Starting in the spring of 2012, Kiefer Sutherland, lately the star of the thriller series “24,” will star in another, very different series on Fox called “Touch.” The series comes from Tim Kring, who produced “Heroes.”
Sutherland plays a single father and widower named Martin Bohn whose 10-year-old son, Jake, has never spoken. What’s more, Jake has not been able to stay in school and is exhibiting strange behavior. For instance, he ascends a cell tower repeatedly at precisely 3:18. Martin’s problems are compounded when he is visited by a social worker named Clea Hopkins who has been sent by social services to evaluate Jake’s well being.
Martin finds out that Jake has an ability to connect patterns of seemingly unrelated events, using an understanding of mathematics that is beyond most human beings. This ability, in turn, allows Jake to be able to predict the future. Unfortunately Jake is not able to communicate vocally. He can communicate through numbers.
Arthur DeWitt, played by Danny Glover, is an expert on children who possesses gifts such as Jake’s. It looks like he will help Martin decipher what Jake is trying to communicate.
Judging from the trailer, it looks like the pilot episode is about how Jake is trying to communicate some disastrous event that is scheduled to happen either at 3:18 or on March 18. The plot device of Martin trying to figure out what Jake is saying in order to head off disaster has possibilities. However, I hope that not every episode is going to be along those lines. That would make “Touch” a variation on the theme of other shows about people who are trying to predict the future and stop disasters from happening. That includes a current series, “Person of Interest,” that features a computer that predicts crimes before they can happen so they can be prevented.
Still, the idea of a child who can see patterns that no one else can see is a fascinating idea for a TV series. That he has trouble communicating adds a little suspense to the premise.
Of course, in the real world, such a kid would find himself at a government or government-connected research facility, as much for his own protection as for the use his abilities can be put to. There are all sorts of bad people who would want to use a child like Jake. Perhaps that will turn out to be a plot element of “Touch” as well.
Source: First Look at Touch, Starring Kiefer Sutherland, Coming Soon, Oct. 7, 2011