Tampa's Tina Greene and husband Ken make the finals of The Amazing Race

By the time I met Ken Greene Sunday night -- jammed next to him in a booth at a St. Petersburg barbecue joint watching he and wife Tina compete on CBS's unscripted travel contest The Amazing Race -- my biggest question already seemed to have an answer.

I'd already written a story about how Tina said they'd entered the competition to save their marriage. The former NFL player and college football coach couldn't say much on that score Sunday, fearing he might give away something important in the show's finale, scheduled next week.

But it seemed obvious from the way he looked at Tina, leading a fundraiser for a new church their son is establishing in St. Petersburg, that things seem to be clicking between the two. The fact that he was in town -- officially, he still lives in San Diego and Tina lives in Tampa -- was a signal that their plan may have worked out as expected.

"All the other teams in the race, there were very few dealing with the issues we were tackling," said Ken, who comes off as affable and relaxed in person as he often appears on camera. "It put additional stress and strain on Tina and I. But I saw things in her that I didn't realize were there and she saw the same with me. It's been an incredible experience -- the hardest thing I've ever done, including NFL training camp."

Sunday's episode revealed that Tina and Ken would be among three pairs of contestants vying for a $1-million grand prize in the contest's finale Sunday, Dec. 7. Working together, the couple have scooted past eight other teams to land in the show's finale, standing out as the oldest pair left standing (according to CBS, Ken is 51 and Tina is 48).

On Sunday, Tina and Ken appeared at the Butler Barbecue Restaurant to help raise funds for son John's Focal Point Church, a ministry he's organizing in St. Petersburg. Watching the show sitting next to the couple was surprisingly suspenseful -- even their son didn't know how the episode would end, and the pair seemed in danger of expulsion right up to the final minutes.

And the pair dished some behind-the-scenes info about the night's episode and past events, including:

-- Like many reality TV contestants, Tina believes the show's producers have moved around her quotes and edited scenes to make her look more critical of Ken than she is. Sunday's episode featured Tina batting Ken's hand away as he attempted to point something out; later, Ken noted ruefully "Tina feels like she's always right."

  -- Sometimes, the race action is affected by issues that aren't shown on camera. In Sunday's episode, the teams must gather their first clue from an actor on a Russian submarine. But Tina noted, that when she and Ken arrived at the boat, the tourist attraction wasn't yet open. When it was opened three hours later, all the other teams had caught up to them, eliminating their advantage.

--- The difference between winning and elimination in the race is often a good cab driver. In Sunday's episode, Tina and Ken lucked out early by getting a Russian cab driver who had a GPS system, making it easy to find the obscure landmarks where clues were hidden. Tina didn't realize until she saw a preview of tonight's episode last week, but they lost that cab driver when another team noticed the GPS system and jumped in the cab while heading to another clue.

--- Cabs aren't so easy to catch in foreign countries. Though editing makes it seems as if the racers run out of one area and grab a cab in minutes, it can take a half hour or longer to flag down a ride, even in areas that seem to be filled with tourists and travelers.

--- Even the other teams competing in the race didn't know Ken and Tina were starting with their marriage under strain; the couple didn't tell anyone, to keep their rivals from using the issue to their advantage. "A lot of my family and lot of my friends, people who work for me, didn't know I was separated," she told the crowd. "Each week, it's tough to watch."

"To me, it was not a lot of fun," Ken told the crowd before the show started, noting that he got worried when the race started at the Los Angeles Coliseum, because he'd never won a game as a player or a coach there. "It was an incredible experience, but it was work . . . you were on the go all the time."

"It takes over your life," Tina said, just after Ken joked that she had dreams about being in the thick of the competition weeks after the race had ended. "It was the first time in our lives that we have been away from family and friends and work. No computers. No e-mail. no outside contact. It just . . . it takes over your being and it's all about the race and your relationship with your partners. It's intense." 

