"Lock the doors and close the blinds -- we're going for a ride..."

Don't read any further if you haven't seen last night's "24" and you don't want anything revealed...

Does anyone remember the old 1982 TV series "Police Squad?"  It was the precursor to the "Naked Gun" movies starring Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin. It was a half-hour comedy with the same look and feel (and cast) to the movies that simply didn't catch on at the time.

Anyhow, they had a running gag in their opening credits:  A "special guest star" would be announced each week -- Lorne Greene, William Shatner, William Conrad, Florence Henderson, etc. -- but would end up getting killed right during those same opening credits, not to be shown during the actual show. (My favorite one was William Shatner avoiding a burst of machine gun fire only to drink a glass of poisoned wine.  And there is, of course, the rumor that John Belushi had recorded one of those special guest shots which was never aired because he died right before it was supposed to have aired.)

This was quite reminiscent to last night's "24." Which, although it became quite predictable towards the end, was pretty good. And shocking right at the beginning.

Opening credits: "Special appearance by: Dennis Haysbert." I knew that he has his own series starting on CBS in March, so he probably wouldn't be around very long on "24." But I didn't expect him to get assasinated within the first five minutes.

"Speical guest star: Reiko Aylesworth." I found it interesting that Carlos Bernard (Tony Almeida) was in the cast, but that Reiko Aylesworth (Michelle Dessler) was not. So -- after she went out to her car and the scene focused on Tony in the house, I started fearing for the worst. BOOM! What a shame. She was cute in that Alison Stewartesque kind of way...

Oh -- and is it just me, or has Chloe become, dare I say it, hot?