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.

This week, Chris and Matt draw closer to the 100th episode of The Flickcast as they shed a tear for the canceled shows announced in the last week like Human Target, The Chicago Code and Breaking In. Some shows, however, are still “on the bubble” such as Chuck and ABC’s V.

The two also go over why Will Smith joining Tarantino’s Django Unleashed would be such a bad idea, the pointlessness of HBO Go when you’re a Time Warner Cable customer, and what it means to be a real fan of comedy.

Their picks this week were, as usual, quite different. Chris went old school and reminded us how awesome and less ridiculous the first season of 24 was, while Matt explains the insanity and hilarity that ensued in HBO’s comedy special Talking Funny starring Ricky Gervais, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, and Louis C.K.

And for those who still don’t know what the title is referencing, and why Matt is singing through most of the episode, behold the original theme to the film Django.

Take a listen to what we’re talking about in this week’s episode after the jump.

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This week’s pick is the real life story about the Bridge over the River Kwai, and a fantastic war drama about a group of allied POWs who are forced to build the infamous Burma “Railway of Death” in director David L. Cunningham’s To End All Wars (2001).

The film stars Robert Carlyle (Maj. Ian Campbell), Kiefer Sutherland (Lt. Jim “Yanker” Rearton), and Ciaran McMenamin as Capt. Ernest Gordon who plays the film’s narrator and was the man who wrote the book Miracle on the River Kwai a.k.a. Through the Valley of the Kwai about the accounts depicted in the film.

The film opens as a flashback where Ernest Gordon (McMenamin) tells why he decided to enlist in the second “war to end all wars” as he was attending university in Scotland at the outbreak of World War II. He says that he decided to stop reading about history and became a part of it.

Gordon joined the ranks of Scotland’s legendary Argyll Sutherland Highlanders who were Britain’s first and last line of defense. His brigade marches from Edinburgh Castle to cheering Scots seeing the men off to war.

The film then flashes forward to the allied defeat in Singapore in February 1942 as the Japanese seized the great British naval base which was the gateway to the East Indies. Thousands of British and other allied prisoners including Dutch, Australian, and one American Merchant Marine, Lt. Jim Rearton (Sutherland) who attached himself to the surrendering forces. They don’t know it yet, but these men are to be brought to Burma where their Japanese captors plan to use them as slave labor in order to build a railway in order for the Japanese to attempt an invasion of British colonial India.

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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.

Many things can be argued about the past 10 years in popular culture, but hands down the most bad ass TV character in recent history has got to be 24‘s Jack Bauer. Maybe it’s how the character is written, maybe it’s just Kiefer Sutherland’s personality coming through the screen, but you wouldn’t want to come across Bauer in a dark alley on a bad day.

With that in mind, and the show being over, fans everywhere have had fantasy scripts and ideas of who Jack Bauer could interrogate and how amazing it would be. From Obama to Chunk from The Goonies, Bauer has been on a rampage of illegal questioning since his show went off the air.

Given the time of year, it only makes sense that Bauer would go after the Man of the Season himself, Santa Claus. How does he deliver gifts to good boys and girls all over the world in one night? How do his reindeer fly? Plutonium? Special Agent Bauer gets to the bottom of it all in a brand new fan film.

Check it out after the jump, and have a Merry Christmas!

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Now that steam is picking up for Fox’s other Marvel movie franchise, it looks like the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot wants a seat at the cool kids table as well. Last week, we brought you news that both Adrien Brody and Jonathan Rhys Myer were the leading contenders to play the role of Mr. Fantastic, and now it seems we have a similar situation for the voice of the CGI Thing.

In an attempt to up the ante on their superhero projects, Fox has a new strategy of stunt casting the films, like they did with Kevin Bacon and Oliver Platt in X-Men: First Class. It now looks like they are pitting Kiefer Suthland and Bruce Willis against each other to play the stone behemoth in the Fantastic Four reboot.

Comicbook Movie originally reported that the studio was in talks with Willis to lend his voice for the film, and now the chaps at Screenrant are adding to that, saying Sutherland is also up for the role. Awkward.

Also up for debate is the director’s seat, as the studio is playing with the idea of David Yates (Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince), Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces), or James McTeigue (V For Vendetta) to take on the project, so you know the film will either be for kids or…definitely not for kids.

Other casting rumors that don’t seem to have conflict is that Alice Eve will be playing Susan Storm, Kevin Pennington is in talks to play Johnny Storm, and True Blood’s Stephen Moyer will be taking on the role of Victor Von Doom. Much like how the casting news for First Class poured out inside of a few weeks, we can expect the same for Fantastic Four: Reborn in the coming months.