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Three cool TV technology gifts to consider this Black Friday

The St. Petersburg Times' gift buying guide won't be published until Sunday. But in honor of Black Friday's rush of breakneck shopping buys, here's an early peek at my three picks for cool TV-related gifts to consider for the holiday season.

And if Santa were to drop one of these off at the office of your friendly neighborhood TV critic, well, that would really be a Christmas Miracle.

MOTO Z6c World Edition

Price: $319. What better gift for a TV critic than a phone with a television inside? Push up the front plate slider to open this sleek Motorola phone, and you can click over to access a range of TV shows, from Star Trek reruns to the latest Daily Show, streamed to your phone in startlingly clear color. You do have to buy the V Cast mobile TV package and Verizon only provides access to one or two shows each from about 16 channels at a time. But the lineup changes regularly, providing no better way to while away a stretch in the bank teller line or dentist’s office.

Allio HD TV/PC

Price: $1,599. Used to be, the biggest problem with TV-packed streaming Web sites such as Hulu and Joost is you had to watch your Heroes reruns and Office webisodes sitting at your home PC. No more. The Allio pulls together everything you need in a smart TV -- a Blu-Ray DVD player, a digital video recorder and a PC with 250 GB of storage. Miss your favorite Knight Rider episode, and a few remote clicks takes you to Hulu for a quick catch-up on a 32-inch screen. Just imagine how that YouTube Mentos video will look on a real TV set, and you’re getting why this makes my knees weak.

SlingCatcher

Price: $299. If the Allio sounds too pricey, the SlingCatcher offers a cheaper way to see video on the Internet on your home TV. Plug in this device, and you can “sling” the display from your PC screen to your home TV. Ports in the device also allow you connect any digital media storage device like a memory stick or portable hard drive, and play files on your TV. And if you have any other TVs in your home connected to the SlingBox -- a device allowing you to view your home TV’s output over the Internet -- you can control them with the SlingCatcher too. Even if they’re on the other side of the country.   

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Brooke Burke gets Dancing With the Stars trophy, but Warren Sapp may be a winner, too

Model/actress Brooke Burke may have taken the crown on Tuesday’s finale of Dancing With the Stars, but former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive star Warren Sapp still came out a serious winner.

Burke’s killer moves dominated the competition for weeks, leaving little doubt the former Maxim cover model would sashay off with the highly rated competition’s valued mirror ball trophy — she even made judge Carrie Ann Inaba cry with her final dance.

But by placing second out of 13 celebrities, the 300-pound ex-NFL athlete proved that a big man with a big heart and a few nimble dance steps can do very well for himself, indeed.

Still, Sapp looked more surprised than Lance Bass when the former 'N Sync member was named the show’s third runner-up about 90 minutes into the two-hour finale -- as I predicted would happen in this space earlier today. True enough, if Dancing With the Stars were just a dancing competition, Sapp would have been in his place, sunk by dance moves that weren't quite as snappy.

But the real juice that powers the show is the thrill of watching contestants progress. And what remains most remarkable about this year’s Dancing competition is the transformation of Sapp -- an athlete sportswriters say can be charismatic and appealing or an absolute jerk.

This is a guy who recently called former Buccaneers teammate Keyshawn Johnson the b-word on Showtime’s Inside the NFL and, according to gossip site TMZ, last week got in an argument with tiny pro dancer Derek Hough on the Dancing set.

But on camera, he has been Warren the Teddy Bear, cuddling pro dancer partner Kym Johnson and laughing as former contestant Jeffrey Ross jokingly asked “how do you dance eight hours a day every day for three months and stay so out of shape?” Like George Foreman before him, Sapp has learned the value of a wide smile and playful attitude in retirement.

At least Tuesday’s show lacked the lazy padding that so often fills Dancing episodes — encouraging fans to DVR the whole thing to skip the boring parts (and the ads that surround them).

Instead, the finale was packed with loads of new material, including separate, rocking performances by Miley “Hannah Montana” Cyrus and Alicia Keys that, thankfully, broke the show’s habit of focusing on dancers as much as the superstar singers who stop by.

