Time may be up
for Fox drama '24'
The word: The eighth-year drama will end in May
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Mar 11, 2010
After year after year of saving the world, Jack Bauer may soon get a much-deserved break.
Word is Fox will cancel his long-running show, "24," following ratings declines in its eighth season. Barring an unlikely pickup by another network, "24" will end in May.
The show, produced by 20th Century Fox TV, was considered a likely candidate for cancellation coming into the season because of its high price tag and diminishing ratings, though a long-rumored "24" movie could yet come to the big screen.
Yesterday Variety and The Wrap both reported the show's imminent cancellation, and Fox is expected to confirm it in the next few days.
There's a very outside chance that NBC, which is desperate for reliable scripted programming after "The Jay Leno Show" debacle, could pick up "24." But that's considered a long shot, considering the franchise would be in its ninth year and ratings would likely fall further.
"24" is averaging a 3.4 rating this season, according to Nielsen, but this week its rating fell to a 2.8, losing 42 percent of "House's" lead-in.
The show will leave quite a legacy if this is indeed its final season. Launched in 2001, shortly after 9/11, "24" follows counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer on one high-adrenalin, crime-fighting day after another.
What makes the show unique is its set-up: It's shot in real time, with each episode representing one hour of a 24-hour day. Bauer rarely gets any sleep, but he usually gets the bad guy, or gal, in the end.
The show has won Emmys and Golden Globes for acting and top drama, and it was a staple on critics' top 10 lists during its first few seasons.
But "24" was arguably one of the shows hit hardest by the writers' strike two years ago, which forced Fox to postpone season seven for an entire year. Ratings never bounced back from that delay.
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