Big kudos go out to the writers and producers of "24" for rebooting the season last night.

"24" is a good show, but this season has arguably been the weakest of the 6-year run.  It came back with a bang over the first 5 or 6 episodes, but then started to wander aimlessly through the main story arc.  For a show that has had me on the edge of my seat, staring fixated at the television screen for the past 5 years, it's a little sad that I've watched most of this season while doing chores around the house or surfing the internet.  Critics and fans alike have been dissapointed by season 6.

With a full-season arc in place, the staffs of most shows would just continue on towards the finale.  Maybe they would tweak some things.  Maybe some new B stories.  Maybe some different actors.  However, most would never throw it all out and start over... but that's just what the folks behind "24" did.

"Reboot" really is the best way I can describe what happened on last night's episode.  With 7 episodes remaining, "24" shocked viewers by completely wrapping up the season's storyline and introducing a new one.  It felt like I was watching a season finale.  The big bads were caught, the threats were eliminated, and just when you think all is good, a shocking, totally unrelated twist happens to set Jack Bauer up for the next season; except the current season isn't over yet.  We've still got 7 more episodes to go.  Sure, there will be some fallout from the previous 17 episodes, but for all intents and purposes, they are taking a brand new direction to get to hour #24.

I applaud the staff of "24" for recognizing that the story wasn't quite working and taking the necessary action to fix it, even when that meant totally letting go of the story and starting fresh.  I can't remember another show that did something like this during the season.  Will it be successful?  We'll know in 7 weeks.