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.

I'll stop there so as not to give too much away.

I have to say, however, that — despite the favorable words you just read — I am cautiously optimistic at best about the upcoming season of "24." Because we've gotten burned before.

After watching the first four hours of the most recent season of the show, I wrote that the show "remains the most exciting, surprising, jaw-dropping, edge-of-your-seat show on TV."

That was true — for the first four hours. But, 19 hours later, Season 6 had turned into a disaster. And, just before the finale aired, I wrote:

"This is the season '24' ran out of gas. Became a pale ghost of itself. Plagiarized itself. Went from occasionally silly to just plain stupid.

This was always a show you could never think about too hard or it would just collapse because of the improbable nature of its story lines. But that didn't matter because it was such an exciting roller-coaster ride.

Now that the excitement is gone, all the improbable plot twists just look ridiculous."

Certainly, there's a chance that could happen again. Maybe a better-than-even chance that it will happen again.

But there's also hope that "24" has regained its footing.

I planned on telling you that "24" was toast. That it wasn't worth wasting your time on.

But I've changed my mind after seeing the two episodes that air on Monday. Hopefully, I won't regret getting caught up in "24" again.

e-mail: pierce@desnews.com