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This article describes exactly what it is that had made 24 lose its fun side: The fact that the show dispenses with all the little touches that originally played off of its real-time novelty.
In the first couple seasons, Jack would interact with the bit-part people in a way that you could imagine actually happening. Now the show is trying so hard to top itself with action and torture, the writers don't ever stop to just let a scene have some little unusual quirk or dimension. In season 1 there's a scene where Jack explains his problem to a stranger and she takes him in, only to turn him in once she has a chance to get away. That was interesting because there was tension over whether she believed him or not. Now Jack would just whack her behind the neck so she'd pass out -- problem solved, but in a boring violent way.
I also miss the pains the early seasons went to to make the "real time" novelty authentic. They'd use the other split-screen boxes (when going into and out of commercials) to show that other characters were eating meals, bathing, and doing things that people do during the less-exciting moments of an exciting day. Now the writers have given up on details and artistry. The show is all meat (the action and excitement), no vitamin-rich veggies (those little things you savor and remember afterward).
Also, does Kiefer Sutherland's character have to be so humorless? I know stopping imminent terrorist destruction and conspiracy isn't lighthearted work, but couldn't they give the man more problem-solving options than "shout in a hoarse voice," "give suspicious temporary buddy a gun with no bullets," "broadcast cell-phone image of gunmen's position," and "throttle attacker repeatedly"? In "North By Northwest," Cary Grant gets away from bad guys at an auction house by pretending to be the most obnoxious auction bidder of all time. It was suspenseful and funny all at once. "24" has lots of cliffhangers, but all the parachutes are the same 3 colors.
I'm glad for every ounce of personality in the peripheral characters like Chloe. I wish "24" would invest more in taking chances with tone and approach. They seem to have distilled everything that works until it's so pure, it's monotonous.
