Kiefer Sutherland returns to FOX

20th Century Fox announced today the pick up of a little show called 'Touch', which is set to combine brilliant Heroes creator Tim Kring and Kiefer Sutherland starring as Martin Bohm. This marks the reuniting of FOX Broadcasting and Sutherland who, in case you lived under a rock, wrapped up ratings magnet 24 back in 2010.

The series, set to air in the spring, is built around Sutherland's character Martin who is a widowed single father trying to take care of his mute 11-year-old son Jake, who is obsessed with numbers and patterns. Jake suddenly starts resetting all the clocks in the house to 3:18 and even begins writing down winning lotto numbers, before they are announced. Child Protective Services attempt to separate Martin (Sutherland) and Jake after he attempts to clime a cell tower, claiming the boy is autistic.

The story seems to revolve around the superpower/pseudo-scientific ability of the boy to analyze mathematical functions of events and reactions with seeming almost psychic genius, described as a "conduit for energy".

If the core idea of the show pans out and the proper pieces are placed around Kiefer Sutherland (particularly the boy) this show sure sounds interesting at the very least. We follow Martin as he fights to protect his incredible son some time this spring. Press jargon below:

FOX has ordered 13 episodes of the new drama series TOUCH, created and written by Emmy-nominated Tim Kring (“Heroes”), it was announced today by Kevin Reilly, President of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. TOUCH, starring Emmy and Golden Globe winner Kiefer Sutherland, will join the schedule in the spring of 2012. The pilot was directed and executive-produced by Francis Lawrence (“Water for Elephants”), and the show comes from Chernin Entertainment and Tailwind Productions, in association with 20^th Century Fox Television.

“TOUCH is another ambitious series from Tim Kring that is beautifully executed and has incredibly resonant themes for our times,” said Reilly. “With Kiefer back on the network as the face and force behind this creative new series, I’m confident it will resonate with viewers this spring.”

"Every once in a while, you encounter a piece of material that you just cannot say no to,” Sutherland added. “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."

TOUCH is a distinct and colorful drama in which science and spirituality intersect with the hopeful premise that we are all interconnected, tied in invisible ways to those whose lives we are destined to alter and impact.

At the center of TOUCH is MARTIN BOHM (Sutherland), a widower and single father, haunted by an inability to connect to his mute 11-year-old son, JAKE (David Mazouz). After multiple failed attempts at keeping Jake in school, Martin is visited by CLEA HOPKINS (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a social worker sent to evaluate Jake’s well-being. Everything changes when Martin discovers that Jake possesses the gift of staggering genius – the ability to see things that no one else can and the patterns that connect seemingly unrelated events. Jake is indeed communicating. But it’s not with words, it’s with numbers. Martin meets ARTHUR DEWITT (Danny Glover), a professor and an expert on children who possess special gifts when it comes to numbers. Now, it’s up to Martin to decipher the meaning and connect the numbers to the cast of characters whose lives they affect.

TOUCH is a production of Chernin Entertainment and Tailwind Productions, in association with 20^th Century Fox Television. Tim Kring created the series and wrote the pilot. Kring, Francis Lawrence, Peter Chernin (New Girl,Terra Nova), Katherine Pope (New Girl, Terra Nova), Sutherland, Suzan Bymel (“The War at Home”) and Carol Barbee (“Jericho”) are executive producers. Lawrence directed the pilot.