The co-creator and executive producer of hit TV series 24 has quit the show. Joel Surnow's contract with 20th Century Fox TV, the program's production company, was due to expire on April 30 but it was announced on Wednesday the studio had granted his request for an early release to pursue new projects. He says, "I did some soul-searching. I took it as an opportunity to write on my own and do other things. After doing 24, I don't know if I want to do a mainstream show again. I like what's going on in cable; there is an opportunity to stretch dramatically there, which is something I'm trying to do."

From the archive:

“24,” by suggesting that the US government perpetrates myriad forms of torture, hurts the country’s image internationally. Finnegan, who is a lawyer, has for a number of years taught a course on the laws of war to West Point seniors —— cadets who would soon be commanders in the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. He always tries, he said, to get his students to sort out not just what is legal but what is right. However, it had become increasingly hard to convince some cadets that America had to respect the rule of law and human rights, even when terrorists did not. One reason for the growing resistance, he suggested, was misperceptions spread by “24,” which was exceptionally popular with his students. As he told me, “The kids see it, and say, ‘If torture is wrong, what about “24”?’”

Have you seen Taxi to the Dark Side?