Television Review: Fox Television's "TOUCH"

FOX TV's new series "Touch" starring Kiefer Sutherland and created by Tim Kring (Heroes), also starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Undercovers), Danny Glover, and David Mazouz as Sutherland's son "Jake". Premiering March 19th.

Sutherland plays widower Martin Bohm whose eleven year old son Jake, who has never spoken, and considered autistic, is obsessed with numbers. But Jake's fascination with numbers goes much farther.

Martin desperately is trying to cope with his disconnection to Jake, who will not allow anyone to touch him, so any physical bond is impossible. But through Jake's numbers a different kind of bond exists.

After running away from his school for the third time and climbing a cell tower, child services comes into Martin's life in the form of Clea Hopkins (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who is forced to take Jake to an evaluation center. Martin's search for answers leads him to Professor Arthur Teller (Danny Glover)who believes that Jake is unique, that he sees everything, past, present, and future and that he sees the connections and patterns between people, that Jake discovered the famous Fibonacci mathematical sequence on his own, seeing the mathematical designs in nature.

But Jake's number sequences forces Martin's life path to intersect directly and indirectly with people across the globe: an aspiring pop singer in Dublin, a seller of restaurant supplies from England, a Japanese hooker, a young Muslim boy, and most importantly, a former and broken firefighter who tried to rescue Martin's wife from the World Trade Center.

"Touch" is based on an ancient Chinese myth of "The Red Thread of Fate", that Gods tied a red thread around the ankles of everyone whose lives are destined to touch. it may stretch or tangle, but it will never break.

This is an absorbing of drama, action, and mysticism that is terrifically fascinating. Created and written by Tim Kring and directed with great care and sensitivity by Francis Lawrence, "Touch" is a mid-season winner and I wish it a long
run. The only down side is we have to wait until its March 19th launch.