Tradecraft: Latest 24 Reboot Attempt to Focus on Young Jack Bauer

Ever since 24 went off the air following its eighth season in 2010, Fox execs have been looking for ways to bring it back. For years they tried to develop a feature film based on the real-time TV series (which I'd still like to see happen!), then eventually brought it back in 2014 as the summer limited series event, 24: Live Another Day. That 12-episode format proved to be a vast improvement on the previous 24-episode format, and after star Kiefer Sutherland announced that he was done playing Jack Bauer, they tried it again with the Bauer-less reboot/revival/sequel series 24: Legacy. That incarnation didn't quite live up to their ratings expectations, but they immediately started plotting another strategy. There were rumors of abandoning the counter-terrorism theme altogether, and rebooting the show as a legal drama that kept only the real-time format. (Indeed, when the series launched in 2001 and the producers weren't certain where it would go, one idea was to make it a real-time anthology show. To that end, Imagine Entertainment optioned The Da Vinci Code as possible source material for a second season of 24. Obviously, that book blew up and instead Imagine turned it into a big screen feature.) Apparently the legal thriller idea (written by longtime 24 producer Howard Gordon and Jeremy Doner, and said to focus on a female lawyer trying to save a client from death row as the clock ticks down) remains a possibility, but Deadline reports that Fox is simultaneously developing another new incarnation of 24 as well: a Jack Bauer prequel series.

Written by Gordon (Homeland, Legends) and original 24 creators Bob Cochran (La Femme Nikita) and Joel Surnow (The Equalizer), "it is said to be in the vein of the original and will trace the origin story of CTU agent Jack Bauer," the trade reports. The network presumably sees this as a way to revisit the iconic, fan-favorite character without depending on Sutherland's involvement. I'm a little torn on this idea myself. While the possibility of seeing Jack Bauer as a young agent in the waning days of the Cold War is certainly appealing (assuming that's the direction they go, rather than rebooting entirely with a younger Bauer active today. a la NBC's Taken prequel series), I just can't imagine any actor beside Sutherland taking on that role. It will all depend on casting. If they can find the right actor, I suppose it just might work.... And who am I kidding? I'll watch a real-time spy series set in the late Eighties no matter who it stars!

Tradecraft: Another Year, Another 24 Revival Rumor

It's a tradition that every year at the Fox upfronts (the event where networks unveil new series to advertisers), some executive teases the possibility of a 24 revival. Some years, that happens, leading to the excellent Kiefer Sutherland half-length reunion series, 24: Live Another Day, and the single season of "CTU: The Next Generation," 24: Legacy. But most years, nothing comes of such talk at all. (Like last year's rumors that the real-time format would be kept for another new incarnation, but the counterterrorism angle would be ditched altogether in favor of a female-driven legal drama.) This year was no exception to that rule. Deadline reports that, "during Fox’s upfront press call, chairman Dana Walden revealed that 24 executive producer Howard Gordon (Homeland, Legends) is working with 24 creators Joel Surnow and Bob Cochran on a possible new iteration of the real-time drama. The network and 24 producers 20th Century Fox, Imagine TV and Gordon had been discussing new ideas for a 24 series since the end of 24: Legacy last season, including a female-led legal thriller earlier this season. Walden would not elaborate what the new [premise] is, but noted that 'we are very excited about where the show would go.'" Make of that what you will. Most likely it means nothing, but it does remind you that it's very hard for a network to let a good idea go entirely. Sutherland has sworn that he'll never again play Jack Bauer... but spy fans know when to say "never again." (Sutherland made that definitive statement when he had another show, but Designated Survivor was just cancelled, so perhaps that will change things.) What I would love to see is for Bauer to return for another 12-episode season (which works so much better than the 24-episode format, which always sags in the middle) and team up with Corey Hawkins' next-gen CTU op from Legacy along with all the fan-favorite familiar faces (most essentially Chloe and Tony, the only original series cast member to show up on Legacy)... but each leaving their annoying family members behind. I just hope that Gordon, Fox, et. al. realize that 24's real contribution to the genre is not its real-time gimmick (which wore thin by Season 2, honestly), but the character of Jack Bauer, who belongs in the pantheon of the great spy heroes. Find a way to get Jack Bauer back in action, in whatever format Sutherland will agree to do!

