Bauer by Hour: A Capital Idea

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"24" fanatic Matt Swenson welcomes the show to his hometown. Hip, hip hooray!

The following takes place between 8 a.m. and noon

TONY IS ALIVE, a new president is about to invade an African nation and it takes less than two hours for Jack Bauer to ditch a tie.

With the perfunctory out of the way, let's celebrate the biggest news from the return of "24": the producers took this blog's advice! You see, way back when — before the writer's strike that ruined TV — we proposed a move to the nation's capital to refresh the show.

And where are Jack, Tony, Chloe and Bill Buchannan on Day 7? D.C., baby!

More than the sure joy of Jack Bauer protecting our home turf, there are some serious questions that come from this switch.

Is Jack a 2 Amy's kind of guy or is Pizzeria Paradiso his style? Maybe by-the-slice makes more sense given his time constraints, so will he choose Italian Store or Vace's? Is Jack Jewish? Then he could get the matzoh ball soup at Morty's.

Seriously, Jack never ate or went to the bathroom in six years in L.A. But we have so much to offer. And maybe, just maybe, he could could scowl and yell at some Metro exec and get the system running properly for once. Or maybe Jack can just interrogate someone while waiting for a blue line train to arrive. Now, that's torture.

Oh, yeah, so how was the show? So far it's pretty much "24" by the numbers. There has been some decent action, and seeing Jack and company back is like welcoming good friends home. We're still waiting for some big twists and explosion or two. There's still plenty of time, though. Twenty hours are left as we head to the minutes.

» WHO'S NEW?
Bob Gunton, the mean and nasty warden in "Shawshank Redemption," uber-liberal comedienne Janeane Garofalo and character actors Colm Feore and Cherry Jones join the cast.

» RED ALERT
Our first fears of a wretched plot line features Feore, who plays the first man opposite President Cherry Jones. He is investigating the death of their son, who investigators say committed suicide. This, no doubt, is a way to tie-in Jon Voight — introduced as a heavy on the TV movie "Redemption" — but how are we supposed to care about a character's death if we never got to know that person?

» NERD ALERT
Oppositely, the best part of the first four episodes is that Chloe O'Brien may have met her match. The tech genius for the now-defunct CTU is pitted against Garofalo's character. Two wise-cracking nerds is some good television.

» NO SOUL
Where's Tony's soul patch? It must have been 86'd when he "died" two years ago only to be brought back as a terrorist. Is this a betrayal of the character? Almost blowing up planes isn't — he's already on the road to redemption — but no soul patch? C'mon.

» STILL MISSING
We know Voight will appear at some point, but dare we dream of Naked Mandy? No word on Kim Bauer, but Elisha Cuthbert last made news when obnoxious NHL star Sean Avery referred to her in a remark that got him kicked off the Dallas Stars.

» WHY THIS SHOW IS "24" AND YOUR SHOW ISN'T MOMENT
Even as a free agent, and under orders to refrain from prior transgressions, Jack comes oh-so-close to blowing the brains out of a guy with a really weird face. He didn't shoot, but the scene was quintessential "24."

Photo courtesy Fox