Freddie Prinze Jr.: from 'Scooby Doo' to '24'

The producers of Fox's "24" tend to make their best casting choices when hiring newcomers. Nina Myers ... Tony Almeida ... President Palmer ... Chloe O'Brian ... all great characters introduced by relatively unknown actors. In recent seasons the production has tapped headline-making hires like Rick Schroeder, Sean Astin, Jon Voight and Janeane Garofalo and it's felt like awkward stunt casting.

Now "24" has message boards riled by the casting of Freddie Prinze Jr. for season eight as the new head of CTU field ops.

Yet Prinze Jr. has some years on him since his "Scooby Doo" days and isn't best known for serious roles, so he could be interesting. The rest of the "24" new hires for next season are Anil Kapoor (a Middle East leader), Chris Diamantopoulos (the president's new chief of staff), John Boyd (CTU systems analyst) and Jennifer Westfeldt (a journalist).

See also: Nets begin recasting series