It would appear that Day 7 is a lot more complicated for Jack Bauer than previous days. With eight episodes in the can for Season 7 before the Writers Strike halted everything, you would think the creators of 24 would have a headstart on their show’s January 2009 debut. Apparently not, because production on 24’s Season 7 has shut down after the 18th episode because of problems with the story. Specifically, where the hell do they go from here, because it would appear they don’t like where they were originally headed.

Says EW on the problem:

After the completion of episode 18 on Sept. 15, production on Fox’s hit drama 24 will shut down until Oct. 9 while the writers reshape the upcoming season’s creative direction — specifically the transition leading to the end game. “We had a couple of scripts that we weren’t happy with,” 24 exec producer Howard Gordon tells EW.com. “We just couldn’t get this direction to work, and we found another one that we liked better, so we wound up retooling it.”

I guess we can look on the bright side. Sure, there seems to be plot and story issues, but at least they’ve stopped everything to fix it. Isn’t that better than, say, keeping on running with what the writers already know is crap?

Below: What it feels like to be a 24 fan the last two years.