Tag Archives: 2014 TCA winter press tour

Mark your calendars: FOX sets a return date for ’24’

24 fans, perk up! A new day is upon us. FOX resurrects 24 with series players Kiefer Sutherland (protagonist Jack Bauer), Mary Lynn Rajskub (Jack’s right-hand analyst Chloe O’Brien), Kim Raver (Jack’s former lover Audrey Raines), and William Devane (once US Secretary of Defense James Heller) on Monday, May 5 at 8PM. Like all proper 24 premieres, this special “event series” dubbed Live Another Day will have a two-hour launch and then the following Monday it will play out in 24‘s old 9PM timeslot.

The latest logline goes like this: “Set and shot in London, the suspenseful event series once again will follow the exploits of heroic agent Jack Bauer as he attempts to thwart an unthinkable terrorist attack that could change the world forever. Retaining the real-time, nail-biting, fast-paced format with split screens and interweaving storylines.

At the winter TCAs more details leaked out about the highly anticipated return of 24. The season takes place four years after the events that unfolded in season 8, and Jack is still on the run but this time in London. “He is still a fugitive who he has been hunted–and he is still hunted,” spilled EP Manny Coto. Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck) plays Kate Morgan, the CIA agent hunting down Jack. “Jack is not quite Osama Bin Laden, but he is someone to be captured,” continued the EPs. “And when Jack reenters the story on his own terms, we will learn he has a mission. Whether it’s good or dark we don’t know, but this CIA agent [Kate] is determined to catch him, and as she gets closer and closer to him, Chloe O’Brien reenters the picture.”

“Chloe and Jack are pitted against each other due to a set of circumstances,” revealed Sutherland at the press event. Turns out Chloe has “turned herself against the government” and it will take some convincing on Jack’s back to bring her back into the fold. “There is no Chloe without Jack,” remarked Rajskub, so I’m guessing it won’t take long to get to the happy reunion we’ve all been waiting for.

What else? When we reenter the world of 24 Devane’s James Heller is now President of the United States. And what of his daughter Audrey? “When we last left Audrey, she was in a very bad place with Jack, so [in the years that have passed] she has come out of the ‘wilderness.’ But the interesting thing will be, when Jack reenters the picture, how will she react to that?” pondered EP Evan Katz.

If you don’t have time to watch up on 24 between now and May it’s no problem according to EP Howard Gordon. “You can actually pick this series up without having seen Season 8, or any of the show at all,” he said. “The benefit of coming back four years later is that those four years need to be explained, so the exposition will not come off as exposition but a justified moment of characters catching up,” added Sutherland.

And of course there was discussion of the oft-rumored 24 feature film. “The script for the film is very, very different,” Sutherland shared. “[Live Another Day] was the opportunity that presented itself to us first, and it’s a fantastic idea. And if this ends up rebooting the show or causing the film to be made, so be it.”

Those’ll be words to make any 24 fan very, very enthused. Now here’s that date again: 24: Live Another Day premieres May 5 on FOX.

[Via TVLine; EW]

FOX announces new direction for ‘Glee’: it’s off to NYC!

At the Television Critics Association winter press tour, FOX head Kevin Reilly made a major announcement regarding Glee‘s creative direction: the second half of the musical dramedy will be set exclusively in New York City. No more bouncing back and forth between William McKinley High in Lima, Ohio and Rachel, Kurt, and Santana’s loft in NYC. Reilly explained how the creative shift will work:

“Creatively, it would ridiculous if everybody moves to New York,” he said. “This season, there’s going to be a graduation [from McKinley High]. Several of the cast members will move on, and a few others will go to New York.” For those characters who don’t transfer over to the NYC setting, it won’t be the last time you ever see them. They “will arc back in when we do special episodes. They’ll always be a part of it. The way it’s going to dovetail next season, we’re going to see some familiar faces coming around in some capacity.”

Though Reilly and show creator Ryan Murphy are keeping mum on which characters will remain, there is one that will most definitely be staying. “As long as there’s a show, there’s Jane [Lynch],” commented Reilly; Sue Sylvester is coming to the city that never sleeps.

In closing, Reilly confirmed that the next season of Glee–it’s fifth–will be its last and that Murphy is already hard at work on what’s in store. “We do have [the show] through next season and that will be the final season,” said Reilly. “[Murphy’s] got some fantastic ideas on what we’re going to next year for the final year.”

Glee returns with new episodes on February 25.

[Via TVLine]