There's a few others in there too. Adoni Maropis who plays the big bad Fayed, was one of the Pylean rebels on Angel. And I could have sworn that gay Larry from Sunnydale high (Larry Bagby) was the neighbor trying to attack Ahmed.

kmb99 | January 16, 08:40 CET

The neighbor did look familiar but i couldn't place where I'd seen him before.

eddy | January 16, 08:43 CET

The neighbor was Eric Bruskotter. I remember him mainly as Dana's brother on "Sports Night", but he was also on Angel. He was the zombie boyfriend who wouldn't leave his girlfriend alone in the episode "Provider".

Also, David Fury co-wrote 8-9am, which aired tonight.

jam2 | January 16, 09:12 CET

I haven't had a chance yet to watch either of 24's premiere nights, but I caught the first fifteen minutes of tonight's episode as it was taping. I'm pretty sure the injured guy holding the family hostage was Kal Penn, who played Fez Boy in the Angel episode "That Vision Thing." Even without his conical hat and the pulsing brain under it, he looked unmistakably familiar.

[Edit: Shoulda read the link first. Kal Penn is definitely listed under the guests as Ahmed Amar. Duh.]

[ edited by Wiseblood on 2007-01-16 09:02 ]

Wiseblood | January 16, 10:58 CET

Looked at his filmography, I think its starship troopers where I remember him from.

eddy | January 16, 10:59 CET

Wiseblood, you mean Kal "Rise of Taj" Penn? Kal "Kumar of Harold and Kumar" Penn? Which was about what I screamed to my TV when I saw the Fez Boy, lol. :-)

BTW, Assad is played by Alexander Siddig, who played Dr. Bashir on ST: DS9 and married Nana Visitor (who played Kira Nerys) in real life. And, does this year's Fashionable!Chloe rock? Yes, she does. ;-)

billz | January 16, 11:05 CET

[I deleted my initial comment as I don't know the hidden-text/spoiler tag. So instead you get:]

The pace of this show is intense. The only other thing that has had me so consistently on edge was Stephen R. Donaldson's Gap Series SciFi novels (the other story with the virus which turned people into mutants, and the ragged crew who defied great odds to broadcast the antivirus across the galaxy and save humanity while bringing down the corrupt government.)

Hayduke, er, I mean Angus Thermopyle Lives!

[ edited by napua on 2007-01-16 09:23 ]

napua | January 16, 11:22 CET

That's pretty cool that Eric Balfour's getting back into it. Playing the same character, I hope. Milo the techie was one of the best peripheral characters of Season 1 (far better than some of the major characters--Dennis Hopper with an awful Bosnian accent, for example). It made no sense when he suddenly dropped out of existence in the last few eps of Season 1, since he was their main man after Jamie died. I think some random nameless blonde girl took his place. Pretty sure Balfour was just hugely busy with scheduling conflicts at the time. Movies, plus his role on Six Feet Under and possibly another series.

24 is great at bringing back near-forgotten characters. I know one of the major reasons I've stuck around so long arc-wise is 'cause I love it when Mandy pops up. Big Mia Kirshner fan.

A bit behind right now though. Season 5 is still too expensive to buy and after Season 2 I became a DVD-only viewer. Up until last March I was two seasons behind, but then I bought Seasons 3 and 4 and had a nice couple of marathons that spring and summer.

Debating whether or not to TiVo Season 6. If I don't get Season 5 any time soon, it might just sit there taking up precious space. There were a couple huge things spoiled for me due to media and a friend with Season 5 though, so I'm kinda anxious to catch up.

Kris | January 16, 14:05 CET

Kal Penn was also one of the Cave Man college boys in Beer Bad.

I always remember Eric Bruskotter from Tour of Duty.

And yes, yay for fashionable Chloe - I have a bit of a thing for her ;)

Zeppo | January 16, 15:21 CET

Not one of the main Whedonverse people, but a Whedonverse connection here. Peter MacNichol, who plays Tom Lennox, plays Larry Fleinhardt on Numb3rs, which stars Mr. Universe himself, David Krumholtz and Navi Rawat, who played Dana on the Angel episode "Damage." Also, David Fury co-exective produces.

CaffeinatedSquint | January 17, 00:42 CET

Did we miss Tector Gorch (BTVS 2.12-Bad Eggs)as the Sgt. who let the bomb-tech terrorist off the bus? Or am I mistaken?

And I liked Eric Bruskotter in "Starship Troopers".

Anna von Ovonov | January 17, 10:32 CET