The Sports Guy, ESPN’s Bill Simmons, is one of the best sports columnists around, partially because he hits on just about every pop culture topic out there. This week, while discussing Steelers’ RB Jerome Bettis’ near catastrophic fumble in the closing minutes of their playoff game against the Colts, Simmons threw this gem in:
As it turned out, it wasn’t even the most shocking moment of the day — not when the “24” brain trust decided to kill off President David Palmer. How can you kill off the greatest fake president ever? Who would do such a thing? That was the most traumatic Hollywood death since Curtis Jackson was gunned down at the liquor store during the second season of the “White Shadow.” Heck, I was planning on voting for Palmer two years from now — instead, I have to vote for Kevin Kline. Plus, every time I see an Allstate commercial, I’m going to expect Dennis Haysbert to get gunned down right in the middle of a busy intersection. What an outrage. Can’t they bring him back for Season Six under the old “Um, he never really died, he was just in a coma, and now he’s fine!” angle?
I’m right with him: after it happened, I immediately wondered, “Okay, how could they possibly bring him back?” And then, during one of the subsequent commercial breaks, Haysbert shows up in an Allstate ad. I know this is all pretend — I KNOW it — and yet, for a split second, I couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing. “Wait, you’re supposed to be dead!”
I thought “24” was missing something last season without Palmer and was thrilled when he showed up again. His assassination certainly was a shocker, but his absence will be felt.
