24

When 24 is firing on all cylinders, it is the best show on television, hands down. Its gripping premise (each season is 24 hours long with each episode being 1 hour) combined with contemporary topics (terrorism) make it a wild ride.

The tv show does have its flaws though. In its first season, they ran out of ideas for Terri Bauer (Jack's wife) so they gave her amnesia and had her run around town for a couple of episodes. They eventually rectified this solution, however, when they had Nina Myers, Jack's trusted confident and ex-lover, betray him and kill her in the single best episode of the series.

Season 2 had two glaring problems. One problem is that they ran out of ideas half way through the season. The first half the season saw the hunting down and the eventual stopping of a nuclear bomb in the city of Los Angelos. In the second half, unfortunately, the writers resorted to the "its those evil oil men who want to rule the world" nonsense and the series suffered immensely (it's ratings have never recovered).

The second problem was Jack's daughter. Kim, also known around the internet as "bouncy bounce," is a stupid, dull, dimwitted yet incredibly "hot" teenager. In season 1, they had Kim kidnapped 3 times, had her arrested for being in a drug deal she had nothing to do with, had her get into a catfight, had her almost raped 4 times, and well, you get the idea.

So in season 2 they tried something different. In that season she was mauled by a couger, almost raped by two people, got herself stuck in a convenience store with a crazed loonie, and had her shoot her first rape assailant because she was dumb enough to go back to his apartment to "pick up her clothes"

Clearly, 24 had to things to work on for season 3.

So far they have delivered. The terrorists are the bad guys, not the oil men (at least so far!). They are clearly presented for what they are, cold blooded killers, and the series does not play the PC game. (I can't remember the last time a network show had its main character say "Your constitutional rights no longer exist.")

Kim has been banished to a desk job at CTU and has barely been visible (Except, of course, for the occasional bouncy bounce every couple of episodes.) But now the series creators have decided to give her something to do with the actual plot. I don't mind this (if her good looks can be put to good use, well, Good), but I do suggest one thing:

Kill her and kill her painfully. She is so dumb that I just don't care if she survives or not. "Festa, does this mean you don't like the short skirts and blonde hair?" No it doesn't. But I know plently of short skirts and blond "hairs" that also have a mendula obligata to go along with their more "material" features and I don't need her taking away from the real object of the story: stopping the virus from killing millions of people.

For the love of God, please kill her.

24 is on Tuesday nights at 9pm on FOX.