Welcome To Elizabeth's Place!: Roush Review: 24, Law & Order Get Back to Work

Kiefer Sutherland's Return To Television Gets Cautious Praise

Kiefer Sutherland can't have felt anything but pressure as his first major TV role since 10 phenomenal years spent on '24' aired for the first time last night (26 January 2012).
Fans and critics were certainly eager to see how the Canadian actor was going to follow up what has come to be known as one of the iconic TV characters of the 21st century in secret agent Jack Bauer.
'Touch,' which sees Sutherland playing a single father of a mute son who sees things other cannot, aired last night for the first time - and the answer to whether he's managed to follow up what may be career defining role successfully?
A cautious yes, according to the critics.
Newsday was effusive 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," and others were similar praiseworthy though understandably a little more cautious given it was the pilot episode.
"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," said the Wall Street Journal, whilst
TV Guide said "[Touch is] emotionally compelling but wildly fantastical and undeniably manipulative."Not all were enthused though, The New York Times commented "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," whilst the Los Angeles Times weren't fans at all, stating "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.
"Contactmusic

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Roush Review: 24, Law & Order Get Back to Work

Nov 12, 2008 09:09 AM ET.

Keifer Sutherland

All is right again in the TV world, because our favorite Jacks are back on the case:

Law & Order's crafty DA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), who's running for reelection;

and 24's tireless Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), who's running from retribution when not saving civilization. Both have been known to bend the rules to win.And both shows have been sorely missed:

24 postponed a year because of the writers' strike,

and a rejuvenated Order inexplicably left off the fall lineup but suddenly restored this month to prop up NBC's ailing schedule.

With relative rookies Jeremy Sisto and Anthony Anderson solving the crimes and scrappy Linus Roache leading the prosecution (with Alana de la Garza) and butting heads with his boss,

Law & Order rarely feels like a show entering its 19th season.

The series hits its stride this week, as Roache's Michael Cutter risks his career to confront a senile judge (a heartbreaking Ned Beatty). Next week's disturbing episode features Jena Malone as a runaway child bride from a polygamist cult. Law & Order is TV comfort food at its most nutritious.

Whereas 24: Redemption (Sunday, Nov. 23 at 8 pm/ET, Fox), a riveting two-hour prequel to January's seventh season is a shot of pure adrenaline and deluxe action filmmaking.

Jack, ducking a federal subpoena, once again plays reluctant hero, the last hope to help evacuate schoolchildren from a violent African coup — with no help from smarmy diplomats or a cartoonishly sniveling U.N. weasel.

Back home, a female president (Cherry Jones, warm yet steely) is sworn in amid the usual helter-skelter of rich villains (Jon Voight) and sinister moles. Once Jack comes back to clean up this mess, wonder if he could rescue our economy?

I'd give him an extra day for that.

http://www.tvguide.com/Roush/Roush-24-Redemption-58440.aspx