Jack's back

So the new season of 24 started last weekend on Fox. Is anyone else annoyed by the fact that Kal Penn (Pictured below. Movie credits include: Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj, Harold and Kumar Go to Whitecastle) played the seemingly-nice-brown-teenaged-terrorist-next-door? I am thrilled that the guy is getting lots of work, and frankly, I like seeing Injuns represented in American TV and film. But, I am a little worried that brown people on TV are being portrayed mostly as convenience shop owners or terrorists, not so much as the educated professionals that many of us are.

(Sendhil Ramamurthy, pictured above, plays scientist Mohinder Suresh on Heroes.) Kudos to NBC's Heroes for giving the Indian characters prominent parts as educated scientists. (Nevermind that everyone thinks the father was nuts and the son is slowly going down the same road to Fruitcakeville.)

But back to 24, the last few "Muslim-based terrorism" seasons at least had Kiefer Sutherland giving a disclaimer that most Muslims are not like the ones portrayed in the show. So far, this season, there were no disclaimers, and moreover, the violence and characterizations this season are more stereotypical than usual. Are we now supposed to be suspect of all brown people?

On a sidenote, I had anticipated a much more elaborate break-out for Jack from the Chinese prison. The anticlimactic "escape" was kind of a cop-out. Couldn't the writers come up with something a little less lame?
(Someone at Fox, please bring the Allstate President back. Dennis Haysbert, pictured right, played President Palmer for three seasons on 24.)

Photos courtesy of Fox Broadcasting, MGM Studios, Maury Phillips/WireImage.com, and CBS Broadcasting.