Giving credence to the old idiom that you can’t keep a good man down, Kiefer Sutherland returns to television tonight in Tim Kring’s TOUCH. Cooler still, much like his most famous small screen ego that saw him defeat evildoers twenty-four-hours at a time, the artist formerly known as Jack Bauer will once be asked to save the world. Except this time, as widower Martin Bohm, he’ll be doing so through an autistic son [David Mazouz] whose obsession with numbers may turns out to be a helluva lot more than meets the eye.

When an actor has had the type of success you had with such a groundbreaking series like 24, they rarely come back to television so quickly. What was it about TOUCH that enticed you to return so soon?
Kiefer Sutherland: It was a combination of things. I had an unbelievable experience on 24, we shot 198 episodes and I was as excited about shooting the 198th as I was the first. And so that combined with this script, it wasn’t even really a choice anymore. It was something that I knew I had to do. I remember thinking about it really strongly when I was crossing the street in New York and the person who I work with Susan, I remember saying to her if we don’t do this, how are we going to feel in September watching it knowing all of its potential and how great we both think it can be. And that answered my question for me. I didn’t want to be sitting there watching this fantastic show in September if I had had the opportunity to be a part of it.

In terms of the script, at what point did you connect with this new character of Martin Bohm?
I identified with him out of the gate. There was something interesting because obviously this is very different than 24. Yet there is a real similar through line in the kind of character of the man. Jack Bauer would be faced with unbelievable circumstances in the course of a day and he would never win completely and this guy is never going to win either. He’s never going to have the quintessential relationship of a father and a son. Yet he perseveres and that’s a great kind of character statement and so I identified with him greatly on that and I think as a parent as well just the sense of responsibility combined with not knowing what to do all the time. Even though this is again a heightened experience, I think every parent feels that.

For audience members out there who are so used to associating you with Jack Bauer on 24, how do you convince them that this is going to be just as entertaining, just as interesting and intriguing as that series was?
I don’t know if there is convincing. I think that ultimately almost in the way that 24 started, people that are initially interested, whether they’re a fan of Tim Kring or a fan of mine or like the trailer, they’ll watch it and then if they feel strongly about it, they’ll tell friends and we have to rely on that. For me personally I feel that there is a great deal of suspense within the context of the show, even in the not knowing what the numbers are and the narrative where the audience actually knows more than the lead character. So I think that even though we’re not blowing things up, I think that there is enough excitement around the drama of this show, that people will not be that thrown by it who enjoyed 24. And we really do rely on you guys telling people about it and hopefully it will be something that grows.

Could you talk a little bit about working with you on screen son David and forming that on-screen bond with him when he doesn’t talk back to you?
Davids’ an amazing young actor and he’s an amazing young man. He does something that is really I don’t—I think it would be impossible to try and teach an actor to do. He has very limited physical response to anything that I do. He doesn’t talk and yet I can feel his presence even if he’s not looking at me. I can always sense that he’s listening and I think that comes across to the viewer as well. That’s a real gift. He was the first boy out of about 25 young people that I read with and I remember thinking because I was doing the play at the same time, so I could only do five or six or seven kids a day. I remember thinking wow, this kid is amazing. If the other kids are going to be like this, we’re going to find an amazing kid. And I remember it was around the tenth kid, I was still thinking—and all of the kids I have to say were fantastic, but there was something really special with … and then obviously we should just hire the first kid and I’m thinking around 20, I say no, the first kid was still better. And then I read with close to 30 kids and I was finally like would you guys just please hire the first kid. He was just amazing and so that bond kind of started right away. He works a lot of hours with us, and I’ve just been completely amazed by how focused and attentive he is and interested in it. I think that’s a big thing. He’s not being made to do this. I think he actually really does enjoy it and he’s very curious about how to get better and it’s been a phenomenal experience. I really, really do love working with him.

What can you tease about the kind of journey Martin will go on in this first season?
I could tell you a lot. But I think at the beginning of the story we discover Martin who has a son named Jake who in the course or our story we realize has been misdiagnosed with severe autism and in fact is actually just a truly, truly evolved human being that is years and years beyond where my character is and our society is at. And in an effort to communicate with my son, I discover that he has this unbelievable skill set that allows him to interpret numbers and symbols in a way that kind of explain our past and to some degree predict our future and that’s where we start the show off. My journey, very much like the Chinese fable that the story is based on, which was called, “The Red Thread” and the red thread is basically a red thread that is loosely looped around the ankles of all the people that are supposed to come in contact with each other over the course of a lifetime. This thread can stretch and it can bend, but it cannot break, and somehow in our society we have broken this and my son is taking me on a journey to try and put the thread back together.

