Did you all catch the preview of Touch on FOX last week? It was spectacular (and all you people who want to hate it because it seems implausible can just pretend it’s fiction and suspend your disbelief … oh, wait — it IS fiction) — moving, honest, unique, a real feel-good show.
Maybe I’m an eternal optimist (OK, I am pretty much a descendant of Pollyanna), but I hands-down bought into the concept of the interconnectedness of the human race, of certain individuals to need certain other ones at certain times in their lives, of the way a gifted child has the power to bring it all together. What a beautiful way to view the world. I love how they made the world seem small with all the globe-hopping not-coincidences. The performances of Kiefer Sutherland and Danny Glover in particular were remarkable, and it felt like the cast had been working together a lot longer than just shooting a pilot episode.
I do have one reservation about Touch and the direction it might take, though, and that’s the involvement of the infamous Tim Kring. We all loved the first episode of Heroes (heck, even the first season) too, didn’t we? However, we can hold onto the fact that some of the things that really took Heroes down the flusher aren’t in place in Touch, and that’s a good thing. The main cast is limited to three or four characters, so Touch should be able to go deep with those few characters and not end up spreading themselves as thin as they did in Heroes. That was one of my biggest beefs with the way Heroes went — too many main characters to do them all justice.
Plus, Touch seems to be more defined. All of the fascinating plotlines and relationships established in the first season of Heroes became quickly convoluted and directionless. There are likely infinite ways Touch could go from here, but some things are immutable — the father / son relationship, the connectivity of humankind, the unknowns of Jake’s brain. And we’ll get the mystery as Danny Glover’s character helps us unlock just what is so special about Jake. Sure, I suppose they could do the interconnectivity to death, much like the time travel and fake deaths of Heroes. Let’s not make the global connections another trope. …
Go deep with it, Mr. Kring, rather than in a million different directions. If Kring can just keep things simple, then Touch has a fighting chance of becoming a show with style, smarts and heart.
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jan 31, 2012 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
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I was one who dug Touch quite a lot.
I’m on board with your reservation about Kring and Heroes, but I have confidence (maybe it’s a sort of “touch”) he’s learned his lesson.
Cool to me is the talk of “the ratio alwasy being the same: 1/1.618″ and The Fibonnaci Sequence. That’s setting my mind on fire somewhat ala The X Files and more. I’m champing at the bit to see where those things go and how they intertwine story to story … if at all.
And it’s the little things that turn my crank, too. All! Those! 138s! Everywhere! On the Rolls Royce! Knuckles! Hidden in plain sight throught the premiere. It’s stuff like that I dog dig.
And! Orange, orange … everywhere! Curtains! Soda! Umbrellas! Hints of it on the cell phone!
Yes … I’m looking oh, so forward to more.
I have to say that I really enjoyed it … don’t know why they aired the first episode 2 months or so before the series begins … but I liked it.
in case anyone missed it though … the first episode is available to download for free (in HD too) on iTunes
I teared up a little bit at the final culmination of the phone storyline. The whole show reminded me of The Last Mimzy and, to a lesser extent, Next.
Another strike against Heroes was that it was getting huge ratings and online buzz for NBC in its first season. I doubt Touch will be quite so successful for FOX, so hopefully expectations and egos will be more down to earth. Also, thankfully, no time travel or healing blood.
Sutherland shed his Bauer persona pretty effortlessly, I thought, even when he had to yell. Great to see Titus Welliver as a working man.