No Ordinary Family

No Ordinary Family is no comic-book kiddie show but a perceptive and engaging comedy-drama about domestic dysfunction.

As each individual seeks his or her limits, the group is coming together, sharing their difference and their secret. No Ordinary Family is set up to develop these relationships. It is off to a promising start, tweaking a lot of superhero conventions without seeming like a parody.

What's different--and refreshing--about ABC's No Ordinary Family is that the efforts made to convince you that the Powells are normal, while entirely sincere, don't last long. Their supposed normalcy disintegrates into something more fun and potentially more compelling well before the pilot's end credits begin to roll.

The show wants to work on two levels: as an action piece and as a drama about the stresses of modern marriage and parenting. If anyone can make the family stuff nongloppy, it's executive producer Greg Berlanti. [1 Oct 2010, p.72]

The cast plays out the adjustment with the right touch of pleased humor. [4 Oct 2010, p.37]

Who doesn't want to see Vic Mackey catch bullets with his bare hands? [But] You might be longing for Vic Mackey to crush skulls with his bare hands after a few minutes of this happy-go-lucky, discovering-the-importance-of-family romp.

Chiklis and Benz fit together like bioluminescent water and oil, but somehow the show is still surprisingly entertaining--in a "Heroes" meets "The Incredibles" sort of way.

To its credit, there are a few extra twists along the way that make the show more intriguing and which hint at a slightly darker feel (but not too bleak) and a chance to have a more complicated story than simply one family with super powers.

The pilot is entertainingly lighthearted, but in a twist that I won't spoil here, a serialized back story begins to surface that could push the show down a more convoluted path.

Just what they'll do with all this newfound mojo is hard to say, so packed is the pilot with varying sorts of business and attitudes, the soundtrack obligingly swinging from comic-bright to melancholy-minor, to action-bold. Developments late in the episode suggest that No Ordinary Family will look a lot more like "Heroes" than it will, say, "The Adventures of Superman," a course we have seen to be fraught with danger.

It's fun if a little forgettable, and the joy it takes in its characters discovering their new powers so far works better than the fairly familiar parent-child conflicts and midlife crises that play out in the background.

This one is trying something different, although its look and tone are conventional enough not to shake the TV fan from their comfort zone.

Shows like those lean more toward seriousness and away from the colorfully ridiculous old comic books. Although this often strikes non-fanboys and non-fangirls as woefully atonal, it mostly works here, but it would be nice if No Ordinary Family had more humor about it.

Chiklis ("The Shield," "Fantastic Four") and Benz ("Dexter") are appealing leads, and "No Ordinary Family" will most likely rise and fall on their backs.

The pilot offers up the promising and the bland in about equal measure. With its accomplished adult cast, and writers from Chuck and Smallville, the show could go on to make for a pretty fun adventure series, but the looming threat of boring teenage gloom and the hints of a convoluted plot involving Stephanie Powell's sinister employer could sink whatever potential there is.

Ordinary just feels too crowded, as if it's straining to serve too many genre masters at once. Still, there is pleasure to be found, much of it provided by Chiklis.

It was all a bit too corny and predictable for my taste, though. Add a mutant strain of irony, and they just might gain another super-fan.

So is it super? Not yet. But there's enough spinning around these extraordinary visitors to at least provoke a second visit.

The Powells' snarky dialogue can be a bit annoying, but executive producer Greg Berlanti (Brothers & Sisters) cares for the family dynamics. Even the special effects are commendable. Some of the acting and line delivery can be a bit hokey, but that comes with the comic book-esque material.

Maybe there are superheroes who specialize in improving organic-farming methods or eradicating bedbugs, but they probably won't be getting network shows any time soon. Shows that parents might be willing to watch with their kids--and kids with their parents--remain few and far between, so it's too bad that the so far ordinary but at least well-meaning No Ordinary Family is facing off this fall against the phenomenon that is Fox's "Glee."

As a show about average people who become superheroes, No Ordinary Family is very promising. It's the "Family" part of the title where the series has problems.

They each have a glorious, fearsome secret, and can truly confide only in one another. But it's not clear whether this series--a hybrid of family drama and graphic novel--can sustain interest once the premise is fully established.

Family is a trifle--part comic book, part kids' show--that is perfectly pleasant but without edge, bite or dramatic heft. With Chiklis aboard, it's like witnessing a concert pianist execute an elaborate version of "Chopsticks."

The show's premise has enormous potential--it's essentially a live-action version of "The Incredibles," about a family that gains superpowers--but Tuesday's premiere disappoints with its slow-moving plot and whiny characters.

Though No Ordinary Family bears many hallmarks of an interesting failure, it falls slightly short of the distinction on account of its resistance to being consistently interesting.

To put it bluntly, it's more fun to watch some guy pick up a car than to hear him contemplate its impact on his family.