"Well, part of the fun is obviously Jack isn't just fighting terrorists," Gordon said. "He's fighting bureaucracies, so the complications of bureaucracies is part of the fun. I think people can relate to it.

"This is kind of like 'The Office' in some ways," he joked.

SUTHERLAND ASSURES US that Jack actually does eat and sleep during the "24" hours each season, we just don't see it.

"In every year I've eaten at least once and (executive producer) Joel Surnow has cut it out," Sutherland said. Same thing with sleep, because in every season "I have even been sitting in surveillance in a car and fallen asleep — he's cut that out.

"I even used the bathroom once and he really cut that out."

IT'S TRUE — KIM Bauer (Elisha Cuthbert), Jack's daughter, will be back on the show sometime this season.

"Yeah," Gordon confirmed. "She's out in the woods with a cougar."

Just kidding, of course. There won't be a replay of the much-mocked cougar incident from Season 2, when the Perils of Kim reached their nadir.

"She's coming back," Gordon confirmed. "We can't tell you how. We can't tell you for how long. We can't tell you how it ends. But, other than that, we can tell you anything."

Except that there will be "no cougar, no amnesia — but the cougar will have amnesia."

---

E-mail: pierce@desnews.com