One of the biggest problems that has plagued 24 is the show’s willingness to completely kill off or remove well established and liked characters on the show. Season 6 was terrible after the house cleaning that took place in season 5. Tony Almeida’s return in season 7 was awesome, and drove the ratings of the show up a little bit. Then for some reason, the producers decided not to include Tony in season 8 and lo and behold, the ratings are down again. The show-runners think the show can survive on the power of Sutherland’s presence alone. Could you imagine getting to the 6th season of LOST and only having Matthew Fox and Yunjin Kim as the only well established characters left on the show. That’s basically what 24 has done with Sutherland and Mary Lynn Rajskub, and the material is just not compelling enough to engage the audience.