Almost all the previously ejected competitors appeared for a final dance — mostly proving why they got ejected in the first place (aging soap star Susan Lucci in particular seemed to move as if she were afraid her face lift would crack into 1,000 pieces if she jumped too quickly). This time around -- except for a passionate jitterbug from Cody Linley -- the other celebs seemed intent to pose and glide while their pro dancing partners did much of the work.

The judges Tuesday followed the First Commandment of Reality TV Finales: Thou shalt not criticize too harshly in the finale. So we saw the panel disregarding past faults to shower love on the contestants, even when they repeated past mistakes.

In all, it was an entertaining, if predictable finale that continued the show’s genius of masking an old-school variety show inside a new-school “reality TV” competition.

And if the show really wants a new challenge, it could tackle my candidate for the next Warren Sapp-style transformation: Mike Tyson.

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Alan Colmes ends the pretense at Fox News . . . and more media news happening on my vacation

I'm back in the office briefly today to tidy up a couple of stories running on Sunday and write on the finale of Dancing With the Stars. But I also wanted to note a few more things happening in media land, in the flood of news events that seems to have greeted my attempt to take a week off work.

Alan Colmes ends the pretense on Hannity and Colmes -- It seems the only person who didn't realize Alan Colmes was a weak liberal-lite prop for Sean Hannity was Alan Colmes, who announced on Monday that he was leaving the second-highest rated program on cable TV news for other opportunities at Fox News.

"It's a great creative opportunity for me. I feel as though we have a Democratic president, House and Senate; I feel like my work is done," he told the Web site TVNewser. That felt particularly odd -- an employee of right-leaning Fox News taking credit for Democratic election success. We have truly traveled through the looking glass on this one. Adding to the confusion, the New York Times quoted anonymous sources saying Hannity will go it alone -- a move that makes sense to me, given his outsize personality and popularity -- while TVNewser cites a Fox News official on the record saying no decision has been made.

I was particularly amused, given that the one time I appeared on Hannity and Colmes, it was Colmes who attacked me the most, challenging efforts by the National Association of Black Journalists who wanted shock jock Don Imus to account for more than 20 years of broadcast bigotry.

I wonder if this move signals the new shape of Fox News as Democrats assume control of Congress and the White House. With Glenn Beck coming at 5 p.m. and stars such as Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and creator Roger Ailes signed to new deals, the channel seems poised to become a persistent and popular critic of an administration facing more opportunities for missteps than any in modern memory.    

Chris Jadick leaves ABC Action News -- The news director at WFTS-Channel 28, Jadick will be leaving the station next year to serve as vice president of communications for a collection of companies owned by Tampa attorney Richard Salem. Jadick is the second high-profile executive to leave local TV news recent weeks; WTSP-Channel 10 general manager Sam Rosenwasser retired Nov. 17 just before owner Gannett announced a wave of buyouts and possible layoffs.

It's an ominous time for TV news; next year local stations will face a tough economic year without the cushion that this year's record election ad spending provided. I haven't yet talked to Jadick about his plans or motivations, but it's not a bad time for TV executives to consider news moves.

Creative Loafing Atlanta editor fired -- St. Petersburg Times business columnist Bob Trigaux posted an item today on the firing of Creative Loafing Atlanta editor Ken Edelstein after 11 years. Some blog posts suggested the two disagreed over where to cut the business further, which is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. John Sugg, former editor of Creative Loafing Tampa, a shareholder in Creative Loafing Inc. and a columnist for the Atlanta newspaper told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper that the chain's management "has no concern for content." 

Click below to read the release regarding Chris Jadick:   

Odds Sapp wins Dancing With the Stars? Slim

Halfway through this week's two blockbuster finale episodes on ABC's hit competition Dancing With the Stars, one question remains:

Can a charming, crowd-pleasing 300-pound ex-football player snatch victory in TV's biggest dance contest from two better dancers?

