The 24 Hiatus

As most of you have likely heard, Fox has put the new season of 24 on hiatus until next season as the producers feel that it wouldn't be fair to fans of the show to produce a shortened version of the series this year due to the writers' strike and likely, such a shortened series would likely also be detrimental to the ratings, as there are many people, myself included, who were disillusioned with the show during and after its sixth season.

Of course, the thought that occurred to me is that because there have been episodes of the series already filmed and because of the show supposedly takes place over a single 24 hour period, I wonder if the producers will refilm those episodes or if they don't, if there is perhaps a clause in the contracts of those involved that they cannot change their appearance... say if they were offered a part on the stage or in a movie in the interim. Such a clause would have made perfect sense under the tight shooting schedule the show originally had, but with the right decision to postpone the seventh season until what is likely going to be January 2009, I wonder if any of the major players are going to be in a bind now, as they have other work that they do when the show is not in production and if they are constrained by such a contract stipulation in this situation, well, they are basically screwed. Hopefully an arrangement can be made to work around such a potential problem for those who work in live theatre, performance art and stand up comedy outside the show

In the absence of 24 this season, I thought I would present this "unaired" pilot of 24, courtesy of College Humor, just to hold us fans over.

Tags: 24, casting, writers strike, hiatus, stand up comedy, college humor, contract, clause, television, scripts, delay, mary lynn rajskub, janeane garofalo, performance art, sutherland