Kiefer Sutherland in "Touch": Is it "24" all over again?

(CBS) Kiefer Sutherland returns to TV Wednesday, but not as the familiar federal agent Jack Bauer he played for eight years on "24."

Sutherland will hit the small screen in Fox's "Touch," portraying Martin Bohm, a single father with an 11-year-old son who has an obsession with numbers and the ability to see interconnections within the universe, sometimes even predicting the future.

Pictures: Kiefer Sutherland

Fox will preview the one-hour series at 9/8C tonight before the season officially begins March 19.

The network describes the show as a "preternatural drama in which science and spirituality intersect with the hopeful premise that we are all interconnected."

Will "24" fans want to tune in?

"This is a very different kind of show," Sutherland said, according to the New York Daily News.

"Touch" is expected to be a lot more sentimental than "24," as Sutherland's character is haunted by an inability to connect to his mute, severely autistic son, portrayed by actor David Mazouz.

"The heart of this show is the father connecting with his son," Sutherland, 45, explained. "But it's also a suspense thriller, a procedural. Every week we set up and resolve a case. There's a lot of excitement and action."

"Even though we're not blowing things up, I think that there is enough excitement around the drama of the show that people who enjoyed '24' won't be thrown by it," he said, according to the Daily News.

Sutherland, who was starring in Broadway's "That Championship Season" when he first saw the script, wasn't banking on returning to television so soon. Hooked after reading the first 30 pages, Sutherland said, "I couldn't bear to watch someone else play it when I'd had the opportunity."

Tell us: Will you watch "Touch"?