Brian Damage
05-04-2007, 10:32 AM
By ADAM BUCKMAN
Writers promise to give Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) better planned storylines next season.May 3, 2007 -- WITH viewer complaints on the rise and ratings on the decline, two producers of "24" are acknowledging they blew it this season and are vowing to do a better job next year.
In separate interviews published this week, the producers said the current, sixth season of the Fox suspense series has been "challenging" and "tricky."
One of them - co-executive producer David Fury - admitted the season was poorly planned, forcing producers to end its principal storyline earlier than they had hoped.
That plot concluded on April 9 (the 17th "hour" of the show's 24-hour "day") with the death of Abu Fayed (Adoni Maropis), the Arab terrorist behind a plot to detonate a series of suitcase nukes in American cities.
Then, just as that story ended, a new one began as the show's hero, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), learned his lady love, Audrey Raines (Kim Raver), was being held captive by the Chinese.
To many fans of "24," the new storyline felt tacked on, which it was.
"We're going to figure out a little bit more [of the plot before production on the new season gets underway] so we don't find ourselves in later episodes running into that problem," Fury said in an interview with the trade publication Television Week that was posted on the pub's Web site, tvweek.com. "There'll be a little bit more groundwork done that hopefully will sustain [the show] for an entire season."
The sixth season of "24" started Jan. 14 with great fanfare. Just a few months earlier, the series had won five Emmys, including Best Actor (Sutherland) and Best Drama.
This season's two-hour premiere drew nearly 15.8 million viewers, but the ratings have fallen almost every week since then as viewers complained that this season's plot was too similar to those of past seasons.
Last week, on April 23, viewership hit a season low of 10.4 million. This past Monday, it had nudged up to 10.9 million - a loss of one-third of its audience since January.
"It's been a very tricky year for us; it's been very difficult," Fury told Television Week. "You try to keep things interesting, find new ways to tell the story, and unfortunately we wound up repeating ourselves somewhat."
Separately, executive producer Howard Gordon promises to "reinvigorate" the series next year.
"I don't dispute it's been a challenging season to write for us," he told the Los Angeles Times this week. "But it's reinvigorated our determination to reinvent the show. This year could be seen to be the last iteration of it in its current state."
He declined to say what the changes would be.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/05032007/tv/its_jack_bow_wow_tv_adam_buckman.htm
Writers promise to give Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) better planned storylines next season.May 3, 2007 -- WITH viewer complaints on the rise and ratings on the decline, two producers of "24" are acknowledging they blew it this season and are vowing to do a better job next year.
In separate interviews published this week, the producers said the current, sixth season of the Fox suspense series has been "challenging" and "tricky."
One of them - co-executive producer David Fury - admitted the season was poorly planned, forcing producers to end its principal storyline earlier than they had hoped.
That plot concluded on April 9 (the 17th "hour" of the show's 24-hour "day") with the death of Abu Fayed (Adoni Maropis), the Arab terrorist behind a plot to detonate a series of suitcase nukes in American cities.
Then, just as that story ended, a new one began as the show's hero, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), learned his lady love, Audrey Raines (Kim Raver), was being held captive by the Chinese.
To many fans of "24," the new storyline felt tacked on, which it was.
"We're going to figure out a little bit more [of the plot before production on the new season gets underway] so we don't find ourselves in later episodes running into that problem," Fury said in an interview with the trade publication Television Week that was posted on the pub's Web site, tvweek.com. "There'll be a little bit more groundwork done that hopefully will sustain [the show] for an entire season."
The sixth season of "24" started Jan. 14 with great fanfare. Just a few months earlier, the series had won five Emmys, including Best Actor (Sutherland) and Best Drama.
This season's two-hour premiere drew nearly 15.8 million viewers, but the ratings have fallen almost every week since then as viewers complained that this season's plot was too similar to those of past seasons.
Last week, on April 23, viewership hit a season low of 10.4 million. This past Monday, it had nudged up to 10.9 million - a loss of one-third of its audience since January.
"It's been a very tricky year for us; it's been very difficult," Fury told Television Week. "You try to keep things interesting, find new ways to tell the story, and unfortunately we wound up repeating ourselves somewhat."
Separately, executive producer Howard Gordon promises to "reinvigorate" the series next year.
"I don't dispute it's been a challenging season to write for us," he told the Los Angeles Times this week. "But it's reinvigorated our determination to reinvent the show. This year could be seen to be the last iteration of it in its current state."
He declined to say what the changes would be.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/05032007/tv/its_jack_bow_wow_tv_adam_buckman.htm