Last week, in a call with reporters, "24" executive producer Howard Gordon explained what viewers can expect in the coming weeks. Warning: Some mild spoilers lie ahead. Read at your own risk.

	Kelsey McNeal/FOX Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) races against the clock to uncover a plot by President Logan on "24." Click photo for larger image.

The fate of dedicated Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce (Glenn Morshower), who went missing after arranging a meeting with first lady Martha Logan (Jean Smart), will be revealed tonight. "I don't think he's dead yet," Gordon said reassuringly.

Viewers will also learn tonight whether or not Secretary of Defense James Heller (William Devane) died after viewers saw his car driven off a cliff.

That Jack is now known to be alive, and what the Chinese think of that after they wanted him punished last season for an attack on their embassy, will come into play, Gordon said.

Gordon is pleased with the performances of Peter Weller (as Christopher Henderson) and Jayne Atkinson (as new CTU boss Karen Hayes) and would like to bring them back for more next season if deals with the actors can be worked out. He said roughly half the known "24" characters will be back next year -- so far just Sutherland and Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe) are confirmed to return -- which comes as no surprise, given the number of deaths this year.

"We've lost a lot of people and I don't think we're too anxious to lose too many more, at least this season," Gordon said. "Between Lynn and Edgar and Tony it did feel like this confluence of death ... but it renewed the audience's understanding it's a dangerous thing we're up against."

It sounds as if Kim (Elisha Cuthbert) will return this season. "I think she's seen the worst of it, but, yes, she's definitely potentially in harm's way in upcoming episodes," Gordon said.

Martha Logan seemed pretty out of it last week. Will she be feeling better by the end of this 24-hour cycle? "I think she'll take two Alka-Seltzers between episodes and a splash of cold water and she'll be a little less medicated," he said. "We'll see a fast-sobering Martha."

Chloe will get a potential new romantic interest by the end of the season.

Gordon said the idea to make President Logan a willful villain, as opposed to weak-willed, came to the writers early in the season. They defend his early scenes of passion regarding the nefarious doings of Walt Cummings as evidence of his skillful acting as part of the conspiracy in which he took part.

As for the co-conspirator played by actor Paul McCrane (the late, great Dr. Romano on "ER"), Gordon said his identity may not be revealed.

"I think we can infer this guy is somebody who has a unique relationship with the president who wields some measure of power, I would guess economic, who was part of this cabal from the beginning."

Why didn't Jack just download the digital recording that implicates President Logan? Even Gordon admits the writers' rationale is slight. "As a piece of evidence, this was a first-generation digital recording. Anything else could be easily dismissed as a second-generation copy that had been manipulated. That's what we told ourselves. It's pretty thin but it will have to do as a footnote."

Gordon acknowledged that with all the crimes committed this season, particularly by President Logan, the writers painted themselves into a corner when it came to scripting the finale. Just a month ago, the season was plotted to end differently than how it will ultimately turn out. "It's going to be satisfying from an emotional perspective and that satisfaction may come from outrage over what's gotten away with," Gordon said. "Or people will feel reassured that justice will be served."

ABC's 'Bird Flu' flick

Promoted to high heavens, ABC's "Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America" (8 p.m. tomorrow, WTAE) poses the "what if?" question to boring and unintentionally hilarious effect.

Joely Richardson, perhaps unable to recognize a quality script after three seasons on FX's sensation-plagued "Nip/Tuck," stars as Dr. Iris Varnack, an employee (seemingly the only employee) of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, who talks a lot about the dangers of avian flu and jets around to be in places where it's at, but beyond that, her responsibilities are not clear.

In the early going, the film charts how the flu was picked up by an American businessman in China, who brings it back and passes it along. The film uses a few "CSI" "snap-zoom" shots of the virus in the human body while scary, discordant music plays every time the businessman shakes someone's hand, passing along the killer flu. The infected stagger about like zombies before they cough up blood and die.

Characters we're expected to care about include a smarmy Virginia governor (Scott Cohen) and a caring New York nurse (Justina Machado). That we don't care is just testament to the paint-by-numbers nature of this sweeps flick.

WQED production models

At WQED's recent board meeting, vice president of production Darryl Ford Williams discussed the types of productions the station undertakes.

She presented multiple production models for WQED original productions, including the traditional PBS underwriting approach.

As it continues to move in the direction of becoming more of a production house, WQED is also selling itself as a "work for hire" shop. Even last year's "From Pittsburgh to Poland: Lessons of the Holocaust" was not a WQED-originated show, though it did air on the station. The United Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh secured funding for WQED to produce the program.

WQED is not obligated to air "work for hire" programs, but may choose to. The station recently created "Addicted Newborns" for Gateway Health Plan to use in training medical professionals for dealing with babies born to addicted mothers. That program did not air.

On April 30, WQED aired "After the School Bell Rings," a sunny look at after-school programs throughout Pennsylvania. It was an example of a commissioned program that "fulfills a mission for an entity that is PBS-compliant," Williams told the board. It was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Department of Education in conjunction with local communities and schools.

"Commissioned is when there is someone who has an interest in a particular subject matter and they ask that we take on that subject matter," Williams said. "Still we have the responsibility to keep the funder separate from the editorial content. They have no review of the product."

Williams said funders do offer input.

"They know the information. They will give me some guidance, 'Yes, this is a place where you can find best practices,' or, 'No, that's not one we consider to be a best practice.' There's a range of places where they might suggest I shoot, but they have no final say."

That may make such programs sound like one of those much-debated Video News Releases, but WQED is not presenting these specials as "news," although viewers might not make that distinction.

"If this were more of a news-style program, you would have that obligation to do balance, but if you're talking about after-school programs in the way we did, you really want to show what's working. ... You do want to show the best opportunities that there are."

Some viewers may question if that's how a PBS outlet should spend its resources, but Williams said it's an effort to "attract new people to what our skill set is, and that is high-quality production.

"And perhaps we meet people on the basis of work-for-hire and they come back and are interested in underwriting a program," Williams said. "It all drives the strength of our local economic situation at WQED."

WQED's next underwritten special, "In Country: A Vietnam Story," will air in July. Williams said there are ongoing talks with PBS about airing the program nationally, as well.