Welcome To Elizabeth's Place!: Kiefer Sutherland's Bedazzled Backpack -- Most Unexpected Sentence Ever!

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

Monday, March 30, 2009

Kiefer Sutherland's Bedazzled Backpack -- Most Unexpected Sentence Ever!

"Monster's Vs. Aliens" rocked the box office this weekend, taking in more money than any movie opening this year. One of the actors we all need to thank for pulling us out of the econo-port-a-potty is Jack Bauer. I mean, Kiefer Sutherland. No, I mean Jack Bauer!

Turns out, one of the reasons Kiefer signed on to voice Gen. W.R. Monger in the 3-D animated comedy was "the idea that you can tell children it's all right to be different."

By different he means he had a bedazzled backpack as a kid ... no I am freakin' serious! He told the Toronto Sun, "Levi's had a backpack that was like a Levi's pocket. It was the most coveted thing and my mom had no money. I got mine a year late. Do you know what a Bedazzler is? It's a rhinestone gun. My mother was a great product of the '60s and somehow I had gotten this backpack. Between when I went to bed, and I was so excited about taking this to school, my mother had bedazzled it to hell with my name in rhinestones."

Did lil' Bauer load up his fake spy gear in his new sparkle bag and hit the playground? Nope. Instead, he did what most of us would have done. "I had to bury that backpack on my way to school every day for like two years. I finally told her that someone stole it. This desire to fit in is just unrelenting for children. The idea of being able to tell them 'you're all right' no matter what anybody else says, just you as you are, you're all right. I love that idea. I can't tell you how much that resonated with me."

Through the countless tics-tocs of each episode of "24," I've learned a lot from Mr. Sutherland. Not only am I educated in the world of treason, espionage and yelling really loud, but now I feel a little bit more connected to the man behind the pistol whipping.

I think we should have a national Jack Bauer day, brought to us by the Bedazzler and yellow digital clocks.

http://blogs.nypost.com/popwrap/archives/2009/03/kiefer_sutherland_24.html

Thanks Benny