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

Well, I've gone ahead and watched the first four hours of this season of "24" which premieres next Sunday evening.  (Gotta love the Internets and the manner in which these things get leaked.) So far it's quite intense (not surprising in the least). It looks like it will be, yet again, another amazing season chronicling a day in the life of CTU's Jack Bauer.

I've decided not to spoil any of the plot or storyline -- but I do want to let you know a few things:

* In past seasons, there's some event / crisis which kicks off at the beginning of the day which catalyzes subsequent events. This year it's a bit different:  the crisis has been ongoing for quite a while already, and we're just thrown right into the middle of it. I like the way they've done this.

* This season, the day begins at 6am and goes until 6am.  This, of course, is Los Angeles time; there are a lot of cutbacks to Washington, DC where the president happens to be.

* I wouldn't really count this as a spoiler because it's pretty much common knowledge as it is -- but I'll still mask the text in white-on-white for those of you who don't want to read it.  The president is Wayne Palmer, brother of the late-President David Palmer who was assassinated at the beginning of last season. There are quite a few interiors of the Oval Office, and you can see photos of the Palmer brothers together.  Hey -- speaking of the family Palmer, Regina King plays Sandra Palmer -- David and Wayne's sister. She has a pretty substantial role.

* So far I've seen great performances by Peter MacNicol (John Cage on Ally McBeal, Larry Fleinhardt on Numb3rs, and Janozh Poha in Ghostbusters II) and Kal Penn (from both Van Wilder films as Taj Mahal; and Kumar in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle).  Both of them completely depart from their comedic roles to play it serious -- and they both do a fantastic job of it. Scott William Winters' role is a small one, but he delivers well as usual.

* Chloe O'Brian at CTU is such a whore. I'll leave it at that.  Let's just be glad that Edgar Stiles isn't around to judge her...

* The first two hours will certainly have people talking on Monday morning. But after seeing hours 3 and 4 the next night, I can guarantee that people will be even more blown away.

Enjoy the show. I'll be back to talk about it next week.