When we first brought you news of Kiefer Sutherland’s impending return to TV in the Tim Kring created show Touch, it wasn’t a sure thing the show would make it to the air. The show was just a pilot and even with the people involved it had not been officially picked up by Fox.

Now, that’s changed. The show has been officially picked up to series for midseason with a 13-episode order. In case you’re not familiar with Touch, Sutherland plays a father who discovers his autistic, mute son can predict events before they happen.

Naturally, once Sutherland’s character knows what’s going to happen through his son, he’s obliged to take action. What kind of action?

Well, we will have to wait to find out for sure but the smart money is on seeing some 24-like action as Sutherland’s character is forced to take care of business at all costs. Anyway, we’re happy to see this show is going forward because, believe it or not, we kinda miss 24 and all its over-the-top wackiness.

Click through for the full press release from Fox. Look for Touch to hit the air next March.

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As we told you previously, Kiefer Sutherland is returning to TV after a break to do some plays and will be starring in Fox’s new Tim Kring created drama Touch. Now we’re happy to report that Sutherland won’t be alone in the series.

According to reports, the former 24 star will be joined by Lethal Weapon‘s own Danny Glover in the new show. Glover will play Arthur DeWitt, a professor and expert on children who possess special gifts when it comes to numbers.

Obviously, from what we know about the show so far, he will probably work with Sutherland’s character and his son who can predict events before they happen. Sounds like a pretty killer crimefighting team.

I wonder if Sutherland’s character will end up shooting anyone in the leg? Maybe we’ll just have to wait for the 24 movie to see that. Until then look for Touch to debut midseason if Fox decides to pick it up after seeing the pilot.

With Sutherland’s track record for the network and Glover’s appeal to Roger Murtaugh fans everywhere, I would bet we’ll see this show get picked up. If only Tim Kring wasn’t involved. Oh well, that probably means the show will be good for the first season and then turn to crap.

If you needed a more clear example of TV-based original superhero shows, there is none more showing than this. NBC has decided to pull their two-part Cape finale from TV and only air the episodes online.

The series was on a steep decline in ratings since it’s start back in January, and NBC had even cut it’s original order of 13 episodes for the season down to 10. Now they have pulled this past week’s episode and have decided to air both parts of the finale online only. From TV Line:

The disappointing performance of both The Cape (which early last month saw its 13-episode order cut to 10) and The Event has caused much shuffling of NBC’s midseason schedule. At first, The Event‘s return from a winter hiatus was pushed back a week so that The Cape could wrap its run on February 28 with a pair of episodes. Instead, NBC made way for Chuck (no argument there!), leaving The Cape‘s finale unaired.

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If you’ve been anxiously awaiting the return of Kiefer Sutherland to TV, then today is your lucky day. After taking some time off to do a play on Broadway (among other things) Kiefer Sutherland is ready for a return to primetime TV.

The former star of 24 has reportedly closed a deal to be in the Fox drama pilot Touch, which was written/created by Heroes creator Tim Kring. In the show, Sutherland will play a father who discovers his autistic, mute son can predict events before they happen.

Naturally, once Sutherland’s character knows what’s going to happen, he’s obliged to take action. No, we don’t know if he shoots anyone in the leg during the first episode. However, we can only hope for some Jack Bauer-like action with this new show.

As we mentioned earlier, Sutherland is currently starring in a play, so expect to see Touch as a mid-season show. No word yet on other casting for the pilot (or if that title will change), but expect those details to come soon.

* By the way, we know that’s a picture of Sutherland as Jack Bauer, we just think its cool.

If you stuck with NBC’s Heroes until the bitter end and afterward said “The only thing this show was missing was costumes” then you are in luck. NBC has heard you and decided to bless fanboys and fangirls everywhere with another hour-long superhero drama with new characters called The Cape.

