 03/28/2010

Canceled? Not if Jack Bauer finds the executive who ordered this and puts his penis in an electrical socket!

[allentothemax]

11:30 AM on 03/28/2010

about time !!! that show has had 8 seasons and 7 of them have been re-hashed non sense.

[TheOuroborus]

10:56 AM on 03/28/2010

It was still on?

[taratata2009]

10:29 AM on 03/28/2010

24 was the platform for GOP garbage poopaganda.

[henrypapillon]

10:28 AM on 03/28/2010

I don't want to miss a show in case a really good plot line develops, but this season to me has been quite tedious. My wife and I had about made up our mind that if something didn't improve by the end of the season, we would not start another.Little develops from one installment of the series to the next, and it is like they have a stack of plot cards like the movement of cards in Monopoly. Pull a card off the stack, do what it says, put the card randomly back in the pile. After a while nothing much is new. And things that could have shown promise of something new and exciting , like Rene and Jack's relationship, or Kim's involvement in the whole thing and possibly some endangerment , were abruptly cut off, like they just didn't have time to rework it correctly. Then the plot with whatshername, Dana?, the one with the long blond hair could have led to some interesting storylines just about what lengths she would go to for her dishonesty of character and to cover her tracks. They scratched all that for a simple subplot that now has her directly involved in the terror movement with the Middle Easterners. It was really good in the seasons with President Logan, his wife Martha, the season with president Taylor's daughter , the black president and the shows with the Iranian (actual) actress who was in House of Sand and Fog.

[keepemhonest]

10:15 AM on 03/28/2010

I stopped watching once O'Really said the tv show 24 is the GOP Foreign Policy Center.

[nickmantas]

10:15 AM on 03/28/2010

I wish the best to Kiefer but that show was a piece of garbage!