Fox's "Touch" Not "24" But Kiefer Sutherland Brings It Home

PIC OF DAY

He poses as a stuffed animal



I watched the first episode of Fox's new platform for their Kiefer Sutherland star now that "24" is done. This is not the sort of show that normally pulls me in but the hype of the previews had me curious. That and I really did like "24" and figured maybe Sutherland can act another show to fame and fortune.


Below is how the show's web site describes it:

We are all interconnected. Our lives are invisibly tied to those whose destinies touch ours.

This is the hopeful premise of the new drama TOUCH from creator and writer Tim Kring (“Heroes,” “Crossing Jordan”) and executive producers Peter Chernin (NEW GIRL, TERRA NOVA) and Katherine Pope (NEW GIRL, TERRA NOVA).

Blending science, spirituality and emotion, the series will follow seemingly unrelated people all over the world whose lives affect each other in ways seen and unseen, known and unknown. At the story’s center is MARTIN BOHM (Kiefer Sutherland), a widower and single father, haunted by an inability to connect to his emotionally challenged 11-year-old son, JAKE (David Mazouz). Caring, intelligent and thoughtful, Martin has tried everything to reach his son.

Below is a short scene from the series.



And below is an interesting article at my some time employer The Morton Report that actually interviews Sutherland.

Let us be up front honest here and know that I don't pay strict attention to TV shows as they air and for this show one should pay close attention. I do know that there was an Iraqi kid who was about to blow himself and a bunch of innocent people up because his family needed a new oven. I know there was a man who kept showing up throughout the episode who, at one point, save a school bus full of kids, something he wouldn't have been able to do had he not been delayed from catching his train/plane earlier that day.

The reason he'd been delayed from catching his train is because Sutherland's character stopped him. The reason Sutherland's character stopped him is because he'd gotten some kind of message from his son that led Martin Bohm (Sutherland's character) to believe that the man had to be stopped.

The crux of the series is that Bohm's severely autistic son , who keeps climbing cell phone towers that yet another character in the show seems to think is more normal than one might think, can somehow predict the future via a strange number system. The mystery of the show, the impetus that will keep the show on the air, is how Bohm interprets his permanently silenced son's predictions and acts on them.

I always prefer shows that have multiple plot points and with this TOUCH does not disappoint. We had the Iraqi story, a bunch of Japanese girls, the man who saved the kids, the social services lady who got drawn into Bohm's son's tribulations and, always, the story of a desperate man trying to communicate with his uncommunicative son.

I think it will be an interesting show. Fox is always out front on the unique and different so I'm going to put this series on my DVR.

The show is scheduled to premiere on March 19. Check local listings for Fox for times of broadcast.