I had grand plans to blog the season premiere of 24 last night in real time… and would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for those meddling kids and their dog – and if it had started at 9PM like I thought. So sadly, I’ll have to jump in an hour late. And for the benefit of all my readers outside North America who don’t get this season till later this year, most of this post will be presented in SPOILERVISION! (Note: Spoilervision not available to those on RSS feeds, TFT = Twenty Four Time). Highlight that shiznit to read. And if you don’t want spoilers, don’t read the comments. I can’t control what people write there.

8:57PM EST / 7:51AM TFT – Who’s chasing Chloe? What happened to Jack’s mullet? Who’s the dude in the chopper? Who’s Frank? Oh, going into the refinery probably isn’t a good idea. Man, for a professional killer this guy sure talks easy. What? Palmer’s dead? Palmer’s in a surgical cap? Yeah, like Jack was really going to take him to the hospital…

9:08PM EST / previously… – OH THANK GOD THEY’RE AIRING THIS AS TWO EPISODES. “Previously, on 24” are the sweetest words in the English language. So Palmer shot, Michelle dead, Tony critical, Jack a bad stepfather. Got it.

9:09PM EST / 8:00AM TFT – HEY, THAT’S JACK! He wouldn’t shoot Palmer. They’re bff. And what is it with this show and stringy-haired whiny boys? Like Audrey’s brother last season. And wait a sec, are men fighting over Chloe? Okay, Edgar’s not really a man, but…

9:19PM EST / 8:14AM TFT – Okay, this kid is so gonna die. And that totally wasn’t Palmer’s corpse. His hand wasn’t wizened and he’s not the guy in the surgical cap. Yeah, guy. Jack/Frank has a daughter and she’s hot. But her boyfriends tend to lose limbs, so stay clear. Man, Jack is so cool. Wayne’s got a gun on him and he’s checking his email.

9:42PM EST / 8:37AM TFT – “Do not shoot! Just chase him on foot and yell instructions in a threatening yet informative manner!”

9:53PM EST / 8:47AM TFT – So nice to see that President Logan is still a twerp. The crazy wife is just gravy.

9:59PM EST / 8:58AM TFT – Oh yeah, those guys with the shades, big coats and duffle bags are discrete. Not suspicious at all… Okay, so subtlety wasn’t really part of the game plan, what with the firing AK47s into the ceiling. Oooh, evil Secret Service! Who didn’t see that coming?

…And that’s it for tonight. Not a bad start, I guess. I like how they seem to be deliberately killing off or otherwise incapacitating a lot of the old characters, maybe to force themselves to come up with new ideas to get out of the corners they’re sure to back themselves into as the season progresses. Oh, and it turns out that I’m able to get west coast channels with the old digital cable box, so I was able to catch that first hour last night after all, just three hours later. Yeah, the “Previously…” was pretty much all I needed, though I guess Palmer really is dead and that’s Tony holding court in the ER.

And more 24 press – The Boston Globe previews the upcoming 24 hours in the life of Jack Bauer, The New York Times goes behind the scenes with the production and marketing strategies of the show, the Associated Press talks to members of the cast and crew about what to expect (and not expect) while USA Today finds out how fans keep up with the breakneck (and often ridiculous) pace of the show.

And if last night’s premiere wasn’t enough Kiefer to get you through to tonight’s ep, check these out.

Though it apparently leaked some time ago, there are finally official details about the long-overdue new Built To Spill album. You In Reverse will be out April 11 and there’s a track from it streaming on their MySpace page and it’s almost nine epic minutes long. The song, not the album. Billboard has more deets.

A couple noteworthy shows newly scheduled for Lee’s Palace – the Destroyer/Magnolia Electric Co bill has been confirmed for March 25 and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are in town on April 8. Hopefully they’ll have figured out how to keep their guitars in tune by then. And Brooklynvegan reports Art Brut will be at the Horseshoe on April 1, which is odd since the last time they were here, they played Lee’s – a show they report on their website was broadcast on Ryerson radio’s “Wired For Sound” show back in December. And entirely Lee’s Palace-unrelated, Beth Orton will tour her new album The Comfort Of Strangers to the Carlu on April 6. You can watch the video for the first single, “Concieved”, on her website.

File under: irony – Kevin Shields want the neighbours to keep the racket down.

np – Charlotte Hatherley / Grey Will Fade