Yes, he is. People at Fox's '24 Forum' and at the '24 Insider' are outraged...claiming '24' has just jumped the shark.
If they were going to kill Tony and Michelle, which I think everyone expected, they should have killed them in the first episode. This way just ticked off the fans even though it was Carlos Bernard's idea.
They can introduce new characters into the mix the final half of the season and use them next year. Next year is Jack's probable last year. The issue becomes how do they bring Jack back for next year? They have dragged him out of retirement, fired him then allowed him back, faked his death and now what? The Chicoms are still going to be looking for him which means that is a great story line but very hard to work out a good sequence.