Press tour prince Kiefer Sutherland delivers again

Kiefer Sutherland is always a big "get" at press tour. Mindful of early support from critics, he faithfully showed up to promote 24 at press tour sessions and was always immediately mobbed. Touch is a new series he's proud of, so once more into the breach.
He was top of my list to talk to at Fox's TCA party Monday night at cool club Soho on Sunset Boulevard. The sprawling private club, located on the top floor of a Sunset office tower, is normally for members only. Thanks to Fox, reporters got to roam the joint and take in the stunning view of Beverly Hills and downtown Los Angeles.
The place is big but it has all these poky nooks and crannies. I spotted Sutherland in conversation at a table and hovered. I knew he'd have to bust out for a smoke at one point. He did and I pounced.
Sutherland lit up against a wall in a dark, narrow hall near the men's room. Before he drew a puff, about a dozen of us leaned in with recorders. A pro, he gave us ten minutes of gold.
He was happy to talk up Touch, which returns October 26 on Fox and Global. Executive producer Tim Kring (Heroes) was in on the gab. The big news is that Maria Bello (Prime Suspect) is joining the cast. For more on that conversation, including news on that 24 movie as well as Sutherland's pick for his favourite Donald Sutherland films, follow this link to a story I filed today for The Canadian Press.

Fox boss Kevin Reilly with Sutherland

I needed another two minutes of Sutherland's time for a magazine assignment and was delighted to discover that his personal publicist was somebody I knew from way back in the days I worked for TV Guide Canada. She actually set up my first Hollywood-based interview, on the set of MacGyver, with Richard Dean Anderson. Two minutes granted.
Still Canadian at heart, Sutherland plays hockey at least once a week in a league organized by hockey nut and mega producer Jerry Bruckheimer. I asked where he watched the Kings win their first Stanley Cup.
"I was actually traveling," says Sutherland, who tried to catch games in restaurants or bars while on the road. "And it was very funny because a bunch of friends of mine were kind of doing the same thing and seem to always find themselves during the whole playoffs in the wrong bar. The only safe place to watch a Kings game seems to be Los Angeles. I haven’t seen a team dominate out of the post season like that."