History YMMV / Twentyfour

** In season 7, [[spoiler: the decision to make Tony an ambiguous baddie splintered the opinions of fans. Some thought it was a nice change of pace, and allowed the writers to contrast Jack and Tony's experiences (despite their similarities) even further. Others thought it was an absolute betrayal of Tony's character, and the most sensical motivations for his actions would be unconvincing if it meant backstabbing Jack.]]
** Similarly, in season 8, [[spoiler: killing off Renee [[DroppedABridgeOnHim in an unceremonious fashion]] brought either admiration or ire to the fans. Some fans thought it was typical ''24'' nature and shrugged it off, while others thought the death was cheap and just plain cruel to Bauer's already messed up psyche.]]

*** In the final episode, [[spoiler:Audrey is killed off for no story purpose (it's not like Jack doesn't have plenty of reasons to hate Cheng already)]]. The fans' reaction was...predictable, and negatively falls into three bases. Either you hated that [[spoiler:the show killed off yet ''another'' love interest for Jack]], you shrugged off [[spoiler:her death (since she was already a BaseBreakingCharacter for this season)]], or you didn't mind that [[spoiler:she died, but at the same time, were appalled that the writer's threw a DiabolusExMachina into the finale to cause her death, whereas Renee's death had proper buildup before it happened and affected both the plot and Jack's character]].
*** The DownerEnding feel of the finale itself wound up creating a split in the fandom. Some are used to it since the show has in practice marked itself as a tragedy and are happy that it still has some finality to it while still leaving things open for another continuation, while others are wishing that after the show came back after such a long hiatus that just once the show could have closed out on a happier ending.
** Every season of 24 is heavily hit with this. Even the beloved season 5 and loathed season 6 aren't immune; with the former being hit with HypeBacklash and the latter affected by CriticalBacklash years after they originally aired. However, the two most divisive seasons are the fourth and seventh:
*** Season 4 has its fans for introducing several major characters, in particular Bill Buchanan and Charles Logan, having a particularly good character arc for Tony (to the point that one of the undisbuteably hated aspects of the otherwise fan favorite Day 5 was negating it all in the span of a few minutes), and giving a much-needed personality retool to Chloe, turning her [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap from someone unpopular with the fanbase]] into the show's BreakoutCharacter. It also has its fair share detractors thanks to suffering one of the show's worst cases of ArcFatigue due to Habib Marwan evading capture so many times, as well as continuing to shuffle characters around all over the season, leading to quite a few too many plots that go nowhere thanks to them being written out or disappearing. [[TakeAThirdOption A third camp]] also sees it somewhere squarely in the middle, finding that thanks to its aforementioned positive and negative elements [[SoOkayItsAverage it's not one of the best seasons, but at the same time not a terrible one either.]]
*** Season 7 is seen as having a better, more focused story arc after the TroubledProduction with Day 6 thanks in part to the 2007-08 Writer's Strike allowing the crew to plan the entire season out in advance, Tony having a much better, more involved role after how hard he got shortchanged during Season 5, bringing in fan favorite characters Renee Walker and Allison Taylor, and making Kim a lot more likable. However, just as many dislike the season for its controversial character decisions for both Jack and Tony, pulling one of the most unpopular cases of a DiscOneFinalBoss in the show's run [[spoiler:by [[DroppedABridgeOnHim anticlimactically killing the heavily built up Jonas Hodges]] late into the season and bringing Alan Wilson in as the real villain,]] having most of the FBI team who weren't Renee being fairly disliked, and trying to reignite the David-Sherry Palmer dynamic with Allison Taylor's daughter Olivia, but failing due to Olivia lacking many of the qualities that made Sherry such a LoveToHate character, causing her to come off as annoying instead.
** The announcement that another sequel series is being considered without Jack in a starring role, and possibly even being completely absent. People are unsurprisingly split all over the place on whether it's a good idea or not.
** Now that Season 1 of ''24: Legacy'' has finished airing, fans and critics' opinion on the show has been more divisive than even ''Live Another Day''. Was the show just as good as, if not better than, a typical season of ''24''? Did it start off very sluggish, but got progressively better after the halfway mark? Did it start off wonderful, but then tumbled to the finish line after Asim Naseri was shoehorned into the plot? Was [[spoiler:Rebecca's]] death shocking and saddening, or just thrown in because of a DiabolusExMachina and because the writers felt compelled to kill off someone major? Are the characters interesting and relatable, or are they all just bland and soulless? Most importantly, should the show be renewed for a second season, or should they just drop it and never touch the franchise again?

** By nothing more than sheer force of popularity, bit character Aaron Pierce has managed to be the only character aside from Jack Bauer to appear in all of the first seven seasons.
** Chloe also went from very unpopular to one of the show's most beloved characters.
** Renee's [[spoiler: thumb-chopping gambit]] confirmed her Darkhorse status.
** Tony was quite disliked during the first half of season one, thanks to his rivalry with Jack, and many believed him to be the CTU mole. Then he saved Teri's life, won Jack's trust and the eternal love of the fans. [[spoiler:Even after his FaceHeelTurn in season seven, a whole lot of fans still love him and refuse to see him as evil.]]