With the exception of the lead, ER’s David Lyons, the cast is pretty nerd-heavy. Summer Glau, Keith David, Vinnie Jones, and Martin Klebba (Star Trek) all fill out what could potentially be an interesting group of misfit superheroes (and super villain) as they take on thugs and gangsters. Did we mention there’s a weekly “Father detached from his family” storyline? Because there is.

While we still have some reservations about the show, NBC can’t wait to get started. They’ve even got a brand new sneak peek to get everyone pumped. Check it out after the jump, and join The Cape every Sunday starting on January 9th at 9/8pm Central.

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Even though Heroes started out strong and then took a decidedly bad turn, that isn’t stopping NBC from going back to the superhero genre and trying it again. This time around they’ve got a new series called The Cape which seems, at least from what we’ve seen so far, to be pretty interesting.

Adding more fuel to the fire we’ve got a new promo for the show to share with you today. In it we see reluctant hero David Lyons as Vince Faraday, an honest cop on a corrupt police force who, after finding himself framed for a series of murders and presumed dead, transforms himself into The Cape to seek justice.

Gotta say this looks pretty good. We’ll be looking forward to watching when the show premieres on January 9th. In the meantime, check out the new promo after the jump.

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As if it was any surprise after the success of some big-time Hollywood superhero films in the past few years, NBC is jumping back on the comic genre bandwagon with their newest drama, The Cape. The show veers away from most of the problems that fans had with Heroes and sticks to a classier, more “silver age” style of heroics. Also, no pesky superpowers.

We wouldn’t want you to get lost in translation, so here’s how NBC describes the show.

“The Cape” is a one-hour drama series starring David Lyons (“ER”) as Vince Faraday, an honest cop on a corrupt police force, who finds himself framed for a series of murders and presumed dead. He is forced into hiding, leaving behind his wife, Dana (Jennifer Ferrin, “Life on Mars”) and son, Trip (Ryan Wynott, “Flash Forward”). Fueled by a desire to reunite with his family and to battle the criminal forces that have overtaken Palm City, Vince Faraday becomes “The Cape” – his son’s favorite comic book superhero – and takes the law into his own hands.

Combine this with roles filled out by Craig David, Summer Glau, and Vinnie Jones, this could either turn out to be an amazing show…or the worst thing we’ve seen since 2006′s Ultra starring Lena Headey.

Check out a full new preview of the show after the jump, and be sure to catch The Cape in all of it’s glory this fall on NBC.

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Though this week’s Comic-Con has plenty of news about upcoming film and TV projects, it’s good to see that the world of comics still has a place at the show. Marvel, DC, and countless other publishers still take time to present upcoming events to their legions of diehard fans, and just about anybody who has anything to do with the comic world is in attendance.

One of those names, who actually crosses over from the world of comics and TV, is Jeph Loeb. Not only has he worked on several episodes of NBC’s Heroes, but he’s also currently the main writer for Marvel’s Ultimate X series.

We got to catch up with Jeph yesterday, and chat him up about his most recent comic favorites, future projects, and even which types of books he prefers to work on. Check out our interview with him after the jump, and stay with us all weekend for more news straight from the floor of San Diego Comic-Con 2010.

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In not entirely surprising news, Marvel Entertainment has appointed Jeph Loeb as Executive Vice President, Head of Television, a newly created division of Marvel Entertainment. In this new role, Mr. Loeb will work alongside Dan Buckley, Publisher & President of the Print, Animation & Digital Divisions, Marvel Worldwide, Inc., to translate Marvel’s popular characters and stories to the television medium, in both live-action and animation formats.

In addition to these responsibilities, Mr. Loeb will oversee the development and distribution of live-action, animated and direct-to-DVD series. Mr. Loeb was previously a Marvel-exclusive Eisner-Award-winning comic book writer and an Emmy-nominated writer for his work on NBC’s Heroes. The announcement was made today by Alan Fine, Executive Vice President, Office of the President and Chairman of Marvel Studios’ Creative Committee, and by Mr. Buckley, to whom Mr. Loeb will report.

