On hiatus until May
yes, you saw that right .

the decision was announced this morning Fox to not air the remaining nine eps until after 24 is over, which means that it will could back sometime in May and continue into the summer.

Now before anyone freaks out, there's some things to consider.

1. 24 was promised that slot back last spring. so we knew there was a strong chance that if Prison Break was a success, there would be this hiatus

2. the only possible slot they could move it to without hacking up their schedule (which no network is going to do at this point in the year) is across from Lost, Criminal Minds and Veronica Mars. Yes there might be some ratings degradation with the hiatus, but going up against 3 strong shows has an equal if not greater risk.

3. not moving the show to 8pm gives the writers more latitude to make the show as violent etc as it needs to be to maintain some realism.

4. by waiting until May, they can run new eps in the summer when everyone else is in repeats. plus they have tons of time to run repeats etc on FX, send the gang on talk shows and to magazines and all that stuff to keep them in the viewers minds.

5. Winter in Chicago can be bitter cold, very windy, often raining and/or snowing. and the show is supposed to be late april/early may. that means they will be running around in t-shirts etc and no jackets. I've done that kind of game before. it's miserable, especially since you tend to get sick easier during colder weather. imagine those poor guys and gals sick and having to fake that it's nice, sunny, warm weather when it's way not. no thanks.

in the end, the decision is actually a sound one. Especially since Fox knows what a hit they have and they will do what they need to keep the fever alive until May