** For a while, Curtis Manning was the second-biggest badass on the show (after Jack Bauer) and became very popular among fans. [[spoiler:Said fans were heartbroken when he was suddenly killed off near the start of Season 6.]]
** Mandy. She's only appeared in 7 episodes for the whole series, but the fanbase absolutely ''loves'' her.
** Bill became fairly popular himself, mainly for being the only CTU director who was 100% trustworthy and would more often than not agree with Jack rather than try to get in his way.
** Tom Lennox is largely considered one of the few consistent bright spots of Season 6.
** Kate Morgan has managed to get pretty popular after just a few hours thanks to her own pretty badass behavior.
** [[EvilMatriarch Margot Al-Harazi]] also established herself amongst the series best villains in only a few episodes, primarily due to Michelle Fairley's incredible performance. [[spoiler: [[MyBelovedSmother The fact she was willing to murder her own children for her goal probably didn't hurt though.]]]]

** In season 7, [[spoiler: the decision to make Tony an ambiguous baddie splintered the opinions of fans. Some thought it was a nice change of pace, and allowed the writers to contrast Jack and Tony's experiences (despite their similarities) even further. Others thought it was an absolute betrayal of Tony's character, and the most sensical motivations for his actions would be unconvincing if it meant backstabbing Jack.]]
** Similarly, in season 8, [[spoiler: killing off Renee [[DroppedABridgeOnHim in an unceremonious fashion]] brought either admiration or ire to the fans. Some fans thought it was typical ''24'' nature and shrugged it off, while others thought the death was cheap and just plain cruel to Bauer's already messed up psyche.]]

*** In the final episode, [[spoiler:Audrey is killed off for no story purpose (it's not like Jack doesn't have plenty of reasons to hate Cheng already)]]. The fans' reaction was...predictable, and negatively falls into three bases. Either you hated that [[spoiler:the show killed off yet ''another'' love interest for Jack]], you shrugged off [[spoiler:her death (since she was already a BaseBreakingCharacter for this season)]], or you didn't mind that [[spoiler:she died, but at the same time, were appalled that the writer's threw a DiabolusExMachina into the finale to cause her death, whereas Renee's death had proper buildup before it happened and affected both the plot and Jack's character]].
*** The DownerEnding feel of the finale itself wound up creating a split in the fandom. Some are used to it since the show has in practice marked itself as a tragedy and are happy that it still has some finality to it while still leaving things open for another continuation, while others are wishing that after the show came back after such a long hiatus that just once the show could have closed out on a happier ending.
** Every season of 24 is heavily hit with this. Even the beloved season 5 and loathed season 6 aren't immune; with the former being hit with HypeBacklash and the latter affected by CriticalBacklash years after they originally aired. However, the two most divisive seasons are the fourth and seventh:
*** Season 4 has its fans for introducing several major characters, in particular Bill Buchanan and Charles Logan, having a particularly good character arc for Tony (to the point that one of the undisbuteably hated aspects of the otherwise fan favorite Day 5 was negating it all in the span of a few minutes), and giving a much-needed personality retool to Chloe, turning her [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap from someone unpopular with the fanbase]] into the show's BreakoutCharacter. It also has its fair share detractors thanks to suffering one of the show's worst cases of ArcFatigue due to Habib Marwan evading capture so many times, as well as continuing to shuffle characters around all over the season, leading to quite a few too many plots that go nowhere thanks to them being written out or disappearing. [[TakeAThirdOption A third camp]] also sees it somewhere squarely in the middle, finding that thanks to its aforementioned positive and negative elements [[SoOkayItsAverage it's not one of the best seasons, but at the same time not a terrible one either.]]
*** Season 7 is seen as having a better, more focused story arc after the TroubledProduction with Day 6 thanks in part to the 2007-08 Writer's Strike allowing the crew to plan the entire season out in advance, Tony having a much better, more involved role after how hard he got shortchanged during Season 5, bringing in fan favorite characters Renee Walker and Allison Taylor, and making Kim a lot more likable. However, just as many dislike the season for its controversial character decisions for both Jack and Tony, pulling one of the most unpopular cases of a DiscOneFinalBoss in the show's run [[spoiler:by [[DroppedABridgeOnHim anticlimactically killing the heavily built up Jonas Hodges]] late into the season and bringing Alan Wilson in as the real villain,]] having most of the FBI team who weren't Renee being fairly disliked, and trying to reignite the David-Sherry Palmer dynamic with Allison Taylor's daughter Olivia, but failing due to Olivia lacking many of the qualities that made Sherry such a LoveToHate character, causing her to come off as annoying instead.
** The announcement that another sequel series is being considered without Jack in a starring role, and possibly even being completely absent. People are unsurprisingly split all over the place on whether it's a good idea or not.
** Now that Season 1 of ''24: Legacy'' has finished airing, fans and critics' opinion on the show has been more divisive than even ''Live Another Day''. Was the show just as good as, if not better than, a typical season of ''24''? Did it start off very sluggish, but got progressively better after the halfway mark? Did it start off wonderful, but then tumbled to the finish line after Asim Naseri was shoehorned into the plot? Was [[spoiler:Rebecca's]] death shocking and saddening, or just thrown in because of a DiabolusExMachina and because the writers felt compelled to kill off someone major? Are the characters interesting and relatable, or are they all just bland and soulless? Most importantly, should the show be renewed for a second season, or should they just drop it and never touch the franchise again?