After Monday's competition, the answer doesn't look good for former ex-Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive star Warren Sapp, who gave two spirited performances that were, unfortunately, a step below his competition.

Indeed, judging by the two dances Monday, the contest has come down to a fight for second place -- with newly resurgent 'N Sync member Lance Bass coming on strong in the final episodes. The judges' scorecard gave first place to actress/model Brooke Burke, a surprising front-runner who had led the show since the other pro athlete favorite, Misty May-Treanor, injured herself during a rehearsal and had to drop out. Bass and Sapp are tied for second -- with Sapp's audience popularity and overall charisma balancing Bass' better dancing.

Perhaps because they so consistently top the ratings, the show's producers have grown increasingly lazy about how they pad these lengthy finales. Saddled with just three finalists who can learn, at most, two dances per episode, producers now use reed-thin justifications to rerun huge chunks of previous shows in the first hour -- on Monday asking the finalists to choose two of their favorite dances from weeks past.

Stuff like this doesn't make sense in a TiVo-filled world, where regular fans are increasingly encouraged to tape the show and spin through all the filler. Why watch week after week in real time when there's so little new material -- better to record it all and skip the old stuff, along with the commercials. Yet another example of network TV cutting its own throat when it counts.

The judges Monday followed the First Commandment of Reality TV Finales: Thou shalt not criticize too harshly in the last episode. So we saw the panel disregarding past faults to shower love on the contestants, even when they repeated mistakes that had gotten them in hot water before. 

So what if Bass took criticism -- especially from old fogy judge Len Goodman -- for being too modern in past dances? This time, his hip- hop freestyle dance drew nothing but kudos from the curmudgeon, who looked ready to ditch his image as the series' Scrooge and get down to Run D.M.C.'s "It's Tricky" all by his bad self. And who cares if Sapp's freestyle take-off on Tina Turner's Rolling on the River featured a little too much of the gregarious giant twirling his lithe pro dancer partner? Goodman cranked off a 10 grade just for entertainment! Talk about ginning up a competition.

Seems to me that Bass hurt himself with a hip-hop freestyle that wasn't as impressive as expected. My prediction: after the audience votes are tallied, Bass comes in third, Sapp second and Burke takes it all -- both because she's clearly the best and most consistent dancer and because she has continually surprised everyone who last saw her picking through Axl Rose wanna-bes on CBS's ill-fated Rock Star.

I'm just hoping they keep Cloris Leachman away from the bar until tonight's episode is over.

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Bubba the Love Sponge to air on radio stations in Miami, Orlando, Richmond, Va., and Fort Myers

All the hot news happens while I'm on vacation.

For example, Tampa shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge Clem announced today that his terrestrial radio show will air in four new markets across Florida and the East Coast, starting Jan. 5: Cox Radio stations WHDR-FM/Miami (93 Rock), WHTQ-FM/Orlando (96.5), and WDYL-FM/Richmond (Y101), along with Beasley Broadcast Group station WRXK-FM/Fort Myers (96 K-Rock).

When Clem first returned to regular broadcast "terrestrial" radio in January, this had been in the cards. Long as Clem could prove himself capable of crafting a successful show without the edgy sexual content that drew a record FCC fine when he worked for Clear Channel, Cox Radio was likely to step up with new markets and an aggressive syndication plan beyond Tampa and Jacksonville.

This also raises interesting questions about Bubba's future with Sirius/XM Radio, the newly merged company where he landed after the FCC fines led to his dismissal from Clear Channel Radio. As Clem's terrestrial network expands, will he need the national exposure on satellite as much?

Can the new company pay him enough to stick around for a new contract?  And how long can Clem and his crew do two shows a day, offering a terrestrial program in the morning and a satellite show in the afternoon?