A special sneak preview of TOUCH airs Wednesday, January 25th at 9PM on Fox and Global in Canada. (The series will return on March 19th in its regular timeslot, Monday nights at 9PM)

According to our calculations, it has been far too long since we last had an update on the status of the 24 movie. Which is why we at theTVaddict.com wanted to clock in with one from none other than series star Kiefer Sutherland himself.

“We’re going to start production in April on the film and it will be out later in the year,” revealed Sutherland during an interview on Toronto’s Fan590 yesterday afternoon where he was taking a few minutes to discuss the legacy of Dewey Bozella. “We’re still a few months away but we finally got a script we’re very excited about and we’re moving forward.”

As per why the delay, Sutherland points to the one-two combination of his upcoming new Fox series TOUCH, coupled with the complexities facing Sutherland-approved writer Billy Ray, who had the unenviable task of capturing the spirit of the television series and translating it into a 2-hour movie. Said Sutherland, “I think it was much more of a challenge for us than we had anticipated, but I think we finally cracked it so we’re very expected about it.”

Can’t wait until Spring 2012 for TOUCH, Kiefer Sutherland’s much-anticipated return to the small screen? Never fear, theTVaddict.com is here… with your first look at the artist formerly known as Jack Bauer in a role unlike anything you’ve ever seen him play before: Regular everyday American father! Wait what?! Okay, here’s the deal. What starts off as somewhat of a downer, with Kiefer Sutherland playing Martin Bohm, a widower and single father who is haunted by his inability to connect with his 11-year-old mute son Jake [Snoore!] invariably turns into an exciting mystery thriller upon Bohm’s discovery — with the help of Danny Glover and Gugu Mbatha-Raw — that son Jake possesses the ability to see things that no one else can. Sound better? We sure as heck think so. But hey, don’t take our word for it, see for yourself after the jump.

If there is one thing that this TV Addict took away following two days holed up with a bunch of rowdy radio shock jocks is that DJ’s love to talk. Thus, you can imagine my surprise when an eery quiet enveloped Hollywood’s Hotel Palamor at the end of the second day of FOX’s January Press Junket. Turns out, Kiefer Sutherland was in the house. And if six seasons of the hit FOX show 24 taught this TV Addict anything, it’s that when Jack Bauer talks, you best be listening. Or risk ending up like this guy.

So listen I did. As Kiefer Sutherland was kind enough to take a few minutes out of his busy schedule to reveal what went wrong with season six, why the new season of 24 is the best one yet and when fans can expect to see Jack Bauer’s adventure continue on the big screen.

So it’s been like what, five years since you’ve been on the air?
Kiefer Sutherland: It feels like it, it really does [TV Addict Note: At this point, Kiefer laughs. Which was quite a sight to see considering that I'm fairly confident that Jack Bauer has barely cracked a smile over the course of 24's six seasons!] Believe me, it’s been a really disappointing time for us. Our fans have been so unbelievably loyal to us. But unfortunately there were a series of events that conspired to keep us off the air. And since it is really important to run all 24 hours continuously the decision was made to hold us off for another year so that we could premiere in January.

Did all the extra time you were afforded help or hurt the show?
We tried to take advantage of all the extra time we had this season and I do believe that now that we’ve done all 24 episodes, they’re finished and I’ve seen them I can confidently say that we’ve made the best season we’ve ever made. I hope people come back to watch it though. To say that we’re not nervous a little would be bullsh*t. Beacuse we are.

So why exactly is this the best season?
When they wrote the first season they only wrote the first thirteen episodes. I didn’t think anyone thought it would get picked up [laughs]. The last eleven episodes were kind of an afterthought. And what we’ve realized is that one conflict can’t sustain the entire day. So generally, if you take a look at the structure of the show, you’ll watch whatever that first conflict is get dealt with by episode 12. And between episode 12 to 15 there is this weird morphing into what becomes another conflict. We’ve always had that problem. Which kind of became glaringly clear in last season (season 6). So with the extra time we had as a result of the Writer’s Strike, we took a three week break and finally had the time to confront the issue because we weren’t forced to get the show on the air in two weeks.

How is Jack different this year?
If you take a look at the very beginning of season one, there is this guy with an almost blind ideology towards his country and for what he’s doing. Flash forward to season seven and you’ve got this very disenfranchised guy who is being made a scapegoat and dragged in front of the Senate where he’s forced to defend himself in a very kind of defiant way. But when he’s in private there is a huge inner conflict where he acknowledges that there is a problem with the things he’s done. And that’s what is wonderful about this character, he’s constantly growing. It might not be huge dramatic changes where he has a perm, different clothes, or a different accent like you do from film to film. But there are sixteen to twenty small changes. He is broken down, more defeated, he feels more guilty or less guilty. All of these things kind of inform the character for this year. And I think this year, more than any, because he is not in charge, he’s really trying to find himself, find out for himself in the middle of these circumstances, what he actually believes in because on so many of the issues, he’s torn.

