The Pen is Mightier Than The Bomb

The writer’s strike has done what six seasons full of international terrorists have failed to do: put Jack Bauer down.

Fox has announced that season seven of 24 has been postponed, indefinitely. When the strike is over and the season has completed production, they’ll reschedule so that it can air uninterrupted. I believe they’ll be filling the timeslot with repeats of House.

It’s not a surprising move when you stop to think about it. The structure of 24 requires a complete season of 24 episodes, one per hour for a full day of story. It’s a show that can’t get by with a shortened season.

Will this start a chain reaction, though? Could other shows with serialized plotlines (I’m looking at Lost) follow suit? Time will tell.