I’ve kept this all very hush hush for the last few days while it was in the works, because I didn’t want to go around crowing about my chickens before they hatched. However, due to the generosity and awesome personal connections of one of our newest readers (Hi Kristen!), AIG has managed to finagle AN EXCLUSIVE Q&A INTERVIEW WITH SEAN CALLERY, the genius Emmy Award-winning composer of all of 24’s original music. Though we have already acknowledged this in the text of our interview, we will again thank Mr. Callery up front for his time and his wonderfully thoughtful responses to our questions.

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I’m HOME, finally. I ended up stuck in the US for an extra night when my connecting flight between Las Vegas and Los Angeles was cancelled. I ended up re-routed overnight through Seattle, and thus did not get home until late this afternoon. However, I have now officially watched the finale, twice, and I must say that overall, I echo all of Matt’s sentiments. He may be the George Mason of this website, but like the beloved Mason (RIP), though he is a smarmy bastard, he knows how to do the job and always gets it done well

I do have a fair amount to say about this episode. Thank ALMEIDA that Almeida survived. I was pleasantly surprised that both Tony and Michelle survived, as I really did not expect it. In fact, I was very surprised that all of the major players survived the day, including Tony, Michelle, Chloe, Palmer and Jack. In my heart, I knew I had to be fully prepared for Tony to die, so that just in case it happened, I would not be too devastated to go on. However, I always held out hope that the writers would stay true to their thematic roots and let Tony live, let him have a little bit of happiness and offer a modicum of redemption to all of those who’ve sacrificed themselves to keep the innocent safe.

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YES! LONG LIVE TONY. I told you, man!

Season 4 has come to a close, with the dark horse Almeida not only surviving, but walking away with his true love Michelle. Even though there is no powerful tragedy to any of this, I have to say I’m glad. This season has been undoubtedly rocky and Tony’s death would’ve been both gratuitous and untimely.

I think the best move the writers made in the last few episodes of the season was bringing Mandy back. In my opinion, her s4 appearance has clinched her as the most ruthless and seductive 24 character to ever exist, even more so than Nina. The part where she slips her gun into the back of her skirt and stops at the door to apply her lipstick was sheer DangerSlut gold. (she even managed to get Tony’s clothes off – I’m sure the girls are more appreciative of that than I.)

Even though I was pretty certain from how the arc was going that Almeida would survive being held hostage, Mandy’s sadistic, calculating presence kept me on the edge of my seat right until she was taken down.

In fact, the best part of the finale for me, hands-down, was:

Tony: Do it Jack. Do what you have to do.
Mandy: Shut up. Do you really have what it takes to let me kill him, while you’re lookin’ him in the eye?
Jack: (pause, then very convincingly) Yes.
Mandy: (wide-eyed) I believe you.

That was a classic 24 moment, they played all three characters perfectly. I’m happy that Mandy got her presidential pardon and can live to make her comeback as the 24 enigma once again. Three episodes and she made a bigger impact than a whole season of Mar-yawn.

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HEY. This is Matt. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m basically the George Mason of this website… I make fun of everything, I take credit for AIG successes, but I don’t actually contribute anything useful when it comes down to it. I’m just in it for the money. There’s money in this gig, isn’t there? Eh? Somebody told me there was money.

Anyway, they bring me in when there’s literally nobody else that can do the job. And since Kasia’s off gallavanting around in Vegas for the FINALE, I’m taking over command of this place, goddammit.

Are you excited? I am. Despite a mostly disappointing season, I think tomorrow night will be great fun. For some bizarre reason I have faith that the writers can come up with a something good and unexpected for the finale – solely because it’s the finale and they’ll want to impress all their precious “casual fans” who started tuning in en masse this season and enjoying the easy-to-follow, episodic storylines of s4. (coughlosers!)

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As promised, major updates have been posted prior to my Vegas departure tomorrow. Unfortunately, I forgot to transfer the debrief transcripts to this computer, so I am unable to post them until my return on Tuesday, by which point the finale will already have aired. So upon my return, expect serious updates on the finale, as well as all remaining debriefs.

In other news, there is a new Carlos article posted.  In it, there is an encouraging quote from Carlos that has him saying he is still in negotiations for Season 5. This lends some hope to all of us fearing for Tony’s life that he may indeed survive.

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Hello! In the aftermath of last night’s massive episode, I know that all of us loyal Almeidaists are of course concerned for Tony’s life. It’s pretty much a given that once Michelle and Tony decided to leave CTU together, one of them was destined to bite the big one. My hope is that the writers are setting us up to think this, and plan to pleasantly surprise us all for once by letting both of them live, start a life together and Michelle to have Tony’s baby. But somehow, I just don’t think it’s gonna go that way.

I won’t say too much else on the subject of this episode for now, because I am anticipating serious debriefs over the next day or two, and I want all thoughts there to be fresh. I will committ to posting updates and debriefs for this episode, because it was so huge, before I leave for Las Vegas. So this will likely mean Thursday.

