Before The Clock Runs Out On 24 . . . .

Fox has officially announced that it is canceling 24.  This will be the show’s last season on TV, although there are hopes for a movie at some point.

This really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.  I’ve posted several times on this year’s generally lackluster season.  Clearly, the show seems to have run out of ideas — which is not surprising, because there are only so many terrorist threats to American soil that can be played out, from beginning to end, in a 24-hour period.

Before the show ends, however, there are some things that I really want to see:

*  Jack Bauer saying he is very hungry and then eating something.  A Power Bar, a Fig Newton . . . anything!

*  A CTU superior slapping Chloe O’Brian after she makes yet another inappropriately snarky comment and engages in her customary facial contortions and eye-rolling during a critical moment.

*  A member of CTU dozing at his computer station during the 4 a.m. hour.

*  A technical glitch or downloading failure that prevents an effort by Chloe to immediately send detailed plans of a previously unknown building to Jack’s PDA.

*  When Kiefer Sutherland whispers one of Jack’s lines, the character to whom he is speaking saying:  “Huh?  What?  I’m sorry, I didn’t hear that.  Could you please speak up?”

*  CTU boss Brian Hastings channeling the ghost of Bubba from Forrest Gump by mentioning five kinds of dishes made with shrimp.

*  Standard CTU security forces actually maintaining a “perimeter” that catches a bad guy trying to infiltrate or escape.

*  The return of Tony Almeida, David Palmer, Jack’s brother, Jack’s wife, various people Jack has killed, the cougar that hunted Kim in an earlier season, and a surprise appearance by William Shatner in a haunting, hallucinogenic dream sequence that leaves Jack profoundly traumatized.

*  Jack Bauer showing that he actually performs bodily functions like the rest of us.  If it were up to me, he would be shown coming out of a bathroom, with some toilet paper stuck to his shoe.