Would You Buy Mulch From This Man? Jack Donaghy, Yes; Jack Bauer, No.

If you saw 30 Rock last night, then you saw not only the best episode of the season, but a quintessential example of everything that makes this show great when it clicks. The story was terrific - what a great idea to take someone who thought she was a dork in high school and have it turn out that she was the snob; it actually made me consider reassessing my own high school experience - the dialogue was quick and more natural than it has been this season, and the characters finally had room to be themselves after three weeks of making room for the the guest stars. As soon as last night's episode was over I wanted to watch it again.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same for 24:Redemption, which I finally got around to watching over the weekend, and afterwards found myself wishing I had instead spent the time raking up yet another pile of leaves. Note: there are no more leaves left, but I would have found some to rake if it meant I could have missed this piece of junk.

The first 45 minutes were downright boring, I had no interest in the plot regarding the fake African country's coup, the pseudo-attempt at understanding Jack's motives, or the palace intrigue going on at the White House - is it just me or do you find it tiresome that every administration in the 24 universe is filled with some sort of MacBeth/Lex Luthor-wanna-be megalomaniac?

This show has relied on the same formula for too long and that's what killed seasons 5 and 6. So I was happy to see some promising developments in the preview for the upcoming season. I like the idea of CTU having been disbanded and Jack working in a new environment. I was happy that is until they introduced Tony Almeida as the new season's arch-villain. We saw the man die on the CTU medical center table in season 5. So unless President Logan spun a frozen donkey wheel and moved CTU back in time, this premise is ridiculous. As is the fact that I will probably still tune in to watch the season premiere.