Season 6




 * ''"Jack Bauer's country needs him. Dead."
 * &mdash; Season 6 promo

Season 6 of 24 premiered in the United States on January 14, 2007 at 8pm on FOX. The premiere was a 2 night, 4 hour event (January 14 and 15 from 8-10pm) and debuted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, January 21 on Sky One.

The Region 4 Season 6 DVD set was released on 19th of September and on March 18, 2008 in New Zealand, 24: Season Six DVD Collection was released in the UK on October 1st, 2007. 24: Season Six was released on DVD in the U.S. and Canada on December 4th, 2007.

Season overview
In the sixth season (2007), 20 months have passed since Day 5. After being captured by the Chinese for his involvement in the events of Day 4, Jack Bauer is returned to the United States Government a broken, yet honorable, man. To stop a series of devastating attacks on the US, CTU has agreed to hand Jack over to a terrorist mastermind, Abu Fayed, who is bent on revenge. Jack survives and, after a nuclear attack on American soil, vows to retrieve the remainder of the nuclear weapons used in the day's attacks. The White House, meanwhile, suffers from an internal power struggle between President Wayne Palmer and his Vice President Noah Daniels, forcing Palmer's staff to choose sides, which in turn affect CTU and its employees. After eliminating the day's threats, Jack is forced into a personal crusade to save Audrey Raines from those he fears most, and discovers that his family is more involved with the day's events than he ever imagined.

Timeline
Day 6 begins at 6:00am PDT (9:00am EDT), taking place 20 months after Day 5 and roughly 9 years, 2 months after Day 1. Wayne mentions that he was inaugurated three months before Day 6, which would place the day somewhere in late April or early May.

Format
Similar to Day 5 and most of the other seasons, Day 6 can be split into 3 acts:


 * 1) After nearly two years in a Chinese prison, Jack Bauer follows a terrorist trail to the detonation of a nuclear weapon. Jack must also uncover the masterminds behind the nuclear plot, including links to his own family. The main antagonists in this act are Abu Fayed, Darren McCarthy, Graem Bauer and Phillip Bauer.
 * 2) CTU searches for the 4 remaining suitcase nukes while a conspiracy erupts in The White House. The main antagonists in this act are Abu Fayed, Dmitri Gredenko, Reed Pollock, and Bruce Carson.
 * 3) After the nuclear suitcases are recovered, Jack must rescue Audrey from Cheng Zhi. Also, an international incident with Russia arises regarding the nukes. The main antagonists in this act are Phillip Bauer and Cheng Zhi.

Major subplots

 * Jack struggles to readjust to his old life following his imprisonment.
 * Many characters are confronted by discrimination against Americans of Middle Eastern origin.
 * Jack discovers his family's involvement in not only the brokering of the suitcase nukes, but the murders of his friends David Palmer, Tony Almeida, and Michelle Dessler during Day 5.
 * Many of President Palmer's policies are questioned, particularly by his White House Chief of Staff Tom Lennox.
 * A mysterious newcomer to CTU, Mike Doyle, faces criticism for his past and present actions, yet sometimes appears more informed and compassionate than expected.
 * Jack must go against everything and everybody he knows in order to save one of the people who means the most to him.
 * The day's stress on major characters' relationships—in particular Karen Hayes and Bill Buchanan, Chloe O'Brian and Morris O'Brian, and Nadia Yassir, Milo Pressman and Mike Doyle.
 * The Bauer family is put to the ultimate test as an endgame is put into play involving Jack's nephew Josh, his father Phillip and the Chinese government.
 * An attack on CTU, leading to the impeding of the investigation and the killing of several CTU agents.
 * The White House learns that there is a spy in their midst, feeding information to the Russians.
 * The events of the day lead to a brewing international incident with Russia, as President Yuri Suvarov threatens a military response if the U.S. cannot avert the incident.