Mr. Fine stated, “It’s with tremendous pride that I announce the creation of our Marvel Television division and the appointment of Jeph Loeb as Executive Vice President. His work in the comic book field is in a class of its own, showing his passion and talent for bringing Marvel’s finest characters to life in an innovative manner. Jeph’s work on multiple award-winning television series and popular films has shown fans worldwide his ability to deliver thrilling entertainment in a number of media. With Jeph as our EVP, fans will experience the highest quality and most exciting television projects featuring their favorite Marvel characters.”

“I couldn’t be happier to accept this new position at Marvel Entertainment, working with both Dan and Alan to deliver exciting, cutting edge television projects,” said Mr. Loeb. “Marvel continues to break new ground in storytelling in both their comic book and film ventures, so, along with everyone here, I’m excited to bring the same brand of excitement into homes across the globe.”

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Now that this season of primetime TV is coming to a close, we have a few bright spots on the horizon. We’ve been bringing you some of the newest Fall schedules, along with a few previews of upcoming shows we think look cool. Keeping up with that theme we bring you a sneak peak at ABC’s new superhero comedy No Ordinary Family.

From a distance, the story plays out like a live-action version of The Incredibles, but upon closer inspection it actually has a bit more depth. Michael Chiklis plays Jim Powell, a regular husband and father who, alongside his wife and two children, are in an accident that give each of them unique powers. His wife, Stephanie (played by Dexter’s Julie Benz) develops super speed, while his children develop telepathy and other extraordinary mind powers. Jim, however, leads the family with the gift of invulnerability and super strength.

There are some obvious and great connections to former Chiklis projects in the pilot, such as his work as Ben Grimm/The Thing in Fantastic Four, and the fact that he plays a cop again, much like The Shield or The Commish.

The pilot has the potential to be exactly what NBC’s Heroes wasn’t for a lot of fans, and could be a fun, quirky family comedy with a comic book backdrop. Check out the trailer after the jump and be sure to keep an eye (and a DVR) out for No Ordinary Family this Fall on ABC.

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It’s official. NBC has canceled the struggling superhero drama Heroes after some internal debate about bringing it back for a shortened final season to wrap up the serialized show. In the end, given the show’s high cost, its consistently low ratings and the number of new hour dramas coming to the network next season, the decision was made to pull the plug.

However, according to reports, the network may bring the show back with a finale special or TV movie sometime next season. If so, that would be a nice gesture on the part of NBC. However, I wouldn’t hold my breath for it to happen.

The show simply went astray after the first season, characters and plotlines were introduced without resolution for existent ones. In short, the whole show just got more and more convoluted and in the end, nobody cared what happened. It really seemed the writers didn’t know what to do with the world they had created so they were just stalling for time.

Perhaps the show would have been better served by continuing the alternative timeline where Peter has a scarred face and the characters actually use their powers and fight each other? That was a more interesting story with plenty of conflict. Perhaps that was just too expensive to continue.

Another big problem with the show was that you had all these super powered beings and they never really did anything. Most of them never really used their powers very much and they never really wanted to. I don’t know about you but if I had super powers I would use them all the time and wouldn’t sit around and worry about being “normal.” Who wants to be normal anyway? Oh well, so long Heroes.

Today, as is customary in the network television world, NBC announced its new Fall schedule at the network upfronts. Of the shows announced several of them are returning from last year, with the notable exception of Parks and Recreation, which is being held until midseason. Also, as you may already know, Heroes will not be back, having been canceled by the network.

Here’s all the info you need to know on the new schedule. Plus, we’ve got previews of a bunch of new shows making their debut in the fall including the J.J. Abrams drama Undercovers, The Event, Chase and Outsourced.

Much of NBC’s new fare will wait until midseason. including the new series The Cape, Friends With Benefits, Perfect Couples, Harry’s Law and The Paul Reiser Show, all of which will premiere later in the season. Overall, the network has added a five new comedies, seven new dramas and one new reality show.

Check out the full schedule along with the previews after the jump.

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