All interesting questions that I'll pursue when I get back to the office next week. Until then, here's the release:

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TAMPA, FLORIDA –NOVEMBER 24, 2008 – Radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge®’s top-rated talk morning program, currently heard on Cox Radio stations WHPT-FM/Tampa (102.5 The Bone) and WFYV-FM/Jacksonville (Rock 105), will soon be heard on four more radio stations, covering the Florida cities of Miami, Orlando, Ft. Myers and Richmond, Virginia.

Cox Radio stations WHDR-FM/Miami (93 Rock), WHTQ-FM/Orlando (96.5), and WDYL-FM/Richmond (Y101), along with Beasley Broadcast Group station WRXK-FM/Ft. Myers (96 K-Rock), will begin broadcasting the Bubba the Love Sponge® Show on Monday, January 5, 2009. The show is broadcast live from 6 am to 10 am ET from Bubba’s own custom, multimedia studio in Tampa, which is regularly visited by stars from the worlds of sports, comedy, music and film/TV/video.

Because the Bubba the Love Sponge® Show is now available for syndication, and Bubba’s agent, Thomas J. Bean, is currently talking with additional interested radio stations, additional markets will subsequently be announced.

Bubba said, “First, we have to thank Cox for believing in us. They knew there was a certain amount of risk hiring us to return to terrestrial radio. Now that it has paid dividends in Tampa and Jacksonville, we couldn’t be more pleased with their enthusiasm for adding our show in additional markets. Furthermore, we are elated to be working with Beasley Broadcast Group, and feel that their firm commitment to our show has laid the groundwork for a long and fruitful relationship.”

Rosie on her new NBC show, The View and missing out as MSNBC's first gay liberal

It sounds odd to say it, even now. But talk show queen Rosie O'Donnell almost joined the anchor lineup at MSNBC months before Rachel Maddow became the cable channel's outspoken lefty star.

That tidbit was just one scoop revealed by O'Donnell during a press call last week with TV critics to preview her upcoming variety show Rosie Live! Scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday, the show features appearances from Liza Minnelli, Kathy Griffin, Alec Baldwin, Gloria Estefan and more, hearkening back to old-school '70s-era variety shows such as the Carol Burnett Show and Sonny & Cher.

O'Donnell was open and playful during a teleconference with reporters, admitting that she struck a deal with MSNBC shortly after leaving The View last year that was never realized and that she may have gotten her current variety show on NBC because the mother of entertainment head Ben Silverman is a fan. Her comments have since sparked a serious back and forth with her former colleagues on The View. Here's where it all started:

Question: What do you think of The View these days?

Rosie O'Donnell: Well after I left the show I couldn’t watch it because, you know, I had so many kind of mixed emotions and it would just be kind of -- almost like post traumatic stress disorder.

Every time I would turn it on I would have mild panic and have to turn it off. So truly I haven’t really watched it. When something does make the YouTube rounds or, you know, hits the Huffington Post or something, I usually watch the clip.

But, you know, having been there and having seen what goes on behind the curtain is a different experience to watch it than the average viewer. And, you know, there are parts of it, you know, like when you go to Thanksgiving and Nana just wants everybody to get along. And even if, you know, mom and dad are on the verge of divorce and one of the kids is a drug addict, and all she wants is for everyone to be happy during Thanksgiving, you know?

And so usually that’s what you do. And in some ways, I found that that was what happened on that show.

No matter what, you know, Barbara wants everyone to believe and think and act as if everybody gets along and is, you know, really good friends and happy, and hangs out together.

And, you know, it’s just not the reality. I’m not saying that they loathe each other. But, you know, the fact is there wasn’t a lot of camaraderie off camera there. You know, people don’t get together and have dinner once a month, the View ladies. They don’t.

And that’s not saying that you can’t work with people and have a relationship that (clearly) is somewhat contemptuous. But what happened -- I think it’s contentious. I don’t think it’s contemptuous.

But, you know, for me what happened on the show was a personal argument with a friend that was publicly displayed. You know, it was a personal -- what happened there was personal, not political and it was viewed for everyone.

