No Ordinary Family Pilot Review

First off let me say that I was not expecting to review No Ordinary Family until it officially premieres on the 28th of September, but I was invited to watch a sneak peek of the pilot earlier today. That being said I think this show has promise.

No Ordinary Family is about a dysfunctional family that is trying to become functional again when they get super powers as the result of a plane crash while on vacation in Brazil. Prior to discovering their powers, the parents, Jim and Stephanie, are kind of boring and dead. Jim is a sketch artist for the police and Stephanie is a high ranking executive for a pharmaceutical company with little time for her family. This leaves Jim as a kind of Mr Mom character. Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz who portray the two parents showed this very well, but neither of the characters were particularly real for the majority of the pilot. Once their powers manifest, they become more alive. Jim gets super strength and limited invulnerability while Stephanie gets super speed. These new powers help them begin to salvage their marriage.

Their children, on the other hand, did come off as real teenagers trying to deal with life even with powers. Before getting powers, the son, JJ, was apparently suffering from a learning disability so for him, as well as his parents, his new power was a blessing. However, for the daughter, Daphne, the manifestation of her powers is a curse. She gets telepathy which promptly begins to ruin her social life.

However, the real highlight of the pilot was the supporting characters portrayed by Romany Malco and Autumn Reeser. Malco plays Jim's confidant, George, who encourages Jim to explore the limits of his power as well as use them for good. Reeser's character, on the other hand, works for Stephanie and is a complete nerd. She is also the first person Stephanie tells about her powers. My favorite part of the pilot involved Reeser's character questioning how Stephanie's super speed powers work while using a radar gun to track how fast her boss is running.

In the end, the pilot suffers from a lot of the things that most pilots do, but the foreshadowing near the end of the episode makes me think that the eventual payoff will be good. So if you are looking for a replacement for Heroes or nice sci-fi show on the broadcast networks No Ordinary Family looks like a good place to start.