"24" made noise for its real time format, in which all 24 episodes take place as consecutive hours in the same day.

Although it was developed before the terrorist attacks of 9/11, "24," which bowed on Nov. 6, 2001 (in the States), in many ways began to mirror the changed world, given the real-life fears over terrorism and debates over torture methods.

The show's depiction of an African American president was also seen as a ground-breaking precursor to the 2008 election of Barack Obama.

Show has also won the Emmy and the Golden Globe awards for outstanding drama, while Sutherland has scored both an Emmy and a Globe for drama actor. "24" has also received Emmy Awards for writing and directing; last year, Cherry Jones won an Emmy for supporting actress in a drama.

This season's edition of "24," which takes place in New York, stars Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Cherry Jones, Anil Kapoor, Annie Wersching, Katee Sackhoff, Mykelti Williamson, Freddie Prinze Jr., Chris Diamantopoulos and John Boyd.

Howard Gordon, Evan Katz, David Fury, Manny Coto, Brannon Braga, Brad Turner, Alex Gansa, Kiefer Sutherland and Brian Grazer are executive producers.