Will Jack Bauer finally get some much needed lovin’?
I can’t even begin to explain the unbelievable difficulty of writing in real time. I mean wouldn’t it be great if Jack Bauer could have a romantic aspect of the show. But you show me a romance that can develop in twenty-four hours under these kind of circumstances. So if we did that people would go, “That’s wrong!”. There are so many things we can’t do in the show by virtue of its time format.

When are we going to see Jack Bauer on the big screen?
We have every intention of making it, but again, because of the complexity of writing the series, and the fact that we [the creative team] want to do it together, we all agreed very early on that we’d focus on doing the series and when the series was done we would then tackle the idea of a movie. To ask the writers in essence to write twelve films a year and then go and write something even more fantastic for this two-hour feature was just unfair and cruel.

Don’t miss the two-hour season premiere of 24 on FOX this Sunday January 11th at 8PM (GlobalTV in Canada)

24′s Keifer Sutherland and Mary Lynn Rajskub. BONES’ David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel. DOLLHOUSE’s Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikiett and Joss Whedon. FRINGE’s John Noble. GLEE’s Cory Monteith. HELL’S KITCHEN’s Gordon Ramsay. HOUSE’s Lisa Edelstein and Olivia Wilde. THE OSBOURNES’ Sharon, Ozzy, Kelly and Jack. TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES’ Brian Austin Green and Garret Dillahunt. And finally, LIE TO ME’s Tim Roth, Kelli Williams, Brendan Hines and Ria Torres.

Recipe for disaster: take one room full of ravenous journalists, cram them into an area that is entirely too small, populate entire area with waist-high tables, serve scones and hot coffee, then unleash the stars of the next season of 24 on the crowd. Stir well, and serve at room temperature.

Fox decided not to have a panel for 24 at the TCAs, and instead present us with the opportunity to take a coffee break and hobnob with Kiefer Sutherland, Jon Voight, Robert Carlyle, and Gil Bellows. It quickly turned into the feeding frenzy of dozens of microphones shoved into the faces of Jon Voight asking about Angelina Jolie’s new twins, and mobbing Kiefer Sutherland wanting intricate details on the plot of the next season of everyone’s favorite real-time show.

Because I value my life, and didn’t want to crowd-surf over the sea of Kiefer-crophones, I spent time gleaning what I could from the snippets of conversation I’d hear drifting across the room. Jon Voight was extremely nice and patient about the Brangelina questions, and explained that the character he’s playing in 24: EXILE is the “head of a Blackwater-like conspiracy” which sounds very 24-appropriate. In the short trailer they showed, he looks like a perfect choice for that sort of role.

Robert Carlyle is also new to the cast, and plays Carl Benton, who knows Jack Bauer from way back in the day. Apparently they “trained together 10 years ago.” I asked Robert if he’d be back for the full Day 7 season, and not just the prequel event movie, but he said he “literally wasn’t allowed to talk about that.” Highly suspicious.

Kiefer himself didn’t give up any secrets, he just mainly waxed poetic about the strike-induced shutdown, and how that has allowed them to focus more on the story and gave them a chance to introduce new characters like Jon and Robert. Also, he’s short. Not exactly new or groundbreaking, but you heard it here!

On Monday night, the TV Addict attended his first ever Hollywood Party. By all accounts I played it cool, suave and sophisticated. Breezing through the room like I belonged. Not at all like the television obsessed stalkarazzi who casually took it upon himself to interrupt nearly every actor and actress within earshot to get a quick photo.

But seriously, who am I kidding — suave and sophisticated? Not a chance! This TV Addict was at a party with Kiefer Sutherland! [You may have read about it here, here and here.] And no, contrary to online speculation, I did not drink Kiefer under the table. THE OFFICE’s Kate Flannery, well that’s a different story entirely.

The party at AREA [an uber-trendy club you may have seen on THE HILLS] was everything you’d imagine. Stars where everywhere [I quite literally almost bumped into Emily Deschanel], very strange food [Shrimp pizza? what's wrong with regular pizza!] and did I mention the stars?

Enjoy the first round of photos, including my ‘what I did say’ vs. ‘what I wanted to say’ comments. I’d post my Kiefer Sutherland photo but I’m shopping them around [US Weekly, People Magazine.. I'm waiting for a call!].