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Heather asks: "The question is, why do the writers think that the stakes are automatically high when there's torture involved?"
I'm kind of surprised that no one here has pointed out that 24's principal Executive Producer is Joel Surnow, who is also the creative wizard behind Fox News' latest atrocity "The Half-Hour News Hour" with guest stars like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter.
What the heck do you expect out of it? Yah, Monday's twist of Jack risking "world war 3" just to free Audrey (as many of us asked, who let her out of the bank?) was surprising, but actually the biggest twist was in making it clear that VP Cheney, er um, I mean Daniels gets to be President for the rest of the season *because* that incompetent President is "blackmailing" him (just like Scooter!). Yep, while its held back from going full-blown wingnuts (probably because those liberal advertisers would unfairly punish them!), Joel is as far as you need to look to explain a lot of the stupid right-wing-friendly plot features.
Yes, its been the consensus for a while that 24 has "jumped the shark" (check out Tim Goodman's blog at the SF Chronicle where its been a hot discussion topic), but that happens to most series after 6 or 7 seasons. Its really hard to be a Gunsmoke or Simpsons...
