"Touch" Review: Can I Ever Forgive Tim Kring?
Tonight is the night Kiefer Sutherland officially returns to television…
If you missed it, here were my thoughts about the show from my “Stay Tuned” column last week. Remember that the show airs tonight (Wednesday, January 25th) at 9 p.m., after “American Idol.” Please note that the show will run until 10:07 p.m…
At least once a week, I say to someone, “It really is a small world, isn’t it?” Sometimes it seems like we’re all connected in some way.
And that’s part of the premise of the new FOX drama, “Touch.” There are patterns and numbers that connect people and events, but only a special few can see those connections.
One of those people is 10-year-old Jake Bohm (David Mazouz), who has never spoken a word to anyone. His father, Martin (Kiefer Sutherland), struggles to take care of him and connect with him. But when Martin realizes there is a pattern to Jake’s strange actions, he discovers that Jake has been communicating with him after all.
The pilot shows us the stories of several different people that seem completely unconnected. But by the end of the hour, they all come together in a really cool way. And then Jake begins a new “roadmap” for his dad and his social worker, Clea (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) to follow.
To say the show is fascinating would be an understatement. And it’s great to have Sutherland back on television with a chance to show a more sensitive side. But my enthusiasm for the show is tempered by the presence of a particular person behind the scenes—creator Tim Kring.
Kring is the man who gave us “Heroes,” the NBC drama whose spectacular flameout is the stuff of TV legend. And that’s what I fear with “Touch.” I’m afraid that the show will completely hook me and then break my heart by crashing and burning—just like “Heroes” did. And the fact that the “Touch” pilot has a real “Heroes” first season vibe to it really doesn’t help that fear.
I’m fully aware that I’m totally putting the cart before the house here and I should just enjoy the ride. But that’s how badly the decline of “Heroes” hurt. Plus, since Sutherland is one of my very favorite actors, I really want this show to succeed. If only I could read life’s patterns, I would already know how this one will all turn out.
Photo Credit: Richard Foreman/FOX
