'24' review

(Credit: Kelsey McNeal/FOX)

Bummed over that torrent of work you’re scrambling to finish in the post-holiday crunch? Stop a moment, take a deep breath and think about the busy day Jack Bauer is about to have.

As you’ve no doubt come to expect, the new season of "24" starts bright and early one American morning with an unfortunate national security snafu. A notable politico gets kidnapped, hackers raid secret government files, someone comes back from the dead (with an agenda!) and CTU is MIA all in the first hour. The premiere presents itself as an intimidating four-hour, two-night event, but the only difficult thing to keep track of is all the new faces.

Janeane Garofalo and Carly Pope are just two of almost a dozen recognizable TV vets joining the cast. And while Hillary may have lost out to Obama, African-American presidents are old hat for "24." Look for Cherry Jones to join the cast in a major way as President Allison Taylor. On the job training sure can be rough...

The buzz: It's been a while since we had a solid dose of "24." The writers' strike completely derailed production of the seventh season, so aside from that TV movie before Thanksgiving, this week’s premiere is the first we’ve seen of the series since spring 2007. 

The verdict: The charms of the show’s excessive split screens and countdown clock are long gone, but after seven seasons, Jack Bauer's love of going renegade and rejecting any sort of jurisprudence has grown kind of comforting—you know, as much as counterterrorism can be.

Did you know? Long absent starlet Elisha Cuthbert reprises her role as Jack’s daughter Kim for a five-episode stint later this season. She hasn’t appeared on "24" since a season five cameo and hasn’t been a regular since season three.

The two-night, four-hour premiere of "24" airs Sunday, Jan. 11, and Monday, Jan. 12, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX.

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