The Powell family, big daddy Jim, mama Stephanie and kiddies
Daphne and JJ, all suffer from an affliction familiar to many in this modern age
of internet and other distractions: they rarely get to spend much time with each
other, even though they reside in the same house. When Stephanie, who works as a
research scientist for a drug company, must go to Brazil for business reasons,
she decides to make it a family outing. But instead of bonding, the family just
barely survive a harrowing plane crash. They return home, feeling very rattled,
and suffering some unusual side effects: Jim has super strength and invulnerability;
Stephanie is super fast; Daphne can read minds, and JJ is a super genius.
Various hijinks ensue.
No Ordinary Family was a series that premiered on ABC in the fall of 2010. It
ran for twenty episodes--a full season--before being cancelled. And while it
sounded like a rip off of Heroes--with its ‘ordinary
folks gaining superpowers’ theme--No Ordinary Family (NOF) was a decidedly more
light-hearted affair that had a far more genteel air. More comedic in tone than
Heroes, NOF depended on the considerable charms of its extremely talented cast.
Michael Chiklis, who had just come off of a successful run in FX’s The Shield
(as well as playing The Thing in two Fantastic Four films), is very good as Jim Powell, a police sketch artist who longs to do more for people than just draw pictures of perps.
Out of the entire family, Jim fully embraces his powers early on, becoming a
righteous fighter for justice (usually while wearing a hoodie) who’s aided by
his best friend George (Romany Malco). Malco is also very good as George, who
digs the whole super powered lifestyle so much (even though he’s just a sidekick)
that he builds a lair--a Batcave of sorts--in his garage, where he and Jim can
meet and plot their strategy. The always divine Julie Benz, who had just come
off the series Dexter, plays the more grounded
Stephanie with a bewildered reluctance of her powers at first. But once she fully
accepts her abilities and joins Jim, it becomes all the more exhilarating.
Stephanie’s sidekick is the equally superb Autumn Reeser, who plays her
Katie--Stephanie’s lab assistant--as a super geek goddess armed with plenty of
comic book and science fiction references. Whereas George is more funny in a
caustic and cynical way, Katie’s bubbly enthusiasm is so much fun to watch that
it’s just plain infectious. And Kay Panabaker and Jimmy Bennett are both excellent as the
Powell kids Daphne and JJ--they’re great at playing normal kids without making
them into spoiled brats. Stephen Colins, best known from 7th Heaven (but Trekkies
like me will always know him from ST: The Motion Picture) rounds out the marvelous cast as the EVIL super villain whom Stephanie unwittingly works for.
If you’re looking for the type of dark, mature superhero story found
in The Dark Knight, you will be disappointed here.
As I’ve stated earlier, NOF is far more light-hearted--and as a result, some of
the humor boarders on being very cutesy-pie (and downright silly at times). But
the bonus is that this is a nice family-friendly series (with the exception of a few
mildly gory scenes here and there) that's refreshing in how it lacks any irony. It’s a shame
the series was cancelled, since the writers were nicely ramping things up for a
second season. But while it ends with some minor plot
threads left hanging, the series still thankfully avoided putting its main
characters in limbo via a season finale cliffhanger. As it stands, No Ordinary
Family is a fun, appealing take on the superhero tale.
--SF
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