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‘24’ Season 7 Review
By Chris Glazier

Season 7 of 24 continues to rejuvenate the hit series by successfully mixing lots of new elements while still keeping true to the original formula. The producers of 24 recognized they needed a big change after the fiasco of Season 6, and they managed to drop many of the tired and worn out parts of the show while still keeping the same spirit alive. That’s a tough thing to do, and it should serve as a guide to many other shows out there that have fallen from their initial success (I’m looking at you, Heroes).

New elements like a different setting, the absence of CTU and an almost entirely new cast of characters, including an awesome new president, have breathed fresh life into the season. Of course, you still have the awesomeness that is Jack Bauer, a terrorist group threatening the United States and a government conspiracy, but it wouldn’t be 24 without those.

Taking the show out of Los Angeles and putting it in Washington D.C. does more for than show than you would expect by making everything seem a little more real. Now instead of a bunch of random warehouses and apartments, we see characters meeting outside the Capitol building. Instead of a fictional organization named CTU, we’re watching the FBI handle the crises. And it always feels more real when the president is making decisions in the Oval Office rather than a generic underground bunker.

Speaking of presidents, new commander-in-chief Allison Taylor is the best we’ve seen since the glory days of David Palmer. Played with just the right amount of toughness and sensitivity by Cherry Jones, this is a president who won’t back down to terrorists but also won’t go to ridiculous extremes.

The other new element of the show that really works is the emphasis on examining the methods the good guys will go to to get their results. After several seasons with ridiculous amounts of torture without any questions being asked, it’s nice to see a few Americans stand up and at least question whether it’s right to go to these extremes.

Of course the familiar elements are nice to have as well. They limited the selection of older characters to only the best, including a brought-back-from-the-dead Tony Almeida. I don’t really care how ridiculous it was for him to be alive, I just like that I have a little Tony back in my life.

Hopefully 24 can continue its new trend and stay fresh throughout the rest of the season. It’s good to have it back.