KIEFER SUTHERLAND’s Return To TV Gets A Luke-warm Reception!
After bursting onto TV screens all-over the world as secret agent Jack Bauer, fans and critics were looking to see which show Kiefer Sutherland was going to appear in next. It’s safe to say that his return to TV last night (26th January, 2012) on FOX received a mixed response!
‘Touch‘, which sees Sutherland playing a single father of a mute son who sees things other cannot, aired last night in the U.S. for the first time. But whether this show got the thumbs up from critics is another matter, as they gave the Canadian actor a “cautious” approval. Why cautious?
Newsday was heartfelt in its praise, saying the program was “A bit melodramatic, a bit manipulative, Touch is still one of the best pilots of the 2011-12 season to date”, while others offered similar compliments though understandably a little more cautious, especially since it was the pilot episode.
The Wall Street Journal said:
“It’s Mr. Sutherland’s portrayal of the father – unyielding in his effort to break through to his mute child and grasp what he’s trying to say with his numbers–that is the heart of this story, the power likely to sustain this promising enterprise.”
…and TV Guide said:
“[Touch is] emotionally compelling but wildly fantastical and undeniably manipulative.”
As with any show, there’s always a few who will shoot down what the show is trying to portray, as The New York Times states:
“The 11-year-old boy at the center of the story has never spoken and is also the show’s narrator. It’s a perfectly acceptable device, if not a particularly interesting one in this case.”
…with the Los Angeles Times thinking along similar lines, saying:
“Ironically, given a show that so clearly wants to touch its audience–from that weighty one-word title on down–we have met, apart from Martin, hardly a single character who incorporates more than the hint of an actual person.”
The moral of this article? Watch the show and judge for yourself, as ‘Touch‘ will make its season premiere on the 19th March, 2012!