The 24 Clock Starts Again Tonight After the Big Game

The long-awaited 24 revival, 24: Legacy, premieres tonight following the Super Bowl on Fox. Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton, Kong: Skull Island) stars as former Army Ranger Eric Carter, who finds himself reluctantly following in Jack Bauer's CTU footsteps when followers of a terrorist leader killed by his team come after the team on their home turf. (Wasn't that more or less the exact same plot as the first season of 24 with Dennis Hopper? I guess they figure if it worked once...) Miranda Otto (Homeland, Lord of the Rings) co-stars as Rebecca Ingram, former director of CTU now on the campaign trail with her Presidential candidate husband John Donovan (Jimmy Smits). Carlos Bernard provides continuity with the original series as fan favorite Tony Almeida. Like the excellent previous revival, 24: Live Another Day, 24: Legacy will be just 12 episodes/hours of real-time action, as opposed to the 24 of the original series. This is a great thing, because at 24 episodes the show used to consistently lag in the middle of the season. This was not a problem with Live Another Day, and I don't expect it will be one with Legacy.

[Trailer removed]

New 24: Legacy Trailer; Carlos Bernard Returns as Tony Almeida

Fox has released a new trailer for the upcoming spinoff/sequel 24: Legacy. I'm kind of surprised how much it looks to be retreading the plot of 24's first season (or was it the second? the one with Dennis Hopper), but it still looks great, and I can't wait! As 24: Live Another Day proved, twelve episodes suits this format so much better than twenty-four. While Jack Bauer won't be around for this installment, Deadline reported earlier this month that another beloved 24 alumnus would be back. Carlos Bernard will reprise his role as former CTU badass and sometime bad guy Tony Almeida. You can be forgiven if you were under the impression that Tony was either bad, dead or in jail, because he's been all of those things at the end of various seasons. But there was a special feature on the DVDs of 24: Live Another Day in which Tony is seen escaping from prison. He's not in this trailer, though, so no doubt his reappearance will come at a surprising moment during the new season.

[Video removed]

Sutherland Says He's Done With Jack Bauer

Although notoriously fickle on the subject, Kiefer Sutherland's latest stance on another outing for his signature character Jack Bauer is decidedly unpromising. The actor told the BBC (via Dark Horizons) this week that "24 is definitely over now for me. It's one of the greatest gifts I've ever been given as an actor, but it's moving on without me. I want to do other things." He goes on to say that he'd like those other things to also be on television. If he sticks to this resolution, I'll be sad. 24 is great not because of its real-time format (which was groundbreaking at first, but had become tiresome already by the third season), but because of the Jack Bauer character, undoubtedly one of the greats in the pantheon of spy television. As he mentions, Fox is currently exploring options to continue the franchise on television without Sutherland or Bauer. That's a shame, because last year's "event series" 24: Live Another Day proved to be one of the show's most rewarding installments. The 12-episode season suited the material so much better than the previous 24-episode seasons, which always sagged in the middle, forced to employ lame subplots to eke out an entire day's worth of real-time episodes. But what I'd really like to see would be for Jack Bauer to return on the big screen... and then keep returning every few years until Sutherland, 47 (and already a grandfather on the show), becomes too old to shout, "Dammit, Chloe!" Fox put a lot of effort into developing a 24 movie in the years between the regular series going of the air and the miniseries comeback, but they ultimately amounted to nothing. If the hangup was figuring out how to make the real-time format work well in just two hours, I say they should just drop it. What I want to see in movies is that character, not that format. Jack Bauer could sustain a whole series of features without any storytelling gimmicks needed.

24 to Continue With Younger Lead?

Last year's limited series revival, 24: Live Another Day, was a creative and commercial success. Since then 24 fans have been hoping for another 12-hour limited series event. Sadly we're not getting one this summer. But the beauty of the limited series format as opposed to an ongoing TV series is that there doesn't have to be a season every year. Fox can produce them as the cast and crew are available. The rarer they are, in fact, the more of an "event" they become. A schedule like that also helps keep the series from getting stale. Especially if each season is set in a different city around the world, as Live Another Day took place in London. In my opinion, the 12-hour length served the real-time series so much better than a full 24-episode season, or 24-hour day. Many a season of the original series got bogged down halfway through only to rebound in the end. Live Another Day simply cut out that sagging middle, and gave us twelve propulsive, action-packed hours. So personally I've been hoping that we see Jack Bauer return again in a couple of years for a 12-episode (or even fewer) limited series set in Moscow or someplace. But, sadly, it doesn't look like Jack will necessarily be part of the equation in the next 24 event series. When Keifer Sutherland first indicated that he wasn't ready to commit again to any sort of regular TV schedule, we heard rumblings starting in January that Fox might be looking for ways to continue the show without him. Now it appears that they've found one.

