’24’ Lays Off the Torture

So the producers of 24 made the decision to cut down on the torture scenes, but they claim it is not, repeat not, because of recent pressures from the military or human rights activists. (In case you haven’t read it, here’s the recent New Yorker article detailing the personal visit General Patrick Finnegan, dean of the US Military Academy at West Point, paid to the 24 producers to ask them to tone it down. Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood Daily had her own opinion: stop watching the show. This is perhaps all a little moot now that they’ve decided to cut back on the torture, a move head writer Howard Gordon said was “driven by creativity”:

In its sixth season, 24 has become so torture-heavy that it borders on cliche, he says . . . “It’s not something that we, as writers, want to use as a crutch.”

What do you think, reader?