Ratings
Season 6's two-night premiere garnered the highest ratings in 24 history, averaging 15.7 million viewers and an overall 33 million viewers over the two nights. Ratings peaked at one point to 16.3 million. Compared to Season 5, however, 24 fell in rank from 24 to 27 (of 142 shows) in the 2006-2007 Nielsen TV season and averaged approximately 13 million viewers per week. In the key age 18-49 demographic, 24 ranked #14 (compared to #15 the previous year) with an average of 5.0/12 (a significant drop from last season's 5.7/13).

Season 6 was nominated for a total of six 2007 Emmy awards, including Kiefer Sutherland for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Jean Smart for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. However, the series was not nominated for Outstanding Drama Series, a first in its history.

Cast

 * See also: Recurring characters, Character appearances for Season 6

Starring

 * Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer (24 episodes)
 * Mary Lynn Rajskub as Chloe O'Brian (24 episodes)
 * DB Woodside as President Wayne Palmer (17 episodes)
 * James Morrison as Bill Buchanan (21 episodes)
 * Peter MacNicol as Tom Lennox (24 episodes)
 * Jayne Atkinson as Karen Hayes (18 episodes)
 * Carlo Rota as Morris O'Brian (24 episodes)
 * Eric Balfour as Milo Pressman (19 episodes)
 * Marisol Nichols as Nadia Yassir (24 episodes)
 * and Regina King as Sandra Palmer (9 episodes)

Special guest stars

 * Powers Boothe as Vice President Noah Daniels (14 episodes)
 * William Devane as James Heller (2 episodes)
 * with Jean Smart as Martha Logan (1 episode)
 * and James Cromwell as Phillip Bauer (8 episodes)
 * and Kim Raver as Audrey Raines (5 episodes)
 * and Gregory Itzin as Charles Logan (4 episodes)

Guest starring

 * Adoni Maropis as Abu Fayed (16 episodes)
 * Rena Sofer as Marilyn Bauer (12 episodes)
 * Evan Ellingson as Josh Bauer (10 episodes)
 * Kari Matchett as Lisa Miller (10 episodes)
 * Tzi Ma as Cheng Zhi (9 episodes)
 * Chad Lowe as Reed Pollock (8 episodes)
 * Rade Šerbedžija as Dmitri Gredenko (8 episodes)
 * Alexander Siddig as Hamri Al-Assad (7 episodes)
 * Jim Holmes as Dr. Arthur Welton (6 episodes)
 * Nick Jameson as Russian President Yuri Suvarov (6 episodes)
 * Harry Lennix as Walid Al-Rezani (6 episodes)
 * Ryan Cutrona as Admiral John Smith (5 episodes)
 * Michael Angarano as Scott Wallace (4 episodes)
 * Missy Crider as Rita Brady (4 episodes)
 * Roger Cross as Curtis Manning (4 episodes)
 * James C. Victor as Hal Turner (4 episodes)
 * Megan Gallagher as Jillian Wallace (4 episodes)
 * David Hunt as Darren McCarthy (4 episodes)
 * Jamison Jones as Secret Service Head Dan (4 episodes)
 * Kal Penn as Ahmed Amar (4 episodes)
 * Raphael Sbarge as Ray Wallace (4 episodes)
 * Scott William Winters as FBI Agent Samuels (4 episodes)
 * Bob Gunton as Secretary of Defense Ethan Kanin (3 episodes)
 * Michael Shanks as Mark Bishop (3 episode)
 * Paul McCrane as Graem Bauer (3 episodes)
 * John Noble as Anatoly Markov (2 episode)
 * Kathleen Gati as Anya Suvarov (1 episode)
 * Glenn Morshower as Aaron Pierce (1 episode)
 * and Ricky Schroder as Mike Doyle (12 episodes)

Airings
Season 6 entered preproduction on June 19, 2006. It premiered in the United States beginning with a four-hour block across two nights on January 14 and 15, 2007. Subsequent episodes aired Monday nights at 9pm on Fox in the United States (two episodes were aired consecutively on February 12), and the season finale aired 2 straight episodes to finish off the season. The show on Sunday nights at 9pm in the UK. The season did not start screening until October 28 in New Zealand, starting at 10:25 pm for two hours weekly. This delayed airing has also meant that the DVD release has been pushed back until at least February or March 2008.