Yes, that’s right folks. The Piranha 3D footage considered too hot, too graphic, too gross for Comic-Con has shown up online — as these things often do. In case you didn’t know, Director Alexandre Aja was forced to rent a theater away from the Con in San Diego in order to share the footage with fans. I got a chance to see this footage and I can say from experience that it is, indeed, pretty graphic.

Not sure about the exact reasons for it not being able to be shown within the halls of Comic-Con, but I guess it makes a certain sense, especially if their was a chance children could be in the room. You don’t want your children watching any of this, believe me.

Or, my cynical self says it could just be a marketing stunt by the filmmakers. If it is, it’s a pretty good one. After all, we are talking about the film right now, aren’t we?

Anyway, enough talk, take a look at the footage after the jump. The complete Piranha 3D experience hits theaters on August 20th.

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Welcome to this week’s On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage this week. Let is know if we missed something.

• Megan Fox is out of Transformers 3. Who will take her place? Heidi Montag or Ben Kingsley? Your guess is as good as ours.

• Speaking of replacing Megan Fox (only in the movie, not in our hearts) it looks like it may actually be this Victoria’s Secret model. Wonder what she had to wash to get the part?

• Patton Oswalt + Firefly + Comics = a nerdgasm the likes of which we’ve never seen.

• Who wouldn’t want to watch a video about Gwyneth Paltrow’s Shrimp Taco? There’s no further explanation necessary.

• Ever wonder what video games your favorite porn stars like to play? Well, wonder no more.

• What the hell is going on with Owen Wilson’s career? Pajiba breaks it down for us.

• NBC Exec Jeff Zucker runs a once-great network into the ground, and then gets a $30 million severance package. Ain’t life sweet?

• Finally, a comprehensive list of The Best and Worst Vampires in Film History…take that, shiny Robert Pattinson!

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This week on The Flickcast Chris and Matt are joined once again by recurring guest host Elisbeth Rappe. This time around the trio takes on a handful of new and returning topics including the Lost series finale, finales of other TV shows like 24, what it takes to produce a weekly television program, news on various upcoming feature film projects and a whole lot more.

The trio also makes some great picks this week including Elisabeth’s pick of Captain Ron, another film featuring Kurt Russell with an eye patch, Matt’s pick of the Michael Cera starrer Youth in Revolt and Chris’ pick of the 1960 Stanley Kubrick classic Spartacus.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook and MySpace or via email.

Every once and a while, a film comes along that looks like just plain, unadulterated fun. Kick-Ass had potential to be that, but had to give us a happy ending…and Nic Cage, which ruined it. It looks like fans of camp will get a second chance at happiness this summer with Piranha 3D.

Of course, the plot itself isn’t nearly as important as how the film is going to look, but for those who need closure, it’s about a race of evil prehistoric piranhas who surface and go to town on unsuspecting Spring Break teens vacationing at Lake Victoria. It’s a film like this that deserves it’s 3D conversion far more than something like Clash of the Titans.

The film reads like a who’s who of people who love to take light of their work, such as Party Down’s Adam Scott, Hamlet 2‘s Elisabeth Shue, Eli Roth, Christopher Lloyd, Starship Trooper’s Dina Meyer, Jerry O’Connell, Ving Rhames, Richard Dreyfuss, and Steve McQueen’s grandson. Alexander Aja is the man in the director’s seat, who is best known for getting Kiefer Sutherland to emote like a mofo in the supernatural thriller Mirrors.

Check out the first full trailer for the flick after the jump, and be sure to pay attention to when the frame “expands” to give it that extra 3D look. Catch Piranha 3D in theaters on August 27th.

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As we previously reported, NBC has given new season order for 30 Rock, The Office and Community while, according to a recent interview with NBC network president Angela Bromstad, a fifth season of the beleaguered Heroes is still undetermined. In addition, the CW has ordered a 10th season for Smallville.

Now, Fox has officially renewed the J.J. Abrams sci-fi procedural Fringe for a third season. The show had perfoemed reasonably well but was not a ratings powerhouse. Still, it’s hard to believe it wouldn’t get renewed, especially given its J.J. Abrams connection and the fact that Lost is ending this season.

Two big reasons for Fox to keep it around for another year. Plus, any show with the great John Noble, the hot Anna Torv and the cool Leonard Nimoy should be on the air as long as it wants to be.

The fate of Jack Bauer and the CTU team of 24 is still up in the air due to falling ratings and the show’s considerable expense to produce. Fox president Kevin Reilly recently told The Live Feed:

“It’s a very tough call. It’s a huge part of our legacy, and there’s not a lot of shows that could do a 9 share against the Olympics. Tremendous sales asset for us still; a show we’re so very proud of creatively. So it’s not an easy call.”

Well, if our own Shannon Hood has anything to say about it, that call should be an easy one.