Touch Information

Touch is an American thriller drama television series created by Tim Kring. It stars Kiefer Sutherland, and debuted on Fox on Wednesday, January 25, 2012, before beginning to air regularly on Thursday, March 22, 2012. Thirteen episodes were ordered for the first season, with the two-episode season finale airing on Thursday, May 31, 2012. On May 9, 2012, Fox renewed the show for a second season. On Friday, September 14, 2012, a bonus episode of season one aired. The second season was originally scheduled to begin Friday, October 26, 2012 but was pushed back to Friday, February 8, 2013.

Premise

Touch centers on former reporter Martin Bohm (Kiefer Sutherland) and his 11-year-old emotionally disturbed son, Jake (David Mazouz). Martin's wife died in the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks, and he has been struggling to raise Jake since then, moving from job to job while tending to Jake's special needs. Jake has never spoken a word, but is fascinated by numbers and patterns relating to numbers, spending much of his days writing them down in notebooks, his touch-screen tablet and sometimes using objects (for instance popcorn kernels). He also shows a lot of interest in cell phones which Martin collects from the airport (where he works as a baggage handler) lost-and-found to give to Jake normally as a distraction when Jake is stressed out or acting out. Jake shows some surprising knowledge of cell phones in the first episode when he makes an entire box of phones set out in a circle all ring at once displaying a number. This is about the time Martin realizes that Jake is in fact communicating to him through the use of numbers. There are other instances of Jake using cell phones to 'help' him communicate with his father or someone else.

Plot

In the show's pilot, Jake's repeated escapes from special schools put Martin's capacity to raise the child in question, and social worker Clea Hopkins (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) arrives to perform an evaluation of Jake's living conditions. Martin, worried that he might lose his son, attempts to communicate with him, but the boy only continues to write down a specific pattern of numbers. This leads Martin to discover Professor Arthur Teller (Danny Glover), who has seen and worked with cases like this before, claiming that Jake is one of the few who can see the "pain of the universe" through the numbers. Teller also alludes to the interconnectivity of humanity as envisioned by the Chinese legend of the red string of fate, whereby actions, seen and unseen, can change the fate of people across the globe for the better. Martin realizes that Jake is trying to tell him to follow the numbers; this leads him to a former firefighter who had tried to save Martin's wife during the 9/11 attacks and who is attempting to atone for his failure. Because of his encounter with Martin, the man missed a train but was present to save all the children on an overturned school bus after an accident. On subsequent days, Martin continues to follow numbers that Jake focuses on, each time finding his actions improving those touched by the numbers, though his devotion to following Jake's message puts his evaluation with social services at risk.

A larger overarching plot involves Teller's work. Teller himself had seen the numbers during a stroke, and has been fascinated with them since. The sequence of numbers that Jake presents falls into what Teller claimed was the Amelia Sequence, based on one of his former child patients. Teller later is found dead after attempting to locate Amelia at the same facility where Jake spends his days. Martin discovers Teller's old office, rented out from a Jewish synagogue, where he performed further research on the Amelia Sequence, learning that Teller's office mate recognizes Jake as one of the 36 Righteous Ones. Meanwhile, Clea learns that an organization called AsterCorp that provides Jake's school with modern equipment seems intent on studying Jake's abilities as well as having ties to Teller's previous work with a girl named Amelia. When AsterCorp attempts to force the state to relinquish Martin's custody rights, Martin, with Jake's and Clea's help, is able to sneak Jake out and leave the city. Through Jake's directions, they end up meeting Amelia's mother (Maria Bello) on a pier in Los Angeles.

Cast and characters

Main cast

• Kiefer Sutherland as Martin Bohm: a former journalist turned baggage handler, whose wife died in the September 11 attacks.
• David Mazouz as Jacob "Jake" Bohm: Martin's mute 11-year-old son who is obsessed with numbers and can see past, present and future events through the numbers. He shows his father the numbers so that his father can help stop bad events from happening
• Maria Bello as Lucy Robbins (Season 2, recurring previously): the mother of Amelia, a girl who shares a gift similar to that of Jake and former client of Teller.
• Lukas Haas as Calvin Norburg: An Aster Corps genius whose paths will cross with Martin and Jake at some point.
• Saïd Taghmaoui as Guillermo Ortiz: a priest-turned-murderer.
• Saxon Sharbino as Amelia Robbins: Lucy's missing daughter who is as equally gifted as Jake.
• Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Clea Hopkins (Season 1): a social worker who is sent to do an evaluation of the Bohms' living situation.
• Danny Glover as Professor Arthur Teller (season 1): an expert on the gifted few who possess numerical clairvoyance.

Recurring cast

• Roxana Brusso as Sheri Strepling: the corrupt director of the board-and-care facility where Jake lives.
• Catherine Dent as Abigail Kelsey: Jake's aunt and an AsterCorp executive seeking custody of Jake.
• Bodhi Elfman as Avram: a Hasidic Jew who shares an office with Teller. A student of Kabbalah, Avram believes Jake's special abilities are tied to Jewish mysticism.
• Titus Welliver as Randall Meade: New York Lottery winner and a former firefighter who tried to rescue Martin's wife in the September 11 attacks. Meade believes he has a task to fulfill to atone for Sarah Bohm's death, which is driven by "his" numbers.
• May Miyata and Satomi Okuno as Miyoko and Izumi: Flamboyant Japanese friends whose online presence runs throughout the series, beginning with a cellular telephone they start on an international journey.
• Greg Ellis as Trevor Wilcox (Season 2): Martin's former reporter mentor who now owns a news syndicate and becomes an ally.
• Ray Santiago as Reuben Santiago (Season 2): Trevor's computer hacker at his news syndicate.
• Linda Gehringer as Frances (Season 2): Calvin Norburg's mother, a middle-school librarian who is called to be Amelia's handler in protective custody.

