'24' is getting good again — or so it appears, anyway

Just when I thought I was out, "24" has pulled me back in.

Almost 20 months after the end of its sixth season (thank you, writers' strike), the seventh season gets off to a rather underwhelming start on Sunday (7 and 8 p.m., Ch. 13). This on the heels of the two-hour TV movie "24: Redemption" — a prequel to the seventh season that was pretty darn dull.

And, given that the sixth season degenerated into a sad, ridiculous parody of itself, I was all set to write the show off altogether.

But then I watched the two episodes that air Monday (7 and 8 p.m., Ch. 13), and, against my will, I'm caught up in "24" once again.

As always, I can't tell you much about what happens in those first four hours for fear of spoiling it for you. But, as we've come to expect, there's some slam-bam action just seconds into Sunday's first episode.

Meanwhile, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is in trouble from those dang liberals in Congress. He's testifying in front of a Senate committee that's determined to find out about all that torture he inflicted over the past six seasons while saving America from one threat after another. And he's about to be indicted because of that behavior.

Gee, you break a bunch of bones and shoot lots of people and this is the thanks you get?

In steps the FBI, which wants Jack to help them track down a new terrorist threat. It seems that his former colleague, Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard), is leading some sort of terrorist cell.

If you're thinking to yourself, "Hey! Wasn't Tony dead?" — you're right. He was. And there's a hokey explanation for how the dead guy isn't dead anymore. Which you just have to accept and move on.

In the history of "24," this is by no means the toughest thing to swallow. There's been stuff a lot less believable than Tony's resurrection, but you just have to sort of swallow it and move on.

Over at the White House, the new president, Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones), is about to launch a military action in Africa to bring an end to an ongoing genocide. (If you saw the "Redemption" movie, you have some idea of what's going on. If you didn't see "Redemption," it really won't matter.) As has been the case with every "24" president — most of whom are now dead or incapacitated — President Taylor has a chief of staff (Bob Gunton) who might not be what he seems.

She also has a husband, Henry (Colm Feore), who's obsessed with proving that their son didn't kill himself — that he was murdered.

The first couple of hours are nothing to get excited about. It's not until Episode 3 when Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and Bill Buchanan (James Morrison) show up that "24" takes off. And, against all odds, the producers/writers may have found a way to make the show different while keeping it the same.

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