Yeah, I know the NBA playoffs are in high gear, well some of the series anyway, (RIP Orlando and Washington) and I should be writing about them... However, after watching 24 on Monday night, it is my duty to address state of the show. So as Nets fans scour the internet for Jason Kidd injury reports and Warriors fans everywhere strap on their kevlar vests in anticipation of game 3, allow me to show you how Ricky Schroder (aka Ricky Stratton, the wuss from Silver Spoons) has turned a once proud show into an unintentional comedy free-for-all.

Before I get into it, let me begin by giving you my credentials. I have watched every episode over the past 6 seasons including the first episode of season 1, which got me immediately hooked. I have been a loyal fan and avid defender of the show's crazy twists, unrealistic plots and Jack's immunity from using the bathroom or eating for 24 hour intervals since day 1. Now lets get on with this...

24 offered a fresh look at a dramatic series utilizing the real-time gimmick, strong dialogue and intriguing plot lines that offered shock value yet were easy to follow and never compromised the story. Along with the quirky nuances, another key to 24's success has been the development of characters that viewers can relate to and form opinions about. Throughout the seasons, numerous main and supporting characters have come along meeting this dynamic and have gone down in 24 folklore. These characters have come and gone, however, in each season it was the cast of supporting characters around Jack Bauer that have laid the foundation for the show and helped to effectively play out the outrageous plot lines in a believable fashion. In essence, like any good team, it is the role players surrounding the superstar that have helped propel the show to the heights it has reached.

As far back as I can remember in the show, Jack Bauer has always had a sidekick (a Pippen if you will) that fans adored. This character along with the person running CTU have been crucial to the success of the plot. For the first 4 seasons, Jack's right hand man was Tony Almeida, who is to this date one of the most popular characters in 24 history. No true fan will forget the brilliant scene in season 4 where Jack calls "the only person he could trust" and Tony Almeida appears with guns blazing to save the day. Now, Almeida's character developed slowly over the first two seasons before he was truly embraced as Jack's right hand man. Similarly, Curtis Manning, the man who would eventually replace Tony as Jack's go to guy was slowly developed into a great character we could identify with in season 4 and after Tony's death he emerged as one of the more popular characters on the show.

With this in mind, it is very easy to identify the single moment season 6 went awry, the death of Curtis Manning in episode 4. Manning was killed by Jack and this time, no character had been developed behind him that could step up and take the reigns. The show had a huge hole to fill and they filled it with all 5 feet 6 inches of Ricky Schroder (no relation to Jay Schroeder), a poor man's David Caruso, who is about as believable as a federal agent as Zach Morris is as an NYPD cop.

The introduction of agent Mike Doyle has been an unadulterated disaster, as I for one (don't think I'm alone on this) cannot relate to his character at all and laugh to myself when he goes into one of his tough guy routines. The sight of puny Ricky Schroder interrogating Nadia was disgraceful and it's never good when you think to yourself "I wonder if Nadia could take this sissy." I doubt you would you get that feeling if Curtis or Jack were in on the interrogation.

As the season has progressed, they have attempted to work this lifeless red-headed monstrosity further into the show and it just gets worse and worse. At this point, everytime there is a scene with Schroder in it I cant contain my laughter. Whether the little guy is pacing around with his stupid "serious" look, getting in the face of Milo (another crumby character who reemerged after a 5 year absence to go from being a nerd they picked in conjunction with a raid to one of the head guys at CTU; another terrible angle) who can definately beat his ass or simply trying to perform any kind of agent duty, I just can't take it seriously.

Now to be fair there are plenty of other problems with this season. There are too many storylines going on at once, they keep rehashing old plots (presidential impeachment, nuclear bombs in LA), Wayne Palmer is the president and now Nadia is inexplicably the head of CTU! (Great move by the writers eliminating Bill Buchanan from the equation since he was one of the only good characters remaining!)

Regardless, when all is said and done and I have to pin the collapse of 24 on something, I will not hesitate to point to the replacement of Curtis Manning with Mike Doyle as the key reason for the show's downfall. Ricky Schroder, you have just been gigged on.