Episodes

Production

Touch season 1 was shot at The Culver Studios in Culver City, CA, and on location in Los Angeles, CA. Season 2 was filmed at Fox Studios in Century City, CA.

Post-production

"Three Little Birds", sung by Kayla Graham (Karen David), was released as a soundtrack single, on iTunes by 20th Century Fox TV Records on February 28, 2012.

Reception

Critical reception

The first season of show was met with "generally positive" reviews, and obtained a Metacritic score of 63/100. The second season received "mixed or average" reviews and a Metacritic score of 60/100.

About the first episode, Michael Landweber of PopMatters called it "stunningly effective" and said that "its mix of spirituality and science, familial and global struggles, is galvanising." He also noted that "The boy's narration, unnervingly matter-of-fact about the nature of the universe, takes on more power when he reveals that in 11 years, he has never spoken a word." In a review for the New York Post, Linda Stasi said "If you can't get enough of number sequences and universal cylindrical patterns that constantly repeat [...], then for sure you'll repeat the pattern of watching Fox's new show." adding, "Yes, the show is intriguing, and it's great to have Sutherland back on TV. But frankly, it's awfully complicated." Lori Rackl, of the Chicago Sun-Times, said the show "operates on the mind-blowing premise that people around the world are linked to one another and their lives intersect "? with potentially major repercussions". She finished the review saying it "delivers a suspenseful ride around the world, peppered with some tear-jerking moments. The bar has been set high. Here's hoping "Touch" continues to reach it." Kiefer Sutherland's performance has also been met with praise, with Landweber saying "Sutherland, however, plays the part with such a combination of intensity and subtlety that we are drawn deep into Martin's suffering, and rather than judging him, we feel with him. Every trial is etched in his face. He imbued Jack Bauer with similar stoicism, but Martin seems less resilient, more distressed."

Verne Gay of Newsday called the second season "more fun," adding "you have plain old smashmouth elemental TV story devices "? good guys, bad guys, evil corporations, a family unit, and a headlong rush toward the Truth, whatever that may be." The New York Times Neil Genzlinger called the season "considerably darker and more complex," adding "The intricacies may make it harder for new viewers to crack the show without doing some catch-up watching, but they also make it far more absorbing." David Hinckley of the Daily News found two problems with the second season"?"characters like popups in a video game" and "as the action ramps up, Jake's gift recedes." He added, "The show still has some interesting things happening, and there are worse things on TV than a fast-paced action drama."

Awards and nominations

Awards and nominations for Touch

Year	Association	Category	Nominee	Result
2012	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Main Title Theme Music
2012	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Special Visual Effects
2012	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Television Drama Show
2012	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Actor: Drama	Kiefer Sutherland

Ratings

U.S. television ratings for Touch

Season	Timeslot (ET)	# Ep.	Premiered		Ended		TV Season	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
			Date	Premiere Viewers (in millions)	Date	Finale Viewers (in millions)
1	Thursday 9:00pm	13	January 25, 2012	12.01	September 14, 2012	4.60	2011"2012	#45	9.18
2	Friday 9:00pm	13	February 8, 2013	3.94	May 10, 2013	TBA	2013	TBA	TBA

International distribution

Country	Channel	Premiere date
	ORF eins	February 27, 2012 (Pilot) March 26, 2012 (regular)
	Network Ten FOX8	April 22, 2012
	Fox Brasil	March 19, 2012
	Global	January 25, 2012
	addikTV (in French)	September 25, 2012
Southeast Asia	Fox Asia	March 25, 2012
	BeTV (in French)	June 7, 2012
	2BE (TV channel) (in Dutch)	September 3, 2012
	FOX	Coming soon
	Fox Life	March 20, 2012
		March 27, 2012
		March 27, 2012
		March 27, 2012
		March 27, 2012
	TV 2	TBA
	MTV3	October 9, 2012
	Pro 7	February 27, 2012 (Pilot) March 26, 2012 (regular)
	FX	March 22, 2012
	STAR World India	March 24, 2012
	Yes Action	March 20, 2012
	Fox	March 20, 2012
Latin America	Canal Fox	March 19, 2012
	TV3	March 25, 2012
	TV 2	March 19, 2012
	Jack TV and JACK City on BEAM TV 31	March 18, 2012
	Fox	March 26, 2012
	Fox	March 20, 2012
	Channel One	March 25, 2012
	Fox España	March 22, 2012
	TV4	TBA
	Pro 7	February 27, 2012 (Pilot) March 26, 2012 (regular)
	CNBC and Sky1	March 20, 2012
	Fox Asia	March 25, 2012
	STAR Movies	March 28, 2012
	TVB Pearl	December 18, 2012