** By nothing more than sheer force of popularity, bit character Aaron Pierce has managed to be the only character aside from Jack Bauer to appear in all of the first seven seasons.
** Chloe also went from very unpopular to one of the show's most beloved characters.
** Renee's [[spoiler: thumb-chopping gambit]] confirmed her Darkhorse status.
** Tony was quite disliked during the first half of season one, thanks to his rivalry with Jack, and many believed him to be the CTU mole. Then he saved Teri's life, won Jack's trust and the eternal love of the fans. [[spoiler:Even after his FaceHeelTurn in season seven, a whole lot of fans still love him and refuse to see him as evil.]]

** For a while, Curtis Manning was the second-biggest badass on the show (after Jack Bauer) and became very popular among fans. [[spoiler:Said fans were heartbroken when he was suddenly killed off near the start of Season 6.]]
** Mandy. She's only appeared in 7 episodes for the whole series, but the fanbase absolutely ''loves'' her.
** Bill became fairly popular himself, mainly for being the only CTU director who was 100% trustworthy and would more often than not agree with Jack rather than try to get in his way.
** Tom Lennox is largely considered one of the few consistent bright spots of Season 6.
** Kate Morgan has managed to get pretty popular after just a few hours thanks to her own pretty badass behavior.
** [[EvilMatriarch Margot Al-Harazi]] also established herself amongst the series best villains in only a few episodes, primarily due to Michelle Fairley's incredible performance. [[spoiler: [[MyBelovedSmother The fact she was willing to murder her own children for her goal probably didn't hurt though.]]]]

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: [[SubvertedTrope They almost always do]]. However, the trope has been played straight a few times:
** Jack clinically dies in the middle of Day 2 after his heart stops during a torture session, and his character profile was even changed to "deceased" for a week on the official website. Even that early into the show, Jack's reputation had been so cemented that nobody actually bought it.

** [[spoiler:The "death" of President Heller in ''Live Another Day'']]. Even ''24'', [[AnyoneCanDie a show that kills off main characters left and right]], did not take the risk of killing off [[spoiler:the President of the United States of America while he was still in office]].
*** Additionally, it was well-known among many fans that [[spoiler: President Keeler was originally written to die in the Air Force One attack in Season 4 but was [[ExecutiveMeddling overturned by the network on a mandate that a sitting US President not be killed on air]]]], leading many to immediately NoSell a replay of this exact same scenario.
** They only really started to subvert the trope on Day 5. Before that, this trope was actually PlayedStraight quite a lot. Jack miraculously survived clinical death at the hands of Peter Kingsley's henchmen during Day 2, David Palmer miraculously survived the deadly virus Mandy infected him with at the end of Day 2, Tony miraculously survived getting shot in the neck at the start of Day 3, Michelle miraculously survived getting exposed to the virus at the end of Day 3 when the possibility of infection was higher than 90%, [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled Heller and Audrey survived their suicide attempt at the start of Day 4]], and Tony and Mandy survived their supposed car bomb death at the end of Day 4. PopularityPower was actually pretty strong, back in the day.

** Not too many fans were upset when Marianne Taylor [[spoiler:got shot to death by her own employers]]. Even Curtis barely raised an eyebrow.
*** Even ''[[NiceGuy Edgar]]'' stated that she deserved an even worse fate than what she went through. Granted, he had just gone through some traumatic events recently, but his attitude about her more or less reflected the audience's views.
** Admit it: you were happy when Jack choked Dr. Barry Landes after he pried into his personal life too much.

** In the third season, Tony getting fed up and bluntly telling Chloe that he was sick of her behavior served as this while she was still in Scrappy territory.
** Agent Samuels from Season 6 blatantly tells Sandra Palmer multiple times that she's far too preachy than she needs to be, and that she only gets special treatment because she's Wayne's sister.
** It's impossible to feel sorry for Rita Brady after Fayed coldly shoots her to death, especially after she willingly delivered Morris to him when she could've freed him.

* SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: The [[UsefulNotes/Playstation2 PS2]] game, covering between seasons two and three, is a box set in it's own right that begins with Jack raiding a cargo ship before a bomb expert disarms explosives, then a driving scene, then it cuts to Chase, then a shootout and a JackBauerInterrogationTechnique before analysts track down snipers Jack has to stop, so you won't be bored. The music, cinematics and intrigue are of the same quality of the show, it plugs up many plot holes and there are lots of little nods to the fandom, easily as high quality as the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' games.

** Chloe O'Brian was extremely unpopular in and out of universe in her first appearance in Season 3 for being annoying, obstructive. In Season 4, she becomes Jack's most consistent ally and a full-on EnsembleDarkHorse after shooting a bunch of terrorists with an M16. She eventually became [[BreakoutCharacter so popular]] that she became the {{Deuteragonist}} of the entire series, and almost as [[IconicSequelCharacter iconic]] of a character as Jack.

*** It's hard to remember that his status as one of the major villains is so [[ItWasHisSled well-known]], but back when Charles Logan was originally revealed to be the mastermind behind Day 5's events, the initial reaction was very divisive, with the majority of the viewers and critics feeling that the twist was so ridiculous that trying to paint the incompetent president as a criminal mastermind had turned the show into a joke by that point. As the season went on he proved himself to be genuinely threatening and resourceful, quickly changing opinion toward the positive.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Gen. David Bruckner and Rob Weiss go behind the president's back and turn president Hassan over to the terrorists in order to stop them from setting off a nuclear bomb in New York. Their justification is that they did what they had to in order to protect the United States. Accusations that it wasn't their call to make and that they betrayed both their president and their country fall flat when their actions kept a nuclear bomb that was ''7 seconds away from detonating'' from going off. Also notable in that this is the very same reasoning- the defence of innocent Americans trumping moral principles and established authority- that Jack Bauer has used to justify defying orders countless times in the past.
** However, this may be due to a bit of hindsight: There was no indication the terrorist would really stick to his word and stop the bomb. Such villains on this show are rare.
*** The only thing that matters here is what actually happened. President Taylor's decision would have gotten New York City ''nuked'' had the conspirators not intervened.
** Then there's the fact that neither President Taylor nor Gen. Bruckner & Weiss told President Hassan about this (though in President Taylor's case she deliberately avoided that), and President Hassan was more than willing to give himself up when he realized the gravity of the situation. Them deciding not to/forgetting to tell him actually mean that several soldiers and secret service agents died for no reason, and ruined any chance to save Hassan. So it comes across that they are both in the wrong, or at least in how they went about it.

** Allison Taylor spends the third act of Season 8 [[spoiler: covering up the involvement of Russian agents in the assassination of Omar Hassan, in the name of preserving a peace treaty that Hassan strongly believed in and that it is implied will save thousands if not millions of lives.]] Naturally, this is treated as a FaceHeelTurn, and her [[spoiler: refusal to sign the treaty at the last minute]] as an act of redemption, because apparently, human lives are less important than abstract principles.
*** That said, the main reason Taylor [[spoiler:covering up the Russian involvement in President Hassan's death]] is treated like a FaceHeelTurn, is because in doing so, the peace treaty became less about protecting the innocent, and more about ensuring the guilty will never be punished. Meaning Jack chewing her out on her actions [[BothSidesHaveAPoint is quite understandable too.]]

** That said, the main reason Taylor [[spoiler:covering up the Russian involvement in President Hassan's death]] is treated like a FaceHeelTurn, is because in doing so, the peace treaty became less about protecting the innocent and more about ensuring the guilty will never be punished. Meaning Jack chewing her out on her actions [[BothSidesHaveAPoint is quite understandable too.]]

* EvilIsSexy: Nina Myers, Mandy, Cara Bowden, [[spoiler:Tony Almeida]] (Day 7), [[BitchInSheepsClothing Olivia Taylor]], Margot and Simone Al-Harazi...

** Alan Wilson was telling the truth, and he didn't know Tony until he started working with him. Which absolves him from being involved in Day 5, and honestly, would make things FAR more logical and have a lot more of sense. Tony's word is all we have, and given Tony's mental state..it is absolutely not a good reference.
*** Or alternatively, he had a role in the sentox conspiracy, but it was a minor/medium one, or was somehow connected to the conspirators in an indirect way (either by previous business, or black market relations) if to reconcile both narratives.
** Tony's actions in Day 7 do not make a lot of sense, even with him being a deep undercover mole. Certain acts of compassion simply do not fit with the behaviour of someone who is willing to let thousands die to find a man and kill him to achieve personal revenge (or murder an ally in such a cold blooded and pointless way). He does not even seem to be the same person sometimes. Aside the fact his plan also does not make much sense. So, aside from bad writing, what the hell was going on in Tony's head during Day 7, if it has any explanation?
** Was Logan bluffing in season 6, or was he truly trying to redeem himself and do the right thing, if still in a self serving way?
** Back in season 4, Mandy made it look like she blew herself and Tony up with a car bomb thanks to Bill hastily ordering the CTU team to move in. Was that simple carelessness or did he [[DeathOfTheHypotenuse mean to have Tony killed?]]
** For Christopher Henderson. Was he always corrupt and evil or was he originally innocent of the corruption charges Jack laid against him and being forced out of CTU made him [[ThenLetMeBeEvil decide it was better to throw his lot in with the bad guys]]?

