I am – Hercules!!

Here’s what we don’t get in the first four hours. No Charles or Martha Logan, no Aaron Pierce, no Audrey Raines, no Kim Bauer, no Naked Mandy, no Soul-Patch Tony, no Ricky Schroeder, no Paul McCrane, and no sporty jacksack. And we don’t yet meet Jack’s father or brother.

You’re not likely to notice their absences. What happens in the first four hours of “24’s” sixth season, which takes up all of the Fox network’s primetime schedule Sunday and Monday, compensates splendidly.

We do meet Wayne and David’s lawyering sister (Regina King), and her boyfriend, played by Harry Lennix, the “knuckle-up” guy from the “Matrix” movies. We reconnect with “Deep Space Nine’s” Alexander Siddig, who plays the handsomest terrorist in the history of terrorism. Kal Penn, who played one of the title roles in the stoner movie about White Castle, plays here a teen of Mideast descent who finds himself menaced by neighbors enraged at the escalating series of deadly terrorist attacks on American soil. Peter MacNicol appears in all four hours, and presumably a fifth, despite the fact that he already has a full-time job as a regular on CBS’ “Numb3rs.”

And the Jack Bauer of season six is not the Jack Bauer of seasons one through five. Before he spent two years being tortured in a Chinese prison camp, Jack incessantly found himself making tough choices, but always seemed to make the best ones.

Not so much anymore. As season six begins, Jack hasn’t said a word in two years. He is covered in horrifying scars. He doesn’t know Wayne Palmer is now president. And Jack’s instincts are shot; he no longer makes the right choices. He is a Jack Bauer who, mid-mission, can fall weeping to the ground in front of all the other government agents.

I’d love to reveal more but Fox might stop sending screeners (and I might be tempted to rip the episodes off the bittorrents like everybody else).

I will say this: It’s hard to imagine that people will be talking about much else come Tuesday morning.

How does it end, spoiler-boy? “There’s four more of these things out there.”

And what matters Herc’s opinion?

USA Today gives it four stars (out of four) and says:

… that's what you get with Sunday and Monday's four-hour return: TV's top action/adventure, reinvented once more, the same and yet completely, thrillingly different. … what's remarkable is that 24 still finds so many ways to surprise us, to take our knowledge of how things are done and turn it against us. Once again, it's a hugely enjoyable if daunting lesson, for anyone planning a serial, on what a serial should be. ……

Entertainment Weekly gives it a “B” and says:

… This year could finally be Jack’s year to fascinate – the surefire man, unsure. Otherwise, this round of mayhem has little to differentiate itself. … 24 just needs to let its strongest character get weaker.

TV Guide says:

… 24's first four hours, airing over two nights, aren't quite as electrifying as last season's opening act. CTU is less fun minus some of last year's casualties, and watching Chloe's ex, Morris (Carlo Rota), squabble with middle manager Milo (Eric Balfour) is truly tiresome. But none of these problems diminish the pulse-pounding pleasures of watching 24. The nastier things get — and by the end of the fourth hour, this day is an absolute nightmare — the more we love it and dread that moment when the clock strikes a new hour, signaling the episode is over. …

The New York Times says:

… Every new season of this Fox thriller is another twist of a kaleidoscope: the same pieces — terrorists; counterterrorists (and, almost inevitably, a mole); an innocent suburban family; and the president, his aides and his family — are tumbled together to form new patterns around the central figure of the special agent Jack Bauer. And that makes the four-hour, two-part premiere on Sunday and Monday both comfortingly familiar and strangely gripping. …

The Chicago Tribune says:

… A story line about a hostage situation and several of Jack’s narrow escapes feel familiar, if not recycled, but “24’s” writers are so expert at taut pacing that such déjà vu moments slip by fairly painlessly. In any case, “24’s” secret weapon — the thing that makes the show’s fans positively antsy for Monday nights — is in the fact that the show isn’t just an action thriller: There are many other layers to get lost in.
… this addictive thriller provides one of the most cogent public discussions of newsworthy topics more frequently discussed in weighty opinion pieces and in Page 1 stories.

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… That "24" could be seriously considered for Emmys and Golden Globes is incomprehensible, not to mention wrong, but that doesn't make it any less addictive and entertaining. Season 6 proves that the best part of "24" is its ability to make your pulse race as you sit slack jawed in front of the bastard machine mumbling, "They didn't just do that, did they?" There are at least four of those moments in the first four hours, including a plot twist that is not only ill conceived and unbelievable, but will certainly annoy the bejesus out of faithful viewers. But that, in turn, helps create the "anything can happen" environment that "24" has cultivated.…

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… once again, it's heart-in-your-throat time. This show consistently grabs your innards, shakes and doesn't stop. And the year opens with a darker and more disturbing story line than ever … This remains a superb, positively riveting TV drama, however repetitive the themes and grandly implausible the scenarios. Just don't ask me to say any more. …

Variety says:

… The four episodes previewed are far from flawless, but even with their lapses and excesses, I can hardly wait for the next hour. … It spoils nothing, too, to say the show delivers a couple of visceral jolts on its second night -- the kind necessary to maintain a real sense of jeopardy. Through such moments, "24" provides the best of both worlds -- thrilling escapism that invites you to check your brain at the door, and events that can be contemplated, off and on, until the train boards again 167 hours later.

8 p.m. Sunday and Monday. Fox.

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