Touch follows the tale of Martin Bohm (Sutherland) and his struggle to connect with his young autistic son (David Mazouz), a boy who sees patterns that connect the people and events of the world. Other castmembers include Danny Glover, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Roxana Brusso.
The network took a gamble by giving Touch a special premiere in January, two months before the show would start airing regularly. The initial episode’s performance was solid with a 3.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 12.01 million total viewers. But, would that audience remember to tune in again in mid-March?
They did, or at least most of them did. Touch returned on Thursday, March 22nd to a 3.3 rating and 11.81 million. With American Idol as a strong lead-in, the show easily won its timeslot, more than doubling the demo of the number two-rated show, 30 Rock.
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Compared to the first episode, the second episode of Touch dropped about 15% in the demo. The third installment fell another 18% and the fourth fell another 15% — to a 2.3 rating. The ratings for Touch have continued to dwindle over the course of the season and the April 26th episode fell to series lows with a 1.9 demo rating and 6.43 million total viewers.
On our FOX Ratings Report Card, Touch has a “B-” grade and a 2.6 demo average with 8.57 million. Based on the most recent numbers, those averages will continue to drop.
Had this been another year, Touch could have easily been cancelled instead of renewed. I suspect it was renewed because a) it’s produced by FOX and b) because the network’s other new dramas haven’t done any better. Terra Nova, Alcatraz, and The Finder have performed worse than Touch and won’t be back next season. Coupled with the fact that House is ending and Fringe will only return for 13 episodes, FOX is going to have plenty of timeslots to fill and it’s better to have at least one sophomore drama on the schedule than none.
FOX hasn’t said how many season two episodes have been ordered yet but, based on Touch’s performance, it seems likely that they’re just ordering 13 to start.
What do you think? Are you glad that Touch has been renewed for season two? Did FOX make the right choice or should they have cancelled Touch and renewed Terra Nova, Alcatraz or The Finder instead?
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