Deft Timing Makes ‘24’ Tick

The lingering concussion of Sept. 11 does nothing to undermine Fox’s new thriller focusing on terrorism. Instead, it adds to its credibility and makes it all the more gripping.

Not that “24” needs a boost from reality. Tonight’s series pilot is smashing, a ticking time bomb of suspense and misdirection while opening with a presidential candidate being targeted by an unknown assassin on the eve of the California primary. Leading the defense is Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, head of the government’s counterintelligence unit, just the man to keep Sen. David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) off the slab. That is, if Jack can keep his mind on work after his teenage daughter vanishes from her room minutes before he’s notified that Palmer is in peril.

On paper, that reads ho-hum and formulaic. Been there, seen that, roll credits.

Raising the stakes, though, is the show’s undertone of racism associated with Palmer being African American, to say nothing of the late-night call he gets, hinting at something ominous he may be hiding. In addition, Jack is unpopular with some of his colleagues, having busted three of them for bribery, and someone else inside the agency may be working with the assassin.

What lifts “24” far above the ordinary, however, is that each episode covers an hour in the lives of its characters, 24 weeks of the series equaling a 24-hour period in the plot. It’s midnight on the screen when tonight’s “24” begins, 1 a.m. when it ends.

Director Stephen Hopkins sustains this tingly device in part by periodically splitting the screen. As Jack’s daughter, Kimberly (Elisha Cuthbert) is having her night on the town in a van with a girlfriend and two college boys, for example, her mother, Teri (Leslie Hope), is searching for her with a stranger, Palmer is lost in thought in his hotel room, and a jumbo 747 is nearing Los Angeles carrying a mysterious man with a foreign accent and connection to the candidate. All of them are available to us simultaneously as Jack begins working through the night.

Nor does it hurt this series from Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran that Sutherland is near perfect as this tough but flawed and vulnerable character, whose marriage is troubled and office pedigree features a fling with one of his staff, Sarah Clarke (Nina Myers).

Meanwhile, the jet is getting closer, sex is about to break out, and Jack is stiffly challenged by these parallel searches for Kimberly and an assassin who is said to be “well-funded from overseas.”

The producers have slightly tweaked the original pilot, trimming a turbulent two-second shot they feared would be seen as coming too close to the flaming reality of Sept. 11.

The scene isn’t missed, but “24” is as soon as it ends.

*

“24” premieres tonight at 9. The network has rated it TV-14-SV (may be unsuitable for children younger than 14 with special advisories for sex and violence).