Touch
FOX | Release Date: January 25, 2012
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
14
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
NewsdayVerne GayJan 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: A bit melodramatic, a bit manipulative, Touch is still one of the best pilots of the 2011-12 season to date. Read full review
83
NewsdayVerne GayFeb 7, 2013
Season 2 Review: You have plain old smashmouth elemental TV story devices--good guys, bad guys, evil corporations, a family unit, and a headlong rush toward the Truth, whatever that may be. Plus this special bonus: Intimations of Jack Bauer. Read full review
80
PopMattersMichael LandweberJan 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: So far, its mix of spirituality and science, familial and global struggles, is galvanizing. Read full review
80
Boston GlobeSarah RodmanJan 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: There is a sense of adventure and uplift in Touch that is rare in current procedurals. It might just be enough to connect it to an audience thirsty to see Sutherland save the world in quieter, smaller increments--and with the occasional smile. Read full review
75
People WeeklyTom GliattoMar 16, 2012
Season 1 Review: The one great redemptive asset--and it's significant--is Kiefer Sutherland. [26 Mar 2012, p.41]
75
Chicago Sun-TimesLori RacklJan 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Overall, the first episode delivers a suspenseful ride around the world, peppered with some tear-jerking moments. Read full review
75
New York PostLinda StasiJan 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: Yes, the show is intriguing, and it's great to have Sutherland back on TV. But frankly, it's awfully complicated. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyKen TuckerJan 20, 2012
Season 1 Review: There's heavy-handed imagery, and the show will rise or fall depending on the different weekly encounters with Jake. [27 Jan 2012, p.68] Read full review
70
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerFeb 7, 2013
Season 2 Review: The intricacies may make it harder for new viewers to crack the show without doing some catch-up watching, but they also make it far more absorbing. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanJan 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Viewers should try to connect with Touch. There's something intriguing about it. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushJan 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: [Touch is] emotionally compelling but wildly fantastical and undeniably manipulative. Read full review
70
Denver PostJoanne OstrowJan 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: We'll see if audiences can tolerate the notion of profound interrelatedness as weekly entertainment. Read full review
70
Philadelphia InquirerDavid HiltbrandJan 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: The pilot for Touch is actually rather intriguing and well-executed. My problem with the show is projecting how well it will play a couple of months into its run. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalDorothy RabinowitzJan 23, 2012
Season 1 Review: 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. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyJeff JensenFeb 1, 2013
Season 2 Review: Touch could add up to something if it balanced its own crazy equation. [8 Feb 2013, p.71]
67
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardJan 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Touch needs more work grounding its reality before any of these fantasies take flight. Read full review
67
HitfixAlan SepinwallJan 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: It's an interesting, emotionally manipulative but still effective hour of television. Read full review
63
USA TodayRobert BiancoMar 22, 2012
Season 1 Review: Unfortunately, [Sutherland's] disciplined performance is done in by an undisciplined show that moves too slowly to put limits on Jake's powers. Read full review
63
RedEyeCurt WagnerJan 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: It's all very new-agey and a bit pretentious. Read full review
60
The New York TimesMike HaleJan 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: 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. Read full review
60
The Huffington PostMaureen RyanJan 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: Nothing about these connections feels particularly earned and many of the twists and turns of the pilot feel contrived and obvious, especially toward the end. Read full review
58
Uncle BarkyEd BarkJan 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: Its spirit is willing, but the construction has foundation problems. Read full review
50
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayFeb 7, 2013
Season 2 Review: Sutherland's very moving as a father fighting to hold on to a son who was slipping away from him even before the authorities came calling, but the show still feels at times like a mashup of "24" and "Touched by an Angel." Read full review
50
Washington PostHank StueverMar 22, 2012
Season 1 Review: In some parts, Touch is pleasantly moving and even tightly woven, until it becomes too blunt in its purposeful yanking of heartstrings. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Matt Zoller SeitzJan 26, 2012
Season 1 Review: What's on the screen is a likable but dumb TV version of what the film scholar David Bordwell calls a "network narrative." Read full review
50
TimeJames PoniewozikJan 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: It still remains to be seen what it looks like as a series; with some stronger writing and deeper character work, it could build on its math-superpower idea to make something intriguing and emotional. Read full review
50
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenJan 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: Touch feels like yet another series--last week it was Alcatraz--that seemed like a better idea for a one-shot movie than a weekly TV series. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandJan 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: It's not clear from one episode whether the show's warm and fuzzy message can successfully counterbalance implausibility. Read full review
50
VarietyBrian LowryJan 23, 2012
Season 1 Review: Touch has its "We Are the World" heart in the right place. But like another song says, we don't need another "Heroes." Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushFeb 8, 2013
Season 2 Review: Now comes this unnecessary makeover, starting with Friday's two-hour premiere, which transforms Touch into a tiresomely ordinary chase/conspiracy non-thriller. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyFeb 7, 2013
Season 2 Review: The show still has some interesting things happening, and there are worse things on TV than a fast-paced action drama. But making it into “Son of 24” doesn’t feel like the right touch. Read full review
40
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayJan 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: For all its numbers wizardry, the overmanipulative Touch doesn't yet add up. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydJan 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: 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. Read full review
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