Hopefully starting a trend for 2015 of uninterrupted weekly episodes we have, in fact, a brand new episode of The Flickcast for your listening pleasure. Not that we’re counting, but so far that’s two in a row for the new year. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Turning to more important matters, on this week’s show Chris and Joe cover many new and recurring topics, as is usually the case. Some of these include the recent Oscar nominations and “controversy”, the rumored new X-Files TV series, the latest Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer, the “mess” that is the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, more on the new Twin Peaks TV series, 24 potentially without Jack Bauer, Zachary Levi starring in the Heroes reboot and a whole lot more. Yep, more.

Picks this week include Chris’ pick of the new Amazon pilot Mad Dogs, created by Shawn Ryan of The Shield and The Unit, and Joe’s pick of the new Syfy TV series 12 Monkeys, based on the film by Terry Gilliam.

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, Google+ or via email.

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If there’s one role for which Kiefer Sutherland will forever be identified, it’s Jack Bauer. His turn as the CTU agent gone rouge, doing whatever it takes to save the country and the President, has left a lasting mark on the TV landscape.

And now, after being gone from the scene for a few years, Jack Bauer is back in 24: Live Another Day. This time around Jack is in London and as you can imagine, shit goes down and he need to take care of business … his way.

The first full trailer for Jack Bauer’s return is now live and we’ve got it for you. Check it out after the break.

Look for 24: Live Another Day, which in addition to Sutherland stars Mary Lynn Rajskub, Yvonne Strahovski, Benjamin Bratt and Kim Raver, to arrive May 5 on Fox. Can’t. Wait.

We often make fun of TV networks and question the wisdom of their decisions. However, deep down we know it must actually be a very difficult job deciding what shows to give the green light to and which to send back to the proverbial drawing board.

So, it is with the utmost respect that we present a bunch of previews for Fox’s new Fall shows coming to your TV later this year. We’ve also included the new schedule so you can get an idea of what shows are coming back, when they’re going to air and what new shows you may want to se your DVR for.

For our money, most of these look like a lot of other shows we’ve already seen before. Again, we know it’s difficult and we know networks are losing audience to the Internet, but maybe more of the same isn’t the answer?

Anyway, we do like the looks of Almost Human, but the rest don’t really do it for us. It’s a good thing Fox has decided to bring back Jack Bauer for more 24. They may need to fill some space in the schedule pretty soon.

Check out the previews, and the entire Fall schedule, after the break.

To be honest, we kinda lost interest in both of these shows almost as soon as they started. So, it isn’t really much of a surprise that Fox has given the axe to both The Finder and Alcatraz.

Both series had dropped considerably in the rating since their debut and were, if we’re being brutally honest, not all that engaging or entertaining. Even though it was nice to see Michael Clarke Duncan getting more work.

Fox does like being in the Kiefer Sutherland business and consequently has given his series Touch, Exec. Produced by Heroes alumni Tim Kring, a second season. I’m sure that decision may have something to do with Sutherland’s participation in some 24 movies, regardless of Touch’s relative quality. Still, good for Kring and company.

In addition, Fox has also given series orders to Mindy Kaling’s It’s Messy and other shows like Goodwin Games and Ben & Kate. Other series commitments are expected to be announced soon.

Fortunately, all is not lost for J.J. Abrams current TV career as Fox did have the smarts to give Abram’s other show, the awesome Fringe, a final 13 episode season. That was a good move on Fox’s part and we could not be happier about it.

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.

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.

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!