There is bad news to report today for fans of Kiefer Sutherland and his new Fox series Touch. The show ended its first season with dismal ratings last night in the face of very limited competition. Adding to the pain, the drama only has itself to blame for its woes as Touch was its own lead in. Between the two episodes, the drama only managed to scour up a 1.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic with under 5 million viewers–something that may have Fox worried considering it is already down for a second year with the procedural.
This really is unfortunate because now a cancellation looks likely if the boat does not turn itself around once the fall season starts. The reason being is that the long-gestating 24 movie was supposed to shoot in the summer; however, Touch’s dibs on its leading man caused the movie to be delayed given that things would have had to been rushed. Now, it would appear as if delaying the return of Jack Bauer was rather pointless.
While I am talking like the show is already dead, it is important to realize that this was the end of the May (typically a bad time for original scripted programming,) and that second seasons often turn shows around. Such negative comments regarding the fate of this program are based on the industry’s past and not necessarily the show in question. That said, take the speculation with a grain of salt as the cancellation only appears like a certainty from an outsider looking in.
In case you were curious how Duets did, the Kelly Clarkson-lead singing competition series is still under performing with a 1.5 18-49 and less than 6 million viewers. This is considering ‘okay’ for unscripted offerings in the summer, but it is obviously not what ABC sought when enlisting four credible musicians to try to branch out their reality programming which currently consists of dancing and Bachelor-themed shows.