A couple of other things: thank you to Balfour, who pointed out the “Almeida Is God” sign shown in the audience at the end of Carlos Bernard’s appearance on Cold Pizza. I actually didn’t notice this earlier because when I played this clip, I was mostly just listening to the dialogue and wasn’t watching it. Imagine my excitement when I saw this! Here is a shot:

This sign was neither made nor carried by anyone affiliated with this site. All of the staff of this site live far, far away from LA. However, I am now definitely wondering if whoever did make this sign and carry it into the studio for Carlos’s appearance reads this website. If this is you behind the AIG sign in this picture, I invite you to identify yourself by writing to us.

And finally, Fox has signed a deal with the producers of 24 for a fifth and sixth season. You can read about that here. That’s all for now, but stay tuned for more updates soon.

Happy Holy Day to all. There is a new Carlos video clip for download – his recent appearance on The Carson Daly Show.

AIG has also recently learned that Carlos Bernard will star in a miniseries on NBC this fall called “10.5 Apocalypse”, which is a sequel to last year’s popular miniseries “10.5″. We don’t want to contemplate the implications of this for the future of Tony on 24, but regardless, you can read the full article about NBC’s fall lineup here.

Happy Holy Eve to all. Quick update on a few key issues. First, updates for Episode 21 are finally posted just under the wire.

Regarding the AIG Store, even though I said we would be re-opening, it’s not happening. The AIG Store in its current incarnation is now officially closed for business. I have received a lot of e-mail over the last couple of weeks about the store, so I thought I should let you all know that it won’t be coming back and why. Basically, here’s the situation: CafePress.com, the store host and product supplier we were using, has a policy against what they term “unauthorized use of third party images” on products. This includes any material that the store owner does not own the intellectual property rights for. What I was doing with the Almeida t-shirts featuring Tony screencaps violated their policy. My intent with these shirts was not to profit from someone else’s intellectual property, but rather to spread the joy of Almeida fandom. Previously, CafePress has been rather lax about enforcing this policy, but recently they have been extremely diligent in cracking down on this type of usage of third party images. Therefore, I regret to inform all of you that we will no longer be selling t-shirts and other items with pictures of Tony on them. I am truly sorry to all our readers about this.

Finally, as we all know the Season 4 finale will be airing a week from tomorrow. Unfortunately, I will not be here for it. I’m going to Las Vegas with my boyfriend from May 20 to May 24, so I’ll be watching the 2 hour finale on tape the day after it airs. This site will be on hiatus until I get back from Vegas on the 24th, but I’m sure I’ll have plenty to say about it upon my return. I just didn’t want anyone to be alarmed that nothing’s been posted about the finale until mid next week.

We’ve discovered this tidbit which suggests that NBC is interested in luring “24″ away from FOX for the fifth season. The content of the tidbit is as follows:

Rumor du jour: Fox’s ‘24′ may be heading to NBC
Is Fox’s “24″ headed for NBC? The New York Post reported this morning that the struggling network is interested in Twentieth Television’s Kiefer Sutherland drama, whose four-year deal is up after May 23’s season finale. The Post story quotes an anonymous source that says NBC has expressed its interest in “24.” This season the show has averaged a shade under 12 million viewers an episode, its best season ever. The odds still remain Fox will keep the series, despite an expected increase in its licensing fee, but if it does make the switch it wouldn’t be the first show to do so: “Grounded For Life” aired on Fox for two seasons before it jumped to the WB in February 2003, and “JAG” aired its first season on NBC before moving to CBS for its final nine seasons.

To read the original article, click here and scroll down to the last item.

Let me just say that I really hope this doesn’t happen. I’ve expressed my distaste for FOX’s pressure on the producers of “24″ in the past, but if the show jumps to NBC, it will be even worse. We can kiss the show we know and love goodbye if it moves to NBC, which is one of the older, more conservative networks. Luckily, the chances of FOX letting “24″ go to NBC are extremely low. FOX made the show what it is and I sincerely doubt that the powers-that-be would let what has become their flagship dramatic offering go to another network. After all, FOX believed in 24 even when the ratings were crap and managed to turn it in to a huge success. They won’t let it slip away.

AIG has just learned that Carlos Bernard has been nominated for an Imagen Award, which honours positive depictions of Latinos in TV and film. Carlos was nominated in the best supporting actor television category and is up against Adam Rodriguez (CBS’ CSI: Miami), Freddy Rodriguez (HBO’s Six Feet Under), Mark Consuelos (Lifetime’s Missing) and Danny Pino (CBS’ Cold Case). GO CARLOS GO! To read the full article, click here.

We also came across this Q&A that Kiefer Sutherland did with the London Independent. Click here to read.

As always, thank you to our news correspondent Jon for the info.