The show can't go on

24 has been pronounced dead. But like any time Jack Bauer croaked, you know it won't be long until he resurrects himself to kill some terrorists.

Yes, my favorite show is ending this season. A show I have been watching since it started in 2001. A show I feared would be canceled just 13 episodes into its first season, but a show that lived on to become one of the biggest hits of the decade and the longest running action show in history.

I never expected more than five years. To get eight is a blessing. While some of you may gloat or cackle at this great loss to America and while some of you may want me to cry like LaDainian Tomlinson, I won't appease you.

The time has come.

The show was getting to the point where plots and characters were being recycled over and over. A mole in CTU. A ticking time-bomb. Jack going on a suicide mission and lives. Jack being right but always ignored by some bureaucratic dumb ass. Despite some mild surprises this season, it's the lost the ability to pull off a good twist because any true fan has seen them all before.

The fact that a movie is being planned certainly dents the impact of this news. This probably won't be the last we ever see of Jack Bauer. But at least he gets to go out on his own terms in his television universe. No show can last forever.

Speaking of which ... another program that I've loved this decade is growing old in the tooth as well. It might be time to administer similar Old Yeller treatment to The Office.

The characters are starting to annoy me. They haven't changed in six years. They're like interesting relatives who stay just a little too long and can't take a hint. The last episode was emblematic of its problems. It was one of the funnier ones in a while, but how many times can we see Michael Scott act like a moron in public before we just roll our eyes? It's not funny or interesting anymore. It's actually quite infuriating. The Jim-Pam thing has run its course. Dwight is just obnoxious. Even Phyllis is highly unlikeable now.

Frankly, most of the time the half hour passes and I realize I just didn't laugh. It gives me no pleasure to write this, but the time has come for The Office to go the way of 24. It's time to channel Barry Sanders, not Brett Favre.