What Will Happen to Jack Bauer After Time Runs Out on 24?

That perilous tick-tock that you hear this morning over Los Angeles isn't the final seconds running out on Elinor Burkett's fifteen minutes of post-Oscar-crashing fame, but instead 20th Century Fox's countdown to the end of its super-drama series 24. Still, the decision -- which has been on the minds of Fox executives since the beginning of the series' current, eighth season, when the network hired scribe Billy Ray (State of Play) to pen a feature film for Jack Bauer -- is not so cut and dry.

Though it seems likely that Bauer will jet to Europe for his big feature film debut, there are extenuating factors that could keep him on television a little while longer. As the ratings continue to drop as its production costs increase, the show has become less profitable for Fox, but producers plan to shop it around to other networks. Might the flailing NBC take a shot at owning a marquee show, no matter how aged it is?

Critics initially responded well to the eighth season, but the show's lost much of its water-cooler buzz, and the feature that Kiefer Sutherland is so anxious to shoot will almost certainly require the show to be off the air first. 24's cancellation isn't in the bag, but its days are numbered anyway.