** Turned up to eleven with Season 6. Just for perspective, the detonation of a nuclear bomb dozens of miles outside of Los Angeles with only a single casualty (who was already dying of radiation poisoning anyway) back in Season 2 caused a nationwide breakdown of law and order that lead to riots and racially-motivated murders within hours. Season 6 has a nuclear bomb detonated actually in Los Angeles, instantly vaporizing over ten thousand people and leading to countless more deaths in the longer term, and it's hardly treated as a bigger deal than the bus bombing that opened the season.

*** Easily [[spoiler: the revelation of Tony's unborn son, something that isn't even hinted at until the season 7 finale]].
** Day 8's reveal that [[spoiler:Yuri Suvarov]], a previously respectable character that wasn't bad at all, is the final BigBad of the season. .

** The fourth episode of Season 6 concludes with the detonation of a nuclear weapon in Los Angeles as Jack severs his ties with CTU in the midst of a severe HeroicBSOD, displaying a drastic shift in the status quo. Within ten minutes of the next episode Jack snaps back into his usual mode and within the space of a couple hours the entire population of LA has seemingly forgotten about a nuclear attack that happened just miles away while the Bauer family PlotTumor takes over the season.
** For that matter, despite the storyline revolves around the Bauer family, Kim wasn't involved in the plot and her reaction to the fact that most of her family members are involved in terrorism is never touched upon. This robs her of an opportunity to have major character development and a chance to develop her relationship with Jack as well as finally forgive him / realize her mistake. The fact that she can easily filled Josh and Marilyn's role (thus relief the audience of ''two'' more Damsel Scrappy), just managed to make herself useful in season 3 and their relationship plays an important role in season 7 just made this worse.

** In the middle of season 7, Jack was set up for the deaths of two government officials, with the law falsely believing that he was attempting to avenge [[spoiler: Bill's]] death and taking it out on anyone potentially involved. Jack also couldn't bring the guy who really committed the murders in to clear his name because he'd been attacked by and forced to kill him in self defense. Believing that Jack had crossed the line, the order was put out to shoot him on sight because he was too dangerous to be left alive. Although Jack being framed and wanted by the authorities was nothing new, being wanted dead or alive certainly was; before this whenever he was set up the law would just try to detain him. However, this potentially interesting spin on an old arc was quickly killed since the following episode after that cliffhanger then almost immediately had the FBI discover the existence of the real killer and learn that Jack really was framed, leading to him working with them once again before the hour was even halfway over, and making the previous two episodes that had been building this plot up completely pointless.
** Season 7 revealed that the ultimate ManBehindTheMan was some guy named Alan Wilson and TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness, though said Council may or may not be a KarmaHoudini as they, too, are not heard from again, while Wilson only gets a brief mention in season 8. Most seasons prior to that had various cases of government corruption and internal conspiracies (such as attempts to kill the President) that alluded to masterminds who went unpunished, and Graem Bauer alluded to involvement in previous stories (saying that he ordered the hit on David Palmer and Jack in season 5, and that his hit on Jack was not the first). Wilson is presumably meant to be the ultimate villain behind all of this, but while the conspiracy itself wasn't exactly an {{Asspull}} and a fair amount of groundwork (possibly unintentional, but still), the identity of the villain certainly was.
*** Originally Cara Bowden was supposed to be [[EnsembleDarkhorse Mandy]]. That would have made this entire section of the plot ''far'' more interesting for two reasons. First of all, Mandy's connection to three separate terrorist plots before this would give more credibility to the idea that this OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness really did have a big hand in the plots of previous seasons. Second, considering Tony and Mandy faced off during Season 4, seeing them on the same side this time (and even possibly dating, assuming they still had the same relationship Tony and Cara did) would be an awesome way to represent Tony as a case of HeWhoFightsMonsters.
*** And Season 8 forgets all about this plot that interconnected the previous seasons and instead goes for a brand new storyline that ends up with Middle Eastern terrorists....with nuclear weapons...again.

