The Wall Street Journal-20080214-Co-Creator Surnow Parts Ways With -24-

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Co-Creator Surnow Parts Ways With '24'

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Joel Surnow, the prominent Hollywood conservative and co-creator of Fox's hit terror thriller "24," has severed ties with the show.

Mr. Surnow said he made up his mind to end his overall production deal with News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox Television during leisure time afforded by the writers strike, which ended yesterday. Tuesday, Fox executives granted Mr. Surnow's request to be released early from his deal, which was to expire April 30. Variety and the Hollywood Reporter posted news of his intentions Tuesday night.

Mr. Surnow had already begun to back away from "24," and more of the show's management has been assumed by its executive producer and head writer, Howard Gordon.

Mr. Surnow's political orientation struck a rare note in liberal Hollywood, and Fox executives had privately expressed frustration with his outspokenness.

"People in the [Bush] Administration love the series, too," Mr. Surnow said in an article in the New Yorker magazine last year. "It's a patriotic show. They should love it." In the article, critics said they thought the show encouraged torture.

The debate over torture on the show came as ratings were sinking. After making its debut in 2001, "24" built a steady fan base of about 16 million weekly viewers. But the show's ratings dropped by a third over the course of last year's sixth season, bottoming out at about 11 million.

In recent years, Mr. Surnow has developed a series of unsuccessful pilots for the studio, as well as a failed right-leaning comedy program in the model of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" for the Fox News Channel.

Mr. Surnow says he hopes to expand into Internet ventures and feature films, areas largely restricted under his deal with Fox. "I think the studio's interest was always to create something on the size of '24.' It's not that I don't want to do that, but it was eight years, and it was a grind," he said.

Chris Alexander, a spokesman for 20th Century Fox Television, said the parting was on generally good terms. "We assumed Joel was going to continue on '24,' but he decided he was just sort of burned out, and he left. There's really no ill will between the studio and him, and no ill will with the show. This has nothing to do with the Bush administration," the spokesman said.