Series producer Howard Gordon (Homeland) has confirmed to TV Line (via Dark Horizons) that the current plan involves Jack Bauer passing the torch to "a new, twenty-something male terrorist hunter." According to the site, "While there are no current plans for Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack to appear, it’s entirely possible his iconic character could pop in and out on a guest-star basis. The project would find the new male antihero working alongside an older, more seasoned female agent (not Yvonne Strahovski’s Kate Morgan [from Live Another Day], although she also may also appear)." The spinoff would begin as a limited series in the vein of Live Another Day, but should it prove successful might turn into an ongoing drama.

Hm. I have mixed reactions to this news. While I do think the 24 format could easily focus on new agents and new threats, a lot will depend on how those agents are written and the actors who play them. Because for me, the main appeal of 24 as a series is not its patented real-time format. (By its final seasons on the regular Fox schedule, that format felt like it had become more of a hindrance to the writers than an asset.) It's the character of Jack Bauer, one of the best TV spies of all time. Specifically, it's Keifer Sutherland in that role. Personally, I would be far more likely to follow Jack Bauer into a different format (like a feature film, as was in the works for several years before being scrapped in favor of the miniseries) than watch a new agent chained to the same real-time format. But as long as they stick with shorter seasons and don't try to fill in every hour of a whole day, I think the format can survive. I just think Sutherland's shoes are awfully big ones for someone to have to fill.

If a new CTU agent does take over, however, I hope we see some of Jack's support staff return—particularly Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub, who appeared in Live Another Day) and Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard, who turned up in a short that appeared on the Live Another Day DVD). I'd also like to see Chuck star Strahovski's CIA agent Kate Morgan return, and I'm kind of disappointed that they aren't considering her as a potential lead for this 24 spinoff series. But I like the series, and I really liked Live Another Day, so I'm sure I'll end up tuning in for whatever they come up with. And a limited series with another star doesn't man Jack won't still return down the line, when Sutherland's good and ready. It would be kind of cool if we end up with a new agent leading an ongoing 24 TV series with occasional appearances from Jack Bauer, and a simultaneous, James Bond-like series of theatrical features (ideally not beholden to the real-time gimmick) starring Sutherland as Bauer!

Sutherland on 24's Future

24 star Kiefer Sutherland talked to The Telegraph (via Dark Horizons) about the future of his iconic character Jack Bauer. And, to hear Sutherland tell it, that future doesn't look too bright. Then again, he's got a history of being a bit of a downer on the subject. When the cancelled show returned to Fox as a summer "event series," 24: Live Another Day, there were rumors that it could live on as a series of miniseries. (And it worked way better as 12 episodes, in my opinion, so I hope it does.) Or even that the long-gestating 24 movie, which had gone through a series of fits and starts since the end of the eighth season, was still in the cards. Sutherland seems to shoot down those ideas, telling The Telegraph, "Me, I don't see going back to it. We had set out to do 12 episodes [of Live Another Day] to end the show and deal with some of the past history of the show. It was also an irresistible opportunity to go shoot in England. So for all of those reasons it made sense to do that last season." But even the actor himself realizes that when it comes to reprising iconic spy roles, it's best to listen to Micheline Connery and never say never, admitting, "I think I said the same thing at the end of Season 8. So I would hate to be held to that." Hopefully he can be convinced to return again, either for another limited series or a movie. Jack Bauer is such a great character that it makes a lot of sense to revisit the format every couple of years during the summer. Plus, fan-favorite supporting character Tony Alemeida (Carlos Bernard) was frustratingly absent from Live Another Day, but made a surprise appearance in a DVD and Blu-ray bonus feature that seemed to portend his return should the series come back in any form, and many fans would love to see that happen. So let's hope Sutherland changes his mind....