* MoralEventHorizon: Many.
** In Season 1, [[spoiler: Nina Myers murders Teri Bauer and (consequently) her unborn child]].
** In Season 5, [[spoiler: the implied offscreen murder of a child at the hands of Christopher Henderson]].
** President Allison Taylor [[spoiler:has exhausted several fans' goodwill by bending over and taking policy tips from Charles Logan, a man she and close advisor Ethan Kanin reviled for his deeds as President and his getting away relatively scot-free - all for the sake of a treaty that will supposedly (read magically) bring peace of a nondescript group of Eastern countries. Whatever goodwill remained is exhausted when Taylor flat out threatens Dalia Hassan to finish the treaty. Fortunately, she does get some personal redemption when she refuses to go through with the signing and orders Jack to GTFO before he's caught.]]
** Sherry Palmer elevated herself to a new level of villain Badassery in Season 3, (when she was formerly a behind-the-scenes [[ManipulativeBastard manipulator]]) when she [[spoiler: talked Alan Milliken to death and prevented his wife from administering life-saving medicine.]]
** [[spoiler:Suvarov ordering the killings of Omar Hassan and Renee Walker.]]
** Jack almost starting World War Three, CTU having torturers on speed dial, the Secretary of Defense ordering the torture of his son, the show is kind of ''Moral Event Horizon: The Series.''
** Margot Al-Harazi [[spoiler: torturing ''her own daughter'' to pressure Naveed into piloting the drone attacks.]]
** After Jack [[spoiler: threw Margot Al-Harazi out a window, [[BrokenBase fans have been debating whether he crossed the MEH by murdering a woman who was no longer a threat in any way or gave a monstrous terrorist exactly what she deserved.]]]]
** In Season 4, Dina Araz crossed it when she [[spoiler:murdered Debbie Pendleton, an innocent teenage girl AND her son Behrooz's girlfriend, because she feared she [[HeKnowsTooMuch knew too much]] - when Debbie barely knew anything. What's more is that Dina poisoned the girl without Behrooz's knowledge, knowing he would try to help her escape]].

*** Jonas Hodges. A gloriously [[EvilIsHammy hammy]] villain played by a massive star in Creator/JonVoight who had been built as the season's BigBad since ''Redemption'', he's blown up with and a handful of episodes to spare and replaced by the extremely dull Alan Wilson.

*** Jack's entire family ended up being widely disliked for one reason or another. Jack's father Phillip was hated for being a bland villain with baffling motives and a phoned-in performance from Creator/JamesCromwell (who admitted he didn't get the character at all), his brother Graem was hated for the AssPull of his being revealed to be related to Jack after this wasn't even hinted at during his appearance in Season 5 (not to mention that he suffered significant VillainDecay from said appearance, where he was fairly well-liked for being TheChessmaster leader of the OminiscientCouncilOfVagueness), and his nephew Josh and sister-in-law Marilyn were most hated of all for being an even worse pair of [[DamselScrappy Damsel Scrappies]] than Kim. Marilyn was especially disliked for her and Jack's romance subplot that many found gross and unconvincing, not to mention her constant whining.

*** Alan Wilson is easily the show's least popular BigBad. Within Season 7 itself, he was seen as a ReplacementScrappy to the very well-received Jonas Hodges, with his DullSurprise being compared unfavorably to Creator/JonVoight's EvilIsHammy performance. Then he was revealed to be the [[TheManBehindTheMan ultimate mastermind]] behind Day 5's events, which was both confusing, since the previous season had pretty defintively stated that Phillip Bauer was the mastermind, and underwhelming, because this revelation came out of nowhere and Wilson was widely seen as less interesting than the villains who were now being stated to be his pawns. Though the season ends with the implication that he would be a KarmaHoudini and return in the final season, his unpopularity meant that his storyline was abruptly dropped with only a few mentions of what happened to him, with WordOfGod confirming he eventually faced justice, and the more popular Logan instead [[HijackedByGanon returned to be the show's final villain]].

