After eight seasons of protecting the free world from terrorists on “24,” Kiefer Sutherland wanted a break from television.
The 45-year-old actor worked on some films, took part in a Web series called “The Confession” and starred in a Broadway play. Then a pilot script for a new TV drama, “Touch,” landed in his lap.
“I was halfway through it and I remember thinking, ‘Oh no,’ ” Sutherland said. “I was falling in love with it. By the time I finished, I knew I would be very disappointed with myself if I found myself on the couch … just watching the show as opposed to being a part of it.”
Sutherland spoke to reporters from Moscow, one of the stops on his recent whirlwind tour through Europe to promote “Touch.” The show’s unprecedented global launch has it premiering in more than 100 countries this week.
Fox’s science fiction drama boasts an international appeal with its multi-cultural cast, scenes set in foreign cities and an intriguing premise: People around the world are linked to one another and their lives intersect — with potentially major repercussions — as a result of patterns hidden in numeric sequences.
Sutherland plays Martin Bohm, an under-employed single dad whose uncommunicative, mute son, Jake (David Mazouz), has barely defined, semi-mystical abilities. Jake sees patterns in numbers that allow him to predict the future and compel him to send his father to correct deviations in the patterns.
While Martin struggles to figure out what his son is trying to tell him (with the occasional help of Danny Glover as a disgraced scientist) and keep his troubled son out of state custody (with the regular help of Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a sympathetic social worker), subplots swirl around them that amplify the interconnected theme.
It’s a complete change-of-pace role for Sutherland, and he responds with one of his best performances, revealing Bohm’s elation, despair and confusion while grounding the fanciful story in real emotion. Unfortunately, his disciplined performance is done in by an undisciplined show that moves too slowly to put limits on Jake’s powers. Which, by the way, is the same flaw that doomed creator Tim Kring’s last show, “Heroes.”
The 45-year-old actor worked on some films, took part in a Web series called “The Confession” and starred in a Broadway play. Then a pilot script for a new TV drama, “Touch,” landed in his lap.
“I was halfway through it and I remember thinking, ‘Oh no,’ ” Sutherland said. “I was falling in love with it. By the time I finished, I knew I would be very disappointed with myself if I found myself on the couch … just watching the show as opposed to being a part of it.”
Sutherland spoke to reporters from Moscow, one of the stops on his recent whirlwind tour through Europe to promote “Touch.” The show’s unprecedented global launch has it premiering in more than 100 countries this week.
Fox’s science fiction drama boasts an international appeal with its multi-cultural cast, scenes set in foreign cities and an intriguing premise: People around the world are linked to one another and their lives intersect — with potentially major repercussions — as a result of patterns hidden in numeric sequences.
Sutherland plays Martin Bohm, an under-employed single dad whose uncommunicative, mute son, Jake (David Mazouz), has barely defined, semi-mystical abilities. Jake sees patterns in numbers that allow him to predict the future and compel him to send his father to correct deviations in the patterns.
While Martin struggles to figure out what his son is trying to tell him (with the occasional help of Danny Glover as a disgraced scientist) and keep his troubled son out of state custody (with the regular help of Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a sympathetic social worker), subplots swirl around them that amplify the interconnected theme.
It’s a complete change-of-pace role for Sutherland, and he responds with one of his best performances, revealing Bohm’s elation, despair and confusion while grounding the fanciful story in real emotion. Unfortunately, his disciplined performance is done in by an undisciplined show that moves too slowly to put limits on Jake’s powers. Which, by the way, is the same flaw that doomed creator Tim Kring’s last show, “Heroes.”
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