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• Saturday, February 16, 2008 03:55 PM

  Back to "reality"

  As public opinion about the Iraq War turned south, the show's depiction of torture came to be seen as glorifying the practice in the wake of real-world reports of waterboarding and other interrogation techniques used on detainees....
  
  As President Bush's approval ratings began to sink so did ratings for season six, which ran from January to May 2007, dropping steadily month by month....Undoubtedly "24" was showing its age, as all TV shows do, but the producers believed the public mood was quickening the decline.
  
  It was a painful time. As allegations surfaced of prisoners being tortured by members of the U.S. military, producers felt themselves on the defensive. Mr. Gordon says he wasn't prepared for how strong the associations had grown between "24" and the growing political maelstrom....
  
  The new season would introduce a female character, someone like Jack but at an earlier point in her career. Jack's made certain choices and is willing to pay the price, but this character's soul is still in play.
  
  The writers decided to scrap the Counter Terrorist Unit, the government agency for which Jack worked for the first six seasons of the show. Instead Jack would go to Washington to address head-on the accusations that his tactics were out of line....
  
  http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB120189888101136151.html

  —EJ Read EJ's other letters
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