** Behrooz Araz from Season 4, due to his whiny personality and the fact that his subplot took up huge chunks of the season, yet ultimately went nowhere. Even the writers later coined the term "Behrooz'd" for when they abruptly wrote out a character who wasn't working and/or was proving unpopular with the viewers.
** Kim's season 5 obnoxious therapist / boyfriend Dr. Barry Landes, who appeared in only 2 episodes.
** Miles Papazian in Season 5, for being one of the biggest [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Obstructive Bureaucrats]] in the series as unlike most of the others he never received any sort of redeeming traits whatsoever. He was also a major KarmaHoudini.
** Janis from Season 7 was what Chloe would have been if she hadn't received the necessary dose of CharacterDevelopment after Season 3, and a lot of her snarkiness came off as irritating rather than funny. Most fans were glad she wasn't back for the final season.
** Marianne Taylor from Season 4. She slept with Curtis Manning just so she could get ahead in her career, and then she dumped him. And this was ''before'' Season 4 even began. During Season 4, she's a BitchInSheepsClothing who blackmailed Edgar into doing tasks for her. And to top all that off, [[spoiler:we find out [[TheMole she's working for the terrorists]], and she (almost) made Sarah take the blame for it]].
** Erika, the woman [[spoiler:Sean is having an affair with]]. She's whiny, bitchy, and despite knowing that [[spoiler:Sean has a wife, [[ItsAllAboutMe she just wants him to leave her so they can be together]]]].
** For that matter, Sean himself. He's a SmugSnake and a {{Jerkass}} who banters back and forth with Janis, despite knowing he can't insult her properly. The only redeeming quality about him is that he loves his wife dearly, and ''that'' was wasted potential when it was revealed that [[spoiler:[[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk he was having an affair]].]] Did we also mention that [[spoiler:he's TheMole?]]
** Larry Moss. Imagine an FBI version of Ryan Chappelle, and you'll have a fair idea on why he's not too likable.
** Sandra Palmer just wasn't lucky compared to either of her brothers. Fans ultimately found her to be far too preachy for their liking, which more than likely was what led to her ultimately making only a handful of appearances.
** A lot of fans didn't like Wayne Palmer in Season 6 for one of two reasons (and for some, both reasons). Some fans didn't like that he wasn't the shady, albeit caring AntiHero from Season 3 who was willing to bend a few rules and cross a few lines in order to get things done. Others felt that he suffered from BadassDecay when compared to Season 5, where he not only TookALevelInBadass and helped Jack on his quest to uncover the conspiracy, but also figured out that Evelyn Martin knew who the true BigBad was. [[http://www.24spoilers.com/2007/08/15/db-woodside-ign-interview/ Wayne's actor shared the same sentiments as the fans.]]
** Alan Wilson, TheChessmaster in Season 7. He is by far the least developed, boring villain in this season. Even Cara Bowden, who was Wilson's [[TheDragon Dragon]], and General Juma, who was only in ''three episodes'', were far more interesting than Alan Wilson was. Out of the four major villains in this season (Ike Dubaku, Jonas Hodges, [[spoiler:Tony Almeida]], and General Juma), in the end, the fifth and final villain turns out to be...[[BaldOfEvil a bald guy]] in a suit.
*** Wilson is also seen as a ReplacementScrappy to Hodges because the show had been building Jonas Hodges up as the main villain of Season 7 up for the past year. Thanks to his appearances in "Redemption" his shadow was looming over everything even before he showed up properly in the series, and when he did finally show up he was quickly able to win over the fanbase with how hammy and affable he could be. That alone ensured Wilson wouldn't be all that popular the second he suddenly appeared out of nowhere to take Hodges’ place as the real mastermind so late in the season.
*** Even worse in the season finale they have Tony reveal that he was TheManBehindTheMan to [[BigBad Charles Logan]], who was the most famous and arguably [[LoveToHate the most popular]] BigBad of the series. They had already tried this with Jack's father and brother but as that didn't work out they were KilledOffForReal and never mentioned again, with Logan getting sole credit as the mastermind of Day 5's conspiracy at the start of Day 7....only for them to do it again with the even less popular/more hated Wilson in the finale out of the blue. It seemed they intended on making Wilson the ultimate BigBad of the series, yet they have him come completely out of nowhere with little to no foreshadowing with the even bigger reveal equally coming out of nowhere, make him as bland, boring, and uninteresting as possible, and his actor gave an extremely poor DullSurprise performance, and finally explicitly claimed two highly popular [[BigBad Big Bads]] were merely his pawns. Then the season ends with the implication that Wilson will be a KarmaHoudini with the intention of him returning as the BigBad of a future season, likely the final one. They even reference him a couple of times in season 8. However likely because of his Scrappy status they stopped mentioning him, and instead Charles Logan was brought back as the BigBad of the final season via HijackedByGanon with no mention of Wilson. WordOfGod also revealed after the series ended that Wilson actually did face justice along with the rest of his group following Day 7.
** Habib Marwan from Day 4; despite being second-only to Charles Logan in terms of on-screen appearances for a season's primary villain, he's written with zero depth and very little personality, has no backstory that might explain the completely absurd amounts of OffscreenVillainDarkMatter he has access to (other than an extremely vague HandWave that he's been planning the day's events for years) or why he has so many American allies, and his constant escapes are more down to dumb luck than anything that might make Marwan a worthy rival to Jack. As a result, he's widely considered a strong contender with Alan Wilson for the title of the show's most unpopular BigBad.
** Olivia Taylor quickly earned herself a hatedom after mending bridges with her mother for more or less being an ungrateful brat only to quickly reveal her real colors as a complete ManipulativeBitch. Her Genre Blindness when dealing with the Jonas Hodges affair at the end of the season just cemented things.
** ''Nobody'' liked Marilyn Bauer during Season 6 due to her annoying, whiny behavior and lack of necessity to the plot (other than [[DamselScrappy constantly getting into danger and/or kidnapped]]). Her very brief [[RomanticPlotTumor romance subplot with Jack]] didn't do her any favors at all ([[AbortedArc which may have been why it got cut very short]]). It got so bad that she has less fans than ''Kim'', as at least Kim is young and has valid reasons to whine about.
** Rita Brady. She spent all of her screentime whining and bickering with Darren [=McCarthy=]. She ''almost'' got herself rescued when she decided to kill Darren and was about to free Morris, but then put the final nail in her coffin when she kidnapped Morris herself [[{{Greed}} all so she could have the money Fayed intended on giving to Darren]].

