[SPOILERS] Bland and lacking in creativity or originality, ABC's new superhero series No Ordinary Family is a live-action copy of The Incredibles -- minus its animated kin's innovations, robust mythology, sense of scope, and interesting archetypes.
The Powells are an imperfect American family with the clichéd divisions that unfailingly implies on US TV: workaholic mom Stephanie (Julie Benz) is a businesswoman who never finds time to spend with her family; Jim (Michael Chiklis) is a police sketch artist whose desk job means he's never involved in frontline action; daughter Daphne (Kay Panabaker) is a hormonal girl with a crush on the school hunk; and JJ (Jimmy Bennett) is a surly teenage boy with possible learning difficulties.Following a ridiculously premature plane crash in the Amazon during an impromptu family trip (seriously, within the opening six minutes the Powells have flown to South America on a whim, survived a disaster that kills Tate Donovan's pilot, and apparently shaken off the trauma during the journey back home), the Powells discover they've each gained a superpower from the effervescent river: Stephanie can move at lightning speed, enabling her to find time to spend with her family; Jim realizes his skin's (nearly) impervious, he's incredibly strong, and can leap tall buildings with a single bound; Daphne begins to hear people's thoughts; and JJ eventually discovers he's a genius during a maths exam.
This pilot is a textbook example of humdrum storytelling, particularly for anyone with the slightest acquaintance with the superhero genre. To its credit, No Ordinary Family deals with its "origin story" at a lively pace that never allows boredom to totally set in, with enough FX-fuelled moments to sustain interest (Jim catching baseballs slung by an automated pitching machine, or Stephanie tearing around a running track to calculate her speed), but the concept is utterly conventional and never offers any surprises. The tone aims at a young age group, thus lacking the grisly delights of Heroes, which almost certainly means No Ordinary Family won't gain street cred from the over-15s. It's the superhero show young kids and parents will be watching together, thanks to a bright and breezy temperament with a family-centric concept they can relate to.
For older audiences versed in comic-book lore, with broader tastes, No Ordinary Family has a multitude of problems. The actors weren't given time to shape their characters and cement their fraught family dynamic before they get "touched by God"; asking audiences to accept Chiklis as a sketch artist is a big stretch (particularly as he's associated with one of TV's toughest cops thanks to The Shield), and both of the teenager's personalities are so hackneyed it's a slight insult. It helps that yummy Benz, affable Chiklis, and endearing Panabaker, are likable screen presences, but you'll be watching more for residual affection towards them than any interest in the characters they play here.This being a US family drama airing on a network, its edges are soft and the Powells are only dysfunctional in acceptable ways we've seen enacted millions of times before (the sensitive daughter upset over her non-existent love life, the underachieving son who feels ignored by his parents, etc), and the choice of powers are either overexposed or just plain boring. I think I've been shown the pro's and con's of mind-reading so often I can already predict Daphne's entire arc this season. And why give someone a super-power as internalized and dull as super-intelligence, when you could have visual fun with elasticity, flight, or teleportation?
It's mildly refreshing to have a superhero drama where the afflicted aren't all afraid or resentful of their gifts, which is often the direction the superhero genre takes. Instead, Jim and Stephanie were particularly keen to use their abilities and let close friends in on the secret. Jim confides in his buddy George (Romany Malco), who excitedly builds him "a lair" with WiFi, while Stephanie's friend Katie (Autumn Reeser) immediately proposes entering the Olympics.
But while there are admittedly positives to No Ordinary Family's upbeat styling, the writing didn't fill me with hope. The opening moments were awfully rushed with a disappointing plane crash (Misfits achieved more excitement with some cheap, giant hailstones!), the dialogue wasn't great, there were many confusing moments (Stephanie told Jim she has super-speed after a scene where she'd already demonstrated that fact), and it generally buzzed along doing a functional but uninspired job. And the show's little nods to other superheroes (Iron Man, Superman, X-Men, even a line taken from Jumper!) were cute, but only reminded me how dull the Powells are in comparison to their contemporaries.Overall, lightweight and trivial, No Ordinary Family has a decent ensemble cast and a fun idea, but the pilot offers no evidence that it's poised to stretch and develop the genre into an interesting new shape. Young children and parents will probably find enough to keep themselves entertained, but if No Ordinary Family continues with this tenor I can't see the older crowd sticking with it for long.
WRITERS: Greg Berlanti & Jon Harmon Feldman
DIRECTOR: David Semel
CAST: Michael Chiklis, Julie Benz, Kay Panabaker, Jimmy Bennett, Tate Donovan, Romany Malco, Autumn Reeser, Christina Chang, Stephen Collins & Josh Stewart
TRANSMISSION: 28 September 2010 - ABC
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