Awesome Teaser for 24: Live Another Day as Miniseries Assembles Impressive Cast

Fox has released a really awesome new movie-style trailer for the upcoming 12-episode 24 "event series," Live Another Day, showcasing its new London setting:

Deadline previously reported that Chuck's Yvonne Strahovski will spy again alongside Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer, and in a
separate story that the great Stephen Fry will play the British Prime Minister and Tate Donovan will play the White House Chief of Staff. Deadline later reported that Bond alum Colin Salmon (Tomorrow Never Dies, Die Another Day) had joined the project as an American general.

Here's a previous trailer:

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More Intel on the Format of the Reconstituted 24

Fox Chairman of Entertainment Kevin Reilly offered  further information on the exact format of the all-new, back from the dead, reconstituted incarnation of 24 (entitled 24: Live Another Day) returning next year to Fox. We already knew the network's signature real-time action series would be back as a 12-episode miniseries rather than a 24-episode season, but how would that change the one hour of TV equals one hour of real time daylong scenario? Reilly told Crave Online (via Dark Horizons) that the story would still unfold over the course of the day, but certain hours would be skipped. Producer Howard Gordon clarified that scenario for the website previously, saying, "We’ll keep it a 24 hour story but we’ll tell 7-8, 8:15-9:15, 10-11 and then skip 3 hours if we need to. I think it’s going to actually make us not have to do the pretzel logic of some of the stuff." That sounds like an excellent plan to me. Not only did it always take me out of the action a bit whenever Jack Bauer managed to get from one side of L.A. to the other in less than the duration of a single episode in the middle of the day (an impossible feat given this city's traffic), but I felt like the seasons always sagged in the middle as the writers struggled to fill out the day. There would generally be a slam-bang beginning and a terrific conclusion, but in the middle things tended to drag a bit and we were stuck with situations like Kim being menaced by a cougar. Reilly, apparently, felt the same way, explaining that the miniseries format will provide the patented 24 experience we want without stretching the story too thin.

"Howard has always said, he always had 12 great ones, it was the next 12 that used to kill them.” Now that shouldn't be an issue. Not only that, but with the ability to skip hours of travel time, the new format opens up the series to more international locations. "This is going to be set in an international setting," Reilly told Crave. "They’ve got great ideas. I love doing it this way. I have been really heartened by the amount of equity left in the show. I am stopped by fans all the time, thanking me for bringing it back." Great! I can't wait to see Jack Bauer tearing it up overseas! That's what I was hoping for from the 24 movie that never got off the ground. It would be great to see a new 24 "event series" every summer for years to come, with Jack in a different international city each season.

In addition to Kiefer Sutherland, The Hollywood Reporter confirms that Mary Lynn Rajskub will also be back, reprising her fan-favorite role as Chloe, Jack's indispensable CTU support tech, without whom he couldn't have foiled half the terrorist plots he managed to foil, or opened up half the sockets he managed to open. ("Open up a socket, Chloe!" was one of Jack's favorite things to whisper-yell into his cell phone.) So far, those two are the only familiar faces to be cast in 24: Live Another Day, and Reilly says the rest of the cast will probably be filled out with new characters. I don't know; I think they need to bring back Tony Almeida, too...

24: India Trailer

Here's something pretty awesome to keep 24 fans going while we anxiously await our first glimpse of Jack Bauer's return in Fox's upcoming 24: Live Another Day. Reader Silent Hunter left a comment on my original 2011 post about the Bollywood version of Fox's classic real-time series alerting me that the trailer for 24: India is now online! It's in Hindi, of course, but you should be able to follow the gist of what's going on and appreciate the distinctive 24 style even if you can't understand the language. I'm a little surprised that it appears (from what I can tell, anyway) to be a fairly direct remake of the first season of the American 24. I was hoping it would be a brand new storyline specifically tailored to the Indian setting. (Though that Season 1 storyline is pretty universal anyway.) If they continue directly remaking the seasons, I hope a tiger terrorizes the Kim character in Season 2! That's automatically cooler than a cougar! 24: India will air on Colors TV and stars Anil Kapoor, who played President Omar Hassan on Season 8 of the American 24, as the Indian Jack Bauer, Jai Singh Rathod. Bollywood megastar Kapoor (who spy fans will also recognize from Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol) loved his 24 experience and worked closely with producer Howard Gordon to secure the rights to an Indian version. Here's a taste:

Sadly, it seems unlikely that non-Hindi speakers will ever have a chance to see this series in its entirety, but I remain hopeful that maybe there will one day be a DVD set with English subtitles. I'm very curious!