** Since Seasons 2, 3, 5 and 7 are generally considered some of the best seasons (obviously debatable, but at least S5 is universally acclaimed), a distinct pattern can be seen: all non-prime-numbered seasons are subpar.

*** Blaine Mayer. In Season 7, he was nothing more than a senator with the word "{{Anvilicious}}" tattooed on his forehead. But in the final episode he appears in, not only does he stand up to Jack and tell him right to his face that he's more resilient to torture than Burnett, but he TookALevelInKindness and tried to help him expose the Starkwood conspiracy. Then Quinn shows up at his door and guns him down. [[BigNo Even Jack didn't take his death well]].

** Ryan Chappelle, when Jack is forced to execute him on Stephen Saunders' demands.
** Lynn [=McGill=]. While [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom his incompetence]] led to the terrorists getting his ID card and launching a gas attack on CTU, he [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices his own life]] to save CTU from the gas.
** His drug-addicted sister Jenny. She didn't get as much hate as Lynn, but she was still a fairly annoying and useless side character. Doesn't mean she deserved to get shot in the back of the head.

** [[spoiler:Larry Moss]]. While some fans could argue that he was RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap halfway into Season 7, others still hated him for being an FBI version of George Mason, Ryan Chappelle, etc. But when [[spoiler:Tony mercilessly suffocated the man to death, all his haters were deeply upset and shocked over it. Many fans would even say Tony crossed the MoralEventHorizon]].
** Blaine Mayer. In Season 7, he was nothing more than a senator with the word "{{Anvilicious}}" tattooed on his forehead. But in the final episode he appears in, not only does he stand up to Jack and tell him right to his face that he's more resilient to torture than Burnett, but he TookALevelInKindness and tried to help him expose the Starkwood conspiracy. Then Quinn shows up at his door and guns him down. [[BigNo Even Jack didn't take his death well]].
** [[spoiler:Dana Walsh]]. After begging [[spoiler:Jack]] not to execute her, ''he does it anyway''. And unlike Nina Myers, [[TooDumbToLive who was actually reaching for a gun despite already being shot]], [[spoiler:Dana Walsh]] had no weapons nearby and had her hands in the air. Even though very few people liked [[spoiler:Dana]], a majority of the fans were disgusted that [[spoiler:Jack]] killed her so coldly.
** Although not a death scene, Mark Boudreau's final scene where he's near-catatonic [[spoiler: after learning about Audrey's death as he's awaiting being transferred to prison]] has been noted as a depressing exit even by his haters.
** Even Teri qualifies to some degree. She spent the majority of Day 1 being [[DamselScrappy pretty useless]] and her [[TrappedByMountainLions poorly-written amnesia subplot]] made her TheScrappy to many fans. Still, many of those fans were still sad to see her killed off so suddenly and sympathized with Jack's loss in the future seasons.
** Arguably part of why Season 1 [[GrowingTheBeard grew the beard]] was because of this. The sixth episode killed off Janet York, Kim's rambunctious and annoying thrill-seeking friend, by having her slowly suffocated in her hospital bed by a man she thought was her father. Regardless of how fans felt about her, not a single person thought she deserved to be killed that way after all the hell she already went through.

*** Cole Ortiz got a lot of hatred from fans before he even debuted on the show, solely because he was played by [[WTHCastingAgency Freddie Prinze, Jr]]. However, the hate died down after Cole performed two near-[[HeroicSacrifice Heroic Sacrifices]] in a row (the first to save Omar Hassan from assassination, and the second to prevent the assassin from escaping).

* WTHCastingAgency:
** Creator/DennisHopper as Serbian warlord Victor Drazen.
** Creator/DavidHerman, best known at the time for Film/OfficeSpace, stars as a quirky [=CTU=] techie in season 3. According to the creators, they decided Chloe o'Brien possessed enough quirk, so they deleted most of his scenes and quickly wrote him out.
** Creator/KalPenn playing a terrorist in Season 6, which likely led to his being killed off early on.
** Creator/FreddiePrinzeJr's announcement as a regular for Season 8 was met with similar confusion and jokes alike. As Season 8 went on, his casting was viewed in a more favorable light though.
** Similarly, Creator/KateeSackhoff being cast as an office drone seemed strange, with some viewers suggesting that maybe she and Prinze (who was playing a badass field agent) should switch jobs. [[spoiler:Once she was revealed as a double agent the casting seemed to make more sense.]]
** Creator/StephenFry as the British Prime Minister in ''Live Another Day''. Which wasn't helped by his being given very little to do.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: At the time, a heavily-serialized show like ''24'' was absolutely groundbreaking. However, decades later, viewers have been inundated with serialized shows that do such outlandish things as ''come up with a plot for the season before they start making it'', so the slapdash, WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants plotting of ''24'' pales in comparison to the shows it influenced.