• Network: FOX
  • Series Premiere Date: Nov 6, 2001
  • Season #: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8
Metascore
67 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 19
  2. Negative: 3 out of 19
  1. Reviewed by: Verne Gay
    100
    Four immensely enjoyable hours. Alas, I can't speak to what happens during the remaining 20.
  2. 88
    After two flabby seasons, the Fox action series is back in bang-up shape. [25 Jan 2010, p.41]
  3. 88
    Though the premiere's twists are not as shocking as in years past, better ones are coming, and quickly. Trust me, the show has not lost its ability to surprise--or even to make you gasp.
  4. 80
    The first four hours are good. Very good. Certainly, 24 fans will enjoy them.
  5. That plot crystallizes through a pair of two-hour episodes, Sunday and Monday nights, and at times it crystallizes slowly.
  6. It's an old story rolled out with all the power of the new--meticulously plotted, irresistibly suspenseful.
  7. Reviewed by: Paige Wiser
    75
    The new season is solid - things really get good once Renee Walker (Annie Wersching) returns and contributes her unique expertise. But overall, I do have a few complaints.
  8. Reviewed by: Ken Tucker
    75
    You can never tell how the uneven days of 24 will vary in quality, but here's hoping the show keeps doing all the right things it does in these opening hours.
  9. For some, it has become a mostly predictable, tired pattern that causes eyes to roll. But for those who can still check their critical capacities at the door--even after seven seasons--24 continues to make for pulse-pounding, nail-biting comfort food.
  10. 70
    If it’s not an ingenious or very new device (see: Nina, Tony, Curtis, et. al.), the damaged soul who is Jack’s Self Reflected re-raises and continues to complicate the questions that are typically understood as resolved in Jack. Patriotism and heroism, bad choices and hideous torture in the name of a big picture: it’s 24 repeating.
  11. Despite the repetitions, the first four episodes are slick, fast-paced and engrossing, but that’s not new either.
  12. Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    70
    24" works best when the show doesn't take itself too seriously -- incorporating just enough sobering geopolitics to establish a credible foundation before indulging in wild flights of counterespionage fancy. Moreover, having one villain drive the plot for a handful of episodes before being supplanted by another has added greater satisfaction and closure to the program's high-wire storytelling.
  13. Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    70
    Stick around past the disappointing opening night, and on Monday, you’ll get a terrific third-hour cliffhanger and, in hour four, the arrival of a seriously damaged Renee Walker (Annie Wersching), who contributes to a shocking climax that, in fabled 24 tradition, leaves you wanting more.
  14. Reviewed by: Hank Stuever
    60
    Well, here's "24" again, with a renewed sense of dot-connecting purpose (fictional, yet symbolic) and a two-night premiere, Sunday and Monday -- a rollicking four-hour chunk in which the series seems on track to rediscover some of its original verve.
  15. 50
    This “24? seems more realistic than usual, and it offers many exciting moments. Yet there are many familiar distractions that underscore how “24? has aged. All in all, the new season is a mixed bag.
  16. From these four hours it's clear there are few new stories or twists for the show to employ. It's time has come and gone.
  17. 37
    The show's few interesting actors get little to do and the new characters aren't that compelling. Pass.
  18. 30
    In short, after watching the first four hours, I can tell you that the eighth season of 24 does not look good. You know how much I adore this stupid show, but please, don't waste your time.
  19. By the third episode, though, we've gone off the rails with another low-level blackmailer somehow getting over on an employee at the supposedly powerful and secretive CTU, and with Jack getting caught up in a plot-delaying detour that's even dumber than the survivalist who held Kim hostage for a few episodes in season two.
User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 70 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 19
  2. Negative: 1 out of 19
  1. ChrisC
    2
    24 has apparently fired the last of it's good writers and hired nothing but cheap hacks. It's also shed the last of it's believability and completely lost it's unpredictability. Full Review »
  2. After watching every episode of every season, the 8th and final season of 24 follows a similar path of previous seasons. Something terrible is about to happen or has already happened, and the president of the US calls on Jack Bauer to be a part of the solution. While the backdrop feels a little more cookie-cutter this time around and maybe a few episdes in the middle seem to take the eye off the ball, it's the conviction in which the actors portray their characters and the less gimmicky feel of the plot over the 24 episodes that makes this swan song feel good once it finally closes. It won't be the best season of 24 for most fans, but it certainly ends up being worth the time when the final timer counts us out. There aren't many shows out there getting it done as well or as consistent as 24 does. For that, it was certainly a pleasure to ride along all this time. Full Review »
  3. 10
    I actually liked this season the best, even with the uninteresting characters. I thought it had a darker context and something other than nukes and bioweapons. The bigger picture was a lot better placed, and Jack is driven by vengeance instead of political crap. It's still a russians and arabs hate america thing but, stereotypically, they do. Full Review »