Tradecraft: 24 to Return to TV?

Ever since 24 went off the air in 2010 (was it really that long ago???), Kiefer Sutherland & Co. have been trying to revisit his iconic character, CTU agent Jack Bauer, in a feature film. I was really looking forward to seeing that. I felt that the real-time format of the TV show had grown tired (though it really bounced back in its final season), but the character was way too good to let go. Therefore, spinning him off into a film series seemed ideal. Well, that never happened, sadly. But there's good news for Bauer boosters yet! In a surprising move, Deadline reports that 24 may see new life on television... as a miniseries! (Or, as they call them today, as a "limited series event.") The trade blog reports that Fox, having cancelled Sutherland's most recent series, Touch, is keen on reviving 24 as a limited series. I like that plan, too. Jack Bauer's adventures don't have to take a whole day to conclude. Surely some terrorist threats are solvable in 6 or 8 hours? But if it's only 8 episodes, will the title have to change? (Unlikely.) Granted, there's no word yet on whether or not the new version would even retain the original show's real-time gimmick at all. I'd be totally cool with seeing Bauer taking on terrorists in a more traditional format. Like I say, it's the character that appeals to me, not necessarily the gimmick. Longtime 24 showrunner Howard Gordon has gone on to have all sorts of TV success since the show ended, including producing the amazing, amazing spy drama Homeland and executive producing the upcoming TNT spy series Legends. According to Deadline, it was Gordon who hatched the latest comeback plan and pitched it to Fox. All of this is not only surprising, but pretty darn awesome. I love that the TV model has changed so much that an American series can return a few years after it goes off the air in a slightly different format. I'd love to see 24 miniseries of varying lengths come on every couple of years. They really would be events, like the network wants, and we wouldn't get burnt out on them. (I got burnt out on the regular-length seasons around 4 or 5, and found that there were often only 12 good hours in a Bauer day anyway.) And who knows? Maybe the renewed exposure will put the film version back on track, too. But Jack Bauer is too great a character to fade away.

Tradecraft: Howard Gordon Teams With Shaun Cassidy for Family Spy Pilot

Here's the third spy pilot script ordered by Fox in the course of a week: Deadline reports that spy TV veteran Howard Gordon (24, Homeland, TNT's Legends pilot) and Shaun Cassidy (Cover Me, American Gothic) have teamed up to create an "adrenalized" adventure drama about a "dysfunctional" family of spies for Fox. According to the trade blog, "the untitled project centers on two former CIA operatives — now married with teenagers — who are forced to face their past when their identities are exposed and they’re nearly killed. Now they’ll need to start over, under new cover, this time with their children in on the secret as they tackle cases, come together as a family, and elude those who would rather see them dead." Cassidy will pen the pilot, and he and Gordon will executive produce. This is the third spy script Fox has ordered in a week, following Anonymous (which also pairs two veteran producers with different specialties) and The Prodigy.

Review: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century: 2009 Featuring Some of the 20th Century's Greatest Fictional Secret Agents

Famous fictional spies have made appearances in several recent volumes of Alan Moore's epic literary mash-up comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. James Bond got rather unfairly skewered in 2007's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier, which also featured appearances from Hugo Drummond, George Smiley, Q, Callan's Lonely and a young Emma Peel—as well as references to Felix Leiter, John Drake and Callan's Toby Meres. Last year, Simon Templar, Jason King and the Sean Connery incarnation of 007 made cameos in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1969. And even more spies turn up (in more substantial roles, too) in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century: 2009, out this week!

For regular readers of this series, which began as a sort of Victorian-era Justice League teaming the likes of Mina Harker, Allan Quatermain, Dr. Jeckyll and Captain Nemo before spanning centuries to incorporate scores of other characters from fiction, film and television, part of the fun is spotting all the cameos and figuring out who certain characters (sometimes remaining nameless due to copyright regulations) are supposed to be. If you count yourself in that category, then you may wish to read no further until you've perused the book yourself, because I'm going to reveal some of the spy characters populating the latest volume. But I'm not planning to spoil any plot details.

