As we previously reported, NBC has given new season order for 30 Rock, The Office and Community while, according to a recent interview with NBC network president Angela Bromstad, a fifth season of the beleaguered Heroes is still undetermined. In addition, the CW has ordered a 10th season for Smallville.

Now, Fox has officially renewed the J.J. Abrams sci-fi procedural Fringe for a third season. The show had perfoemed reasonably well but was not a ratings powerhouse. Still, it’s hard to believe it wouldn’t get renewed, especially given its J.J. Abrams connection and the fact that Lost is ending this season.

Two big reasons for Fox to keep it around for another year. Plus, any show with the great John Noble, the hot Anna Torv and the cool Leonard Nimoy should be on the air as long as it wants to be.

The fate of Jack Bauer and the CTU team of 24 is still up in the air due to falling ratings and the show’s considerable expense to produce. Fox president Kevin Reilly recently told The Live Feed:

“It’s a very tough call. It’s a huge part of our legacy, and there’s not a lot of shows that could do a 9 share against the Olympics. Tremendous sales asset for us still; a show we’re so very proud of creatively. So it’s not an easy call.”

Well, if our own Shannon Hood has anything to say about it, that call should be an easy one.

With the internet community and a few studio execs hinting that this current season of 24 may be the last, big news is now coming out of Twentieth Century Fox’s camp, as they have just announced a film adaptation of the series.

The studio was allegedly blown away by a pitch from screenwriter Billy Ray (State of Play, Flightplan), in which Jack Bauer goes to Europe, and they have already hired him to finish the script for production. From Variety:

Script is said to have come through “24″ star Kiefer Sutherland, who’s also an exec producer on the series — and is said to be eager to turn the long-running TV skein into a feature franchise.

Feature would be produced by the TV show’s key exec producers, including Sutherland. Series was created by Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow, while exec producer Howard Gordon runs the show through his Real Time Prods. banner.

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We’re all pretty excited about the upcoming 8th season of Fox’s 24 next Sunday. We broke the very first trailer back in October, took you behind the scenes earlier this week, and now we’ve got some more goodies to get you excited for Jack Bauer and his upcoming adventures.

A few new clips have recently become available, showing off mostly Keifer Sutherland as Bauer, transporting an informant that may have details on an upcoming assassination attempt. Fans of FX’s The Shield may recognize Jack’s informant, as well.

There aren’t many details about how this season’s “day” will unfold, but we do know that Jack has retired; Kim has a daughter;They both live in New York City, and CTU has been completely revamped, with the addition of Freddie Prinze Jr. and Katee Sackhoff to the team.

Check out the clips after the jump, and catch the action as the eighth season of 24 kicks off on January 17, only on FOX.

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We’ve already talked about January being a big month for Fox with Human Target starting up in a few weeks, and American Idol following shortly thereafter. One huge factor in Fox’s potential ratings success this season will be the return of 24 for it’s eighth and possibly final season.

This season takes place in New York City, which is a first, with Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) just about to get cozy for a life of retirement. Just as that happens, he gets a new mission dropped in his lap, with very little room to continue his life of leisure.

This season promises to have exciting new character archs, including new cast members Freddie Prinze Jr. and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica). A few new surprises, and plenty of Jack Bauer beating up on terrorists.

Check out an all-new behind the scenes featurette on the new season after the jump, and be sure to catch the season premiere of 24 on Sunday, January 17th.

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In 8 years, Jack Bauer has become one of the strongest heroic icons on TV. Each year, Keifer Sutherland outdoes himself by pushing his character to new depths and heights. From the looks of the newest trailer, it seems like Jack’s next feat may have to be….grandparenting?

That’s right, 24 is making it’s way back to Fox’s airwaves on January 17th with an all-new season, and Jack Bauer gets brought back into yet another national crisis to save everybody’s butts.

There has been plenty of speculation whether or not this will be the final season of the show, but one thing is almost definite: this may be the last season for Sutherland. He has stated in the past that he’d like to move on to other projects, as much as he loves the show and what he’s done with Jack Bauer. Even a line in the trailer helps guide us in that direction with “Jack must survive one more day”.

Check out the first full trailer for season eight after the jump, and be sure to catch 24 on FOX coming January 17th.

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There’s a few things I can’t seem to get enough of: good beer, fast cars, cool movies, fun comics, first person shooter video games and tv shows where the main character shoots guys in the leg, electrocutes suspects and threatens to stab bad guys in the eye with a pen in order to get them to talk. Of course, I’m talking about the super cool show 24 featuring a great character named Jack Bauer.

24 is one of those shows that’s often over the top but you just gotta love Jack Bauer and his “take no prisoners” attitude. He will do anything to save lives of innocent Americans. And I mean anything. Now, we can potentially add another interesting character to the mix at CTU next season because, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Freddie Prinze, Jr. is joining the cast of the show as a regular character — an ex-marine named Davis Cole who runs CTU Field Ops and wants to follow in the footsteps of Jack Bauer.

I know what you’re thinking and I sorta agree. I’m not sure Prinze, Jr can bring it to the table to play an ex-marine Field Ops guy. I don’t know if he’s got the acting chops. However, I had the same feeling when both Rick Schroder and Mark-Paul Gosselaar joined the cast of NYPD Blue and both of them managed to convince me. Perhaps we should give Freddie a chance to do the same?

Fox’s 24 has begun filming its 8th Season and barring any issues (drunk driving, headbutts, etc.) should premiere next Fall.