Welcome To Elizabeth's Place!: One hour with Kiefer Sutherland

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, February 2, 2009

One hour with Kiefer Sutherland

'I haven't seen an average citizen watch 24 and have an uncontrollable urge to torture someone!

"First off, I'm just going to tell you outright, the problem is not 24.

To try and correlate from what's happening on a television show to what the military is doing in the real world, I think that's ridiculous.

" Does he mean he doesn't believe the reports of 24's influence?

"Well I haven't read all those reports. But if that's actually happening, then the problem that you have in the US military is massive.

If your ethics in the military, in your training, is going to be counterminded by a one-hour weekly television show we've got a really big problem."

His growl grows heavy with contempt.

"If you can't tell the difference between reality and what's happening on a made-up TV show, and you're correlating that back to how to do your job in the real world,

that's a big, big problem."

Decca Aitkenhead
The Guardian, Monday 2 February 2009

Read More........

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/feb/02/kiefer-sutherland-interview-tv-film