Century: 2009, the final part of the "Century Trilogy," takes place (obviously) in 2009. In keeping with the modern Bond films, M (the nomenclature is a fixture of the series) is now a woman. In a rather delightful twist, however, we soon piece together that this elegant older woman is Emma Peel! (She even keeps a framed photo of Steed on her desk.) Em (get it?) has grown disillusioned over the years with the original James Bond (Moore's supposed take on the literary 007, whose character actually bears no resemblance to Ian Fleming's creation, even if artist Kevin O'Neill nails the physical appearance), but because of his notoriety it's suited her to continue to employ "increasingly younger stand-ins" who carry on his name and number. These stand-ins, codenamed J1 through J6, of course bear the respective likenesses of Sean Connery (the version of 007 seen in the last volume), Roger Moore (perhaps supposed to be Simon Templar himself recruited to fill the shoes of James Bond?), Timothy Dalton (in the weakest likeness), Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig (in the best likeness). Later in the story, Emma comes to the rescue in a Rolls Royce along with appropriately aged companions Tara King and Purdey! (This version of Purdey is a clever amalgamation of Purdey and Joanna Lumley's Absolutely Fabulous character Patsy.) In what reads as a very nice sort of epilogue to The Avengers, Emma explains that they're all very loyal to each other, adding, "I suppose it's that we all used to be in love with the same man." Soon enough Cathy Gale is also in the picture, but this version of Cathy also owes something to another famous Honor Blackman spy character: she "has some experience as a flight instructress" as well as some lesbian tendencies! Lesser spy cameos in the book (I mean lesser in that they don't have speaking roles) include Spooks' Harry and Ruth, 24's President David Palmer and Burn Notice's Michael Westen (by reference, anyway) and, in a particularly amusing single-panel appearance, The Prisoner himself, Number 6.

Moore is clearly fond of The Avengers, so he treats them pretty well. As I said above, the portrayal of the ladies of The Avengers is really quite moving, making this comic a must-buy for fans of that series on the eve of Steed and Emma's official return to comics in Boom!'s upcoming Steed and Mrs. Peel series. As he made abundantly clear in Black Dossier, however, Moore has no love whatsoever for James Bond, and therefore treats him rather ruthlessly. (I have to say, I was disappointed that someone who's clearly so well read and such a lover of classic adventure fiction as Moore would rely on preconceived notions about Fleming's Bond based more on trendy, ill-informed lit-crit and some of the early movie appearances than the actual novels themselves. Among the myriad slanders he levied against 007, he made the character a habitual woman-beater. Had he read Fleming's short story "The Hildebrand Rarity," Moore would know that Fleming's Bond disdains such men.) The original Bond, now in his 90s, is subjected to one final insult... but nothing so bad as in Black Dossier. In fact, I was quite amused to see a nonagenarian "Sir James" wheelchair-bound and breathing through an oxygen tank (thanks to "cirrhosis, emphysema and syphilis..." all in all a much fairer portrayal of the original Book Bond!), but still looked after by a comely nurse nonetheless.

In this volume, Moore's misdirected outrage is mainly reserved for Harry Potter. Poor Harry is portrayed as something much worse than 007, and jabs at J.K. Rowling about "sloppily-defined magical principles" like "a child's idea of how [things] work" take on a definite pot-kettle quality coming from the creator of this very universe we're reading about, equally brilliant and equally flawed—especially when it comes to sloppily-defined principles. (See: the "Blazing World" in Black Dossier, a haven for fictional characters within an entire universe populated exclusively by fictional characters!) Despite these jabs, however, the jeers at Harry Potter's expense seem a bit more good-natured than those directed at James Bond. Alan Moore's primary problem with both of them, it seems, is that they're too modern for his liking, and therefore part of a declining culture that's "fallen apart... by becoming irrelevant."

