It’s that time of year again, the start of Fall TV Series! And this year is not lacking in the geeky-superhero department. One of the highest anticipated shows of the year is No Ordinary Family. Airing on the ABC channel, No Ordinary Family premieres on September 28th at 8pm. I had a chance to check out the pilot episode recently and see a lot of potential with the show. NOF is part comedy, part family drama, part action, part sci-fi, and all entertainment.
Michael Chiklis (The Shield, Fantastic Four) and Julie Benz (Dexter, Punisher: War Zone) star as the parents of a Powell family that are empowered with special abilities after a family vacation ends in a plane crash in a South American river. The patriarch, Jim Powell, is a police sketch artist looking to re-energize his 21st century family that act so distant from each other. Stephanie Powell, the matriarch, is a work-a-holic type that never seems to have enough time for the family. The Powell children, JJ and Daphne (played by Jimmy Bennett and Kay Panabaker, respectively) are your typical teenagers facing school issues, puberty, girls/boys, and backstabbing friends. Papa Powell talks the family into a vacation and while on vacation the family takes an airplane tour. The plane crashes and luckily, the family survived. Once back home and readjusting back into their lives, jobs, and new school year, the family starts to notice they are not the same people they were before the crash. Jim finds that he is extremely strong, able to jump long distances, and impervious to almost all harm. Stephanie Powell, the woman without enough time to get all her tasks done is suddenly the fastest person on the planet. Daphne Powell realizes while talking with her boyfriend that she can hear people’s thoughts, including her boyfriend’s cheating confessions. The youngest of the brood, JJ, first doesn’t realize his powers like the rest of the family has; later on while having trouble with a school exam figures out he has the power to solve mathematic formulas with ease. The first episode only gives a quick glimpse into the powers using great effects and scenes that are characteristic to each member of the family.
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| The Powell Family |
In addition to introducing the audience to the Powells and their powers, we are also given a glimpse into the friends of the family and Jim’s first heroic mission. Stephanie Powell confides in her co-worker Katie Andrews (played by Autumn Reeser) about her speedy ability. Jim goes to his best friend George St. Cloud (played by Romany Malco) to help him test out his powers, including a scene where Jim wants George to shoot him. These relationships provide for some good comedy and get out of the family dynamic of the show. At one point, George creates a headquarters for Jim which they dub “a lair… … with Wifi!” Katie Andrews is into comic book characters so she’ll probably be good for all the geek references that are sure to hit the show (in this episode, it’s an Xmen character/figure). While tyring to solve a crime at work, Jim learns that detectives are having a hard time tracking down a bag guy that has a violent attitude. Using a police scanner he “borrows” from work (this leads to the aforementioned “lair”), Jim gets on the case of finding this guy, only to discover the bad guy has abilities too. The Powells won’t be the only specials. The chase for the bad guy includes a look into a possible weakness for Jim’s abilities (note the use “almost” in his abilities description above) and scenes with powers being demonstrated and fight/action sequences not common in family shows. There are also those cheesy scenes like the super strong dad throwing a football a mile away during a family game in the yard and the faster-than-a-locomotive mom running to catch it and get back in a blink of a eye. The pilot gives us powers, family moments, a lair (…with WiFi), weaknesses, other “specials” and like I said before Potential.
Being heroic, having powers and saving citizens aren’t the main themes of the show. There will be times when the family will need saving from itself or the family will need to work together to save others. The combination of issues the family faces be it friend or foe is what will give the show variety and make it different from other hero and family shows. I see this show as crosses of several TV shows and movies; TVshows like Heroes and Parenthood crossed with Movies like The Incredibles and Sky High. From what is introduced in the pilot, there are lots of aspects to explore in the family’s lives and ways to expand on their relationships in the show. Will the family’s powers grow? Will they get more abilities? Who are the other Specials out there and are they good or evil? Will we ever see the Powells in matching spandex and capes?
Tune in Tuesdays at 8pm starting September 28th on ABC. And check out Brightboy Adventures for episode reviews and summaries each week.
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