This post was written between 12:00 and 1am.

Although I'm sort of enjoying the current season of 24, it's beginning to feel more and more like a guilty pleasure. The plot elements are becoming less believable, and it's beginning to make me worry that it'll soon jump the shark.

This week's episode--which I just viewed tonight, thanks to the trusty ReplayTV--is a prime example of how bad the show is getting. In this episode, Jack attempts to track down Habib Marwan before the next stage of his diabolical and mysterious plan goes into effect. Marwan has already proved to be the luckiest terrorist in existence, having been hired by the nation's biggest defense contractor without submitting to a background check, and having escaped from CTU about a dozen times due to their own blundering and in-fighting. This week, he was the beneficiary of even more of that idiocy. When CTU finally locates him (and remember, they've been hunting him for about ten episodes now), they decide to only send in about a half dozen guys, and all through the front door. "When we bust in, he'll head down this hallway," Jack states, pointing at a map of the building. "And that's where I'll get him."

Unsurprisingly, Marwan does NOT go down said hallway, and easily walks out the side door. Great plan, Jack.

But Jack Bauer isn't the only stupidhead this week. An FBI agent is sent to the apartment of one of Marwan's associates. She knocks on the door, announcing herself as FBI, but there's no answer. Realizing the door is open, she pulls out her gun and slowly enters. "Hello? FBI?" she meekly announces, stepping into the living room. Looking around, she doesn't see anyone--in the ONE room she's been in--so she holsters her gun and begins to make a phone call. She's immediately shot dead by the assassin hiding in the nearest room.

Is that how they're teaching FBI agents to clear a room? The "if one room's empty, they're all empty" technique?

These examples are just par for the course this season. Apparently, after stopping earth-shattering disasters from occuring in each of the first three seasons, the real CTU agents have all taken some much-needed vacation, leaving behind some weak imposters. And just like the unnamed, red-shirted ensign on the Star Trek landing party, each minor CTU field agent has paid for his cluelessness with his life.

But it's not just the field agents that are sucking it up. The home office seems to be staffed only by greedy, paranoid and genuinely unstable malcontents who would rather haggle salaries or fight over credit than save the world. Oh, and did I mention that there was another traitor working for CTU this year? Not counting Gael, who was only pretending to be a traitor last season, I believe that makes three wolves in sheeps' clothing in four seasons. Fool you once, CTU, yadda, yadda...

Another thing that makes me think the show is heading south is the use of torture. Every second episode, there's a torture scene. You might find Jack administering shock therapy with a laptop battery, or twisting the knife in an injured villain, or a CTU staffer experimenting with sensory deprivation and verbal abuse. I can't even count the number of people who've been denied their right to a free trial and have been sent straight to "Mr. Fixit" on this show. They've even tortured a couple of people seemingly just for kicks. Secretary Heller's son was tortured while they were trying to find out if he was involved in the Secretary's kidnapping. The results were inconclusive, and the boy hasn't been seen since. Boruz, the son of a terrorist, was tortured to give up his father's whereabouts. He also knew nothing, and has since been written out of the show. Heck, Paul the cuckolded husband was tortured by Jack, the guy who stole his wife, and still comes back to save the day (and Jack's life). Apparently, torture ain't so bad in the world of 24.

Are the writers simply trying to express the mental agony involved with having to come up with such implausible events, season after season? Or do they just like to hear people scream? Either way, the torture's starting to become...well, torture.

In discussions that took place last season with other family members and friends who watch 24, I came up with some suggestions on how they can extend the show's life and continue the tension without going off the deep end. Well into the fourth season--although how far in is difficult to determine since they stopped letting us know how many hours have passed--I still think these tricks would work.

First off, they need to kill off Jack Bauer. He's already died once (his heart was stopped in season two, I believe), so it wouldn't be anything new. Whatever they decide to subject him to now would be unbelievable, anyway. He's already done it all. And rumor has it that Kiefer, himself, proposed the death of Jack while they were shooting the first season. That may be the first time in history that an actor has suggested killing off his own character.

Once Jack is gone, they also need to leave LA and forget about CTU--at least this branch of it. The drama between Tony and Michelle was stale last season. Chloe's whining is becoming repetitive, and no other CTU characters have any charm. Plus, it's unbelievable that LA would be the source of every major attack on the US government, while terrorists totally ignore, oh, I dunno, WASHINGTON DC. I suggest they leave CTU LA behind and set the next season in another major (or minor) US city. Or, better yet, they set the whole show on another continent.

It may sound like a radical shift, but what if the show was about a soldier who got separated from his platoon in Iraq during a raid, and only had 24 hours to catch up to them before he was left behind? Or what about a situation where a terrorist was planning something for a world summit in London, and a multinational group of experts had to stop him? Yes, the locations would be expensive, but imagine the great accents on the international cast! My point is that disasters and violence happen in other places besides LA, and the show may not be able to survive another season of drama in that same city with the same unlucky people.

Something definitely needs to be done, before they start working in UFO plots and bringing people back from the dead for sweeps week.

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On a somewhat unrelated note, while I was watching 24 tonight, about three minutes of the show were interrupted by an Amber Alert, breaking news of a missing child. It caused me to miss a key plot point, but I'm not at all complaining. How can you? God forbid that one of my children should ever go missing, but if they do, I'd whip the ass of anyone who suggested his/her viewing pleasure shouldn't be interrupted for the sake of the kid. I hope the missing little boy is already back in his mother's arms.