3. Keep The Soap Opera To A Minimum
Mary Lynn Rajskub was always fantastic as Chloe O'Brien, and it was good news to hear of her confirmation for the new series. It would be strange to imagine Jack without Chloe, though the presumption is that Chloe is in custody after series 8's conclusion so it is hard to see what story arc there is for her character. Hopefully it's not a case of shoehorning her in there for a point of familiarity, as they did with Kim after the first few series. Actually, that should be another requirement in itself-no more Kim plesse. A less welcome return was the news that Kim Raver is returning as Audrey Heller, Jack's doomed love from series four, five and six. That's nothing against Raver personally, who happens to be a fine actress, but if there's one thing that 24 tends to handle badly it's relationships between the characters. While Jack and Audrey started off as a welcome plot device hat motivated Bauer's actions at the start of series four, they had become a tedious distraction by the end of series 6. It's far less enjoyable to see Jack moping around like a lovestruck teenager, and it's not really what we tune in for. The less said about the antics at CTU, which has to be the most hormonal building of anti-terrorist agents in the history of television, the better. That's not to say that Jack has to be utterly robotic, mind. One of the pleasures of season eight's partial return to form was the subtle and underplayed romance between Jack and FBI Agent Renee Walker. Maybe the writers have already learned their lesson in this respect?