And I didn’t want to be paid to fight. You know, when I started and took that job, I made the decision that it was with the intent of speaking for the millions of mothers whose voices were not represented on television.

You know, here I was every day at my kids’ school listening to mothers total bereft about the war, about what was happening politically in our country, about the lack of civil rights, about the direction America was moving in.

And no one was saying it. And if you look back now, the things that I said on that show two years ago have all kind of come to pass.

You know, I was talking about torture at Guantanamo way before anyone else was and I was called un-American and, you know, a Communist, and a Troop hater.

And, you know, to bring up the fact that there are thousands and thousands of wounded Americans -- horrifically wounded and not getting the services that they needed or deserved. And that we went into this war under false pretenses and it was in violation of the U.N.

And, you know, everything that I said, it’s kind of now people are like wow, you know.

So I don’t know . . . I was happy that I did the show at the time because I think those things needed to be said. But I also was done when I was done, you know.

What happened to your MSNBC deal?

Rosie O'Donnell: Well when I was on The View, after -- when I decided not to go back for the second season of The View, I had a meeting with Jeff Zucker and the people at NBC. And we had come to a deal for me to be on MSNBC which at the time -- you know, this was before The View fight but when I had actually decided not to come back -- it seemed as though the right thing.

And because it was an election year, I felt it was important for a voice like mine to be heard, especially a woman’s voice.  . . . There was an opening on MSNBC and they asked if I was interested. And I said yes.

And the fact is it never really came to fruition. And the reasons why are even unclear to me. It turned out to be a blessing, I think, because I don’t know that arguing in -- about politics is really the best use of my talent.

And I also think that Rachel Maddow is unbelievably wonderful and perfect at that job, and qualified and talented, and able to talk to Pat Buchanan without screaming at him.

So, you know, in the end it turned out to be a blessing. But I was -- you know, we had a deal.

It was about to be announced and then NBC changed their minds. So this was totally separate, had nothing to do with that deal. This was -- I had a meeting with Ben Silverman. He said what is it you want to do?

And this is the same show I’ve been pitching since 2002, a nighttime live variety show - Carol Burnett meets Ed Sullivan, Sonny and Cher, Donny and Marie, all rolled into one live from a Broadway theater exploiting the talents of Broadway.

And that was the pitch for six years, and Ben Silverman heard it and said yes. So, you know, he deserves all the credit should it be a big hit and all the blame should it crash and burn.

Can you do a politics-free variety show?

Rosie O'Donnell: I mean, you know, there’s going to be fun and dance. And, you know, and that’s what I started -- I didn’t grow up thinking, boy I hope I can grow up and do political satire.

I mean if you remember my stand-up act, I talk about my life. I talk about what’s going on in my family and, you know, it only became that with the job I took on The View.

So, you know, I think maybe your perception of my career arc maybe was skewed by that show or by the controversy that it created.

But, you know, it was a conversation I think that needed to be had and it started the ball rolling in many ways for that show to be taken seriously as a political show.

I had to fight very long and hard at the beginning of that program to get them to address politics in any capacity. You know, the war would be happening and we’d lose 20 troops in one day and they’d want to talk about lipstick shades.

So, you know, the fact that they’re now having all of these wonderful political discussions -- and when I mean wonderful, just that the topic is discussed not necessarily, you know, how it’s delivered -- I think is great.

It’s great for women. It’s great for that show. And in some ways, it was great for me.

WHBO-AM goes all Xmas for the rest of 2008

Genesis Communications, which shook up the market a bit by buying a Spanish-language AM station and perching its right-wing talk station on the more powerful signal, has turned WHBO-AM into an all-Xmas format for the rest of the year (WHBO's old logo to the left).

It's a typical radio industry move to adopt an odd format for a few weeks before changing the format on a station to shake off the old listeners and garner a little media attention.

