Like a desperate terrorist handcuffed to a suitcase nuke and eyeing a nearby hacksaw, shooting on the new season of 24 found itself barbarically cleaved in two by the writers strike. Since Season 7 won’t now premiere until January 2009, producers have announced the filming of a 24 TV movie to tide audiences over until then. Whether audiences even bother returning after the series’s last predictable and outlandish season remains to be seen. By the time the movie airs in the fall, however, we’ll at least have a better idea of whether they should have stuck with the African American-president template, or were wise in switching it up to the Cherry Jones model instead. [THR]