I love Alan Moore's writing. He's produced some of the greatest literary works of our modern declining culture, among them Watchmen, V For Vendetta and even the aforementioned Black Dossier, every bit as brilliant as it is flawed and the true masterpiece of the League series. But he's become a grumpy old man. (Okay; perhaps he was always a grumpy old man.) His recent outrage at the idea of DC producing new comics without Moore's involvement about the characters he created in Watchmen seemed more than a little hypocritical coming from a man who's made a career out of appropriating other authors' characters (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Lost Girls) and putting them in predicaments that almost certainly would have appalled those authors! And if he truly believes that Harry Potter represents the nadir of Western Civilization, then I suspect he's either suffering from a bout of jealousy or else he really does believe that culture of the past will always remain infinitely superior to culture of the present day. And if that's the case, then I'm not sure it's culture that's fallen apart by becoming irrelevant... or the author himself. I think there's a tendency among cultural historians and particularly pop culture historians (especially those who write blogs about it, speaking of pots and kettles) to elevate the past at the expense of the present. I'm as guilty of it as anyone; I admit that I, too, would generally prefer a spy film or TV show from the Sixties to one from this decade. However... that doesn't mean that I completely close my mind to the idea that a great one could come along again at any moment. (See: Homeland. Or Casino Royale.) I don't think anyone should ever do that. Because when you close your mind that much, that's when culture truly falls apart. Not when a woman with a ridiculously fertile imagination creates a magical world that resonates so much with an entire generation of children that her books succeed in luring them away from their consoles and back into bookstores for the first time in ages.

But I digress. Am I reading too much into this comic book? Perhaps; perhaps not. Moore's writing encourages such obsessive analysis. But at the end of the day, whatever the author's agenda, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century: 2009 still rates among the most entertaining comics I've read this year. And despite his thinly coded complaints about the state of popular culture, I believe that entertainment is still Moore's primary goal with this series. Here, he succeeds admirably, and I would recommend this book (indeed, the whole Century trilogy) to any spy fans (especially Avengers fans) or fans of classic literature and popular culture in general.

Tradecaft: Legends Still Alive at TNT

Deadline reports that TNT’s current development slate contains two spy shows that we’ve heard about before... but not for a while. Legends, based on the Robert Littell novel, was first announced in 2010 when it was on NBC's development slate, but the network passed and it looked dead. Producer Howard Gordon (whose spy experience includes 24 and Homeland, the latter of which was my favorite new spy show of last year) said as much in an interview last year. But, apparently, it's not dead after all! It's in development again at TNT, and here's how the cable network describes it: "The story follows a deep-cover operative named Martin Odum, who has an uncanny ability to transform himself into a different person for each job. But his own identity comes into question when a mysterious stranger suggests that Martin isn’t who he thinks he is." The novel got good reviews, and I'm on board for anything Gordon puts his name on after being blown away by Homeland. He's joined on Legends by Mark Bomback (Agent Zigzag) and by his Homeland collaborator Jeffrey Nachmanoff (Traitor, American Assassin).

Also still in active development at TNT is the Tom Clancy drama we first heard about last fall, Tom Clancy's Homeland Security, but Clancy is no longer listed as a writer as he was when the story first broke... just an executive producer and part of the title. According to the network, "this event-based procedural written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach and set in Tom Clancy’s world of espionage pits a select team of domestic intelligence operatives against enemies within and without, from narco-traffickers and nuclear terrorists to cyber-criminals and human smugglers." Not spy-related, but still probably of interest to readers here, is another series on the slate based on Ross McDonald's Lew Archer novels from The Closer creator James Duff and Close to Home creator Jim Leonard. Tying it in to spies, Peter Graves played Archer in a 1974 pilot, The Underground Man, which failed to go to series. Bear in mind, of course, that not all of these TNT shows in development will even make it to pilot, let alone series. Still, I'm rooting for them! Especially Legends.

Tradecraft: Homeland Returns September 30

Deadline reports that Showtime has set a premiere date for the second season of Homeland: September 30 at 10pm. I'm marking my calendar already. That probably indicates that the Season 1 DVDs and Blu-rays, currently available for pre-order on Amazon but still unscheduled, will come out some time in the month preceding the premiere. And if you haven't seen Homeland, not only is the DVD worth watching; it's actually worth subscribing to Showtime to see the series live! Simply put, Homeland is amazing. I truly believe it's the best dramatic spy series since The Sandbaggers in the Seventies (or since Smiley's People if you count miniseries). Seriously, it's that good, and if you like your spies in a more realistic vein, it's a must-see. I can't believe how spoiled we are with quality spy shows right now. Between Homeland and Archer, we've got the best spy drama since the Seventies and the best spy comedy ever (yeah, it beats Get Smart) on cable right now. How cool is that? All we need now is a great new escapist spy series, in the vein of The Avengers or Mission: Impossible, to complete the trifecta...