So, as Bay News9 prepares to fire up the televised yule log once again, WHBO is offering the audio equivalent after moving its ESPN Radio station to the old frequency of WWBA.

Since I'm off work for most of this week, I won't be able to offer much reporting on this, but here's the press release:

"WHBO 1470 LAUNCHES FIRST ALL CHRISTMAS FORMAT IN TAMPA"

"GENESIS COMMUNICATIONS TODAY LAUNCHED CHRISTMAS 1470, THE FIRST ALL CHRISTMAS MUSIC RADIO STATION IN TAMPA BAY. A NEW FORMAT WILL BE ANNOUNCED FOR THE STATION AFTER THE FIRST OF THE YEAR.

"GENESIS COMMUNICATIONS OWNS AND OPERATES WHBO 1470 AND WWBA 1040 AND WMGG 820 (PENDING FCC APPROVAL) IN THE TAMPA BAY MARKET, WHOO 1080, WAMT 1190 IN THE ORLANDO MARKET AND WIXC IN THE MELBOURNE MARKET."

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Gannett names TV executive from Jacksonville to run Channel 10

When Gannett executives said they would move quickly to name a replacement for retiring WTSP-Ch.  10 general manager Sam Rosenwasser, they weren't kidding.

Less than a week after Rosenwasser announced his retirement Monday, the company named Ken Tonning as the new president and general manager for the CBS affiliate in St. Petersburg. Tonning comes to WTSP from Gannett's duopoly in Jacksonville, where the company operates NBC affiliate WTLV and ABC affiliate WJXX.

Tonning comes to the Tampa Bay area with loads of experience -- his biography says his broadcast career started in ABC's Network News Administration in New York 42 years ago. He had been general manager of WTLV for 19 years, overseeing the acquisition of WJXX in 2000 to create one of the nation's first duopolies.

I'm actually off work today, so I won't be able to do much reporting on this. But you can click below to read the entire press release. 

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24's Redemption doesn't live up to its title . . . yet

There may be no TV series that brings me greater emotional agita than Fox’s real-time adventure series on steroids, 24.

On the surface, it’s an action-packed program which wraps all our modern day anxieties — terrorism, out of control governments — into one compelling ball of drama. Toss in the depiction of a black president six years before Barack Obama’s election, and I’m sold.

But the subtext for so much of 24 is seriously troubling. Viewers see hero agent Jack Bauer using torture effectively and unilaterally, sidestepping little things like due process to address a pressing crisis. Those who insist on following laws and granting rights are shown as hypocrites or worse, ineffective wimps.

No wonder some of the real-life troops who used “stress positions” on suspected terrorists turned out to be using 24 DVDs like training manuals; sometimes the show felt like a Bizarro World take on our actual military policy.

So when evaluating the new two-hour 24 movie, Redemption (airing at 8 Sunday on WTVT-Ch. 13), I’m seriously conflicted.

The story opens on our hero Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland, in typical hangdog, tortured hero mode), working at a school for boys maintained by an old military buddy in Africa. In minutes, the villains surface; brutal rebel warlords seeking to conscript the school’s students as cannon fodder for their conflict.

We 24 fans know that, in short order, several things will happen: Bauer will defend the boys, lots of bad guys and a few good guys will die, and it all will feel way too intense for two hours’ time.

Unfortunately, the Africans here get two shades; ruthless warlords and helpless victims. Even the guy running the school is British (adding to the show’s occasional right wing tilt, a French U.N. worker is also shown as a craven, traitorous “surrender monkey”-style coward). Couldn’t one righteous African be shown taking a stand?

Told in real time, the film has expansive visuals shot on location and a statesman-like Cherry Jones as the first female president. Jon Voight does everything but twirl a moustache as the villainous, suit-wearing mastermind.

When the dust settles, Redemption is a satisfying if predictable set-up to next year’s season of 24, where Jack will finally face trial for his methods. Maybe then we’ll see a repudiation of the onscreen methods that brought us so much shame in real life.

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