Fox Counts Down More 24

Wed., May. 16, 2007 12:06 PM PDT by Gina Serpe

What a difference two days makes.

As 24's sixth season ticks to a close, Fox has announced that its counterterrorism crew—or at least what's left of it after next week's finale—will be back for two more years, or 48 more hours, with Jack Bauer set to keep the airwaves safe through the 2008-09 season.

That, however, may be the extent of the future seasons' similarity with the show's current incarnation.

The renewal announcement comes 24 hours before Fox is slated to announce its entire fall lineup at the upfronts, but 24 was hardly teetering on the brink of cancellation.

While the Emmy-winning serial has been dinged by critics and the Nielsens this season, it remains one of Fox's top performers. The network had already contracted star Kiefer Sutherland through May 2009, making the announcement to renew the series a matter of when, not if.

In recent weeks, producers have hinted that the seventh season, to debut in January 2008 and run uninterrupted through May, will attempt to retool the show.

"We're recreating the series," exec producer and showrunner Howard Gordon tells Variety. "It is going to be a real-time thriller. Beyond that, it's an open book."

Gordon was also careful to note that this season's poor reviews and down ratings were not what prompted the change in direction for the series, saying producers had been toying with the idea of an overhaul for some time.

While the 24 brain trust is keeping characteristically mum on what tweaks may be forthcoming, sources say Sutherland will be back as the world-saving Bauer and that, next time around, his world-saving skills will relocate the setting from Los Angeles, CTU's base of operations since the series' inception. Some reports suggest that producers are even considering telling the new story from two different locations.

And while Sutherland will return, expect major turnover in the rest of the supporting cast. Familiar faces may resurface, but in potentially different roles, Gordon says. (Goodbye, Chloë?!)

Aside from 24, Fox previously announced full-season renewals of House, Prison Break, Bones and 'Til Death for the 2007-08 season. MADtv, meanwhile, has been reupped for 13 episodes. The remainder of the network's prime-time lineup will be announced Thursday morning.

The two-hour sixth season finale of 24 airs Monday night.

For the latest from the network upfronts, check out TV columnist Kristin Veitch's dispatches in Watch with Kristin.