Tradecraft: 24 Movie Back On Track?

Deadline reports that the hot-and-cold, long in development feature film version of 24 is running hot again, which is great news for Jack Bauer fans. The trade blog reports that Live Free or Die Hard writer Mark Bomback is expected to turn in a new script by year's end and Fox and Imagine Entertainment are keen to begin production in April when Kiefer Sutherland's schedule frees up. (The actor is currently filming a new Fox series, Touch.) Apparently neither Breach's Billy Ray nor Spy Game's Tony Scott remain attached; the studio has a short list of five directors it's considering. Some fans aren't keen on the prospect of a movie after watching the TV show sag in its later seasons, but, personally, I'm all for it! I think Jack Bauer is a great character, and there are plenty more opportunities for him once freed from the confines of the strictly structured real-time series.

Tradecraft: Anil Kapoor is the New Jack Bauer (UPDATED)

Tradecraft: Anil Kapoor is the New Jack Bauer (UPDATED)

24 is coming back! On Indian TV. With Bollywood star Anil Kapoor (who played President Omar Hassan on Season 8 of the original series) starring as the Indian version of Jack Bauer. Wow. I would be really interested in seeing that, but it seems decidedly unlikely that we'll ever get a subtitled DVD set. Deadline reports that the Slumdog Millionaire star has secured the rights from 20th Century Fox and will produce and star in the remake, with pre-production beginning mid-2012. How awesome is that? “It will be a great honor for me to play Jack Bauer,” Kapoor told the trade blog. “Kiefer has created an iconic character which has inspired me to bring the franchise to India. This will be my first foray to Indian television and I look forward to duplicating the standard of excellence Fox has so successfully created.” The big question, of course, is will the Bollywood version incorporate colorful song-and-dance numbers amidst the relentless torture? Kapoor can next be seen in one of the season's most anticipated spy movies—Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol.

UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter, which appears to have originated this story, adds that 24 producer Howard Gordon (now working on Showtime's Homeland) insisted that Kapoor star in the Indian iteration of his show (currently referred to internally as 24: India) as a condition of his consent. The trade also reports that "although no other international deals have been struck for the series, [20th Century Fox] has been approached about local productions in Japan and the Middle East." So we could conceivably see Jack Bauers popping up all over the world, just like David Brents did.

Tradecraft: Homeland Renewed

Tradecraft: Homeland Renewed

Deadline reports that Showtime has renewed Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa's Homeland for a second season. Homeland, the 24 producers' latest spy series, stars Claire Danes as CIA agent Carrie Mathison, Mandy Patinkin as her Agency mentor and Damian Lewis as a freed American POW Mathison suspects may in fact be a sleeper agent for Al Qaeda. Personally, I have yet to see an episode (even though it was my most highly anticipated show of the fall), but I look forward to catching up soon!

COMIC-CON: Extended Promo For Homeland

Showtime unveiled an extended teaser/promo for Homeland, the new spy series from 24 producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa. I think this modern-day spin on The Manchurian Candidate looks really good!

Tradecraft: Brianna Brown Joins Homeland

Another actress has headed for Homeland. The Hollywood Reporter reports that former General Hospital regular Brianna Brown has joined the CIA drama from erstwhile 24 producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa in a potential recurring role. According to the trade, the 31-year-old actress, who has also graced a number of Judd Apatow productions including Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, will play Lynne Reed, a statuesque former Miss Ohio "who spent two years in the harem of Prince Farid Bin Abbud and who now works as his procurer, using her looks and smarts as commerce." Claire Danes stars as a CIA agent who suspects that a recently returned American POW (Damian Lewis) has been turned by Al Qaeda and plans to perpetrate an attack on US soil. Mandy Patankin plays her Agency superior. Homeland airs this fall on Showtime. You can watch a trailer here.