Fox Makes Kiefer Sutherland's Return to Primetime Official

Kiefer Sutherland's back at Fox and once again looking to save the world, but this time with a twist. Fox has given a firm series order to Touch, a new drama starring Sutherland as the father of a 10-year-old boy with an unusual gift.
Fox had previously announced Touch as a contender for midseason, but executives wanted to first see the show's pilot before committing to a full pickup. Producers delivered the show to the network earlier this month, and Fox executives liked what they saw.
Touch has been given a 13-episode order and will air some time in spring 2012 on Fox, although the network has not yet given it a firm airdate. Sutherland's old 24 home, Mondays at 9 p.m., is right now set to be filled by the new drama Alcatraz in midseason.
"Every once in a while, you encounter a piece of material that you just cannot say no to," Sutherland says. "That, combined with the opportunity to work again with Peter Chernin and the Fox studio and network, makes me thrilled to be a part of this project. I also look forward to working with an extraordinary writer and producer like Tim Kring."
Heroes creator Tim Kring is behind Touch, which stars Sutherland as Martin Bohm, a widower and the father to his mute, severely autistic son, Jake. Martin struggles to communicate with Jake, but eventually discovers that Jake harbors an uncanny ability to connect patterns and discover the meaning behind seemingly unrelated events happening all over the world.
Gugu Mbatha-Raw stars as social worker Clea Hopkins, while Danny Glover plays an aging professor who helps Sutherland's character connect the dots. Sutherland is also an executive producer on the project, along with Kring, Carol Barbee, Francis Lawrence, Suzan Bymel, Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope. 20^th Century Fox TV is the studio.
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