Can NOF leap tall ratings in a single bound?
It has shades of everything from Heroes to The Incredibles to the Fantastic Four to Modern Family. An ordinary family with modern problems finds themselves imbued with extraordinary powers after a fateful plane crash: a powerless father gains super-strength; a harried working mother gains super-speed; a naive daughter becomes telepathic, while her learning disabled brother becomes a super genius. This is the Marvel formula for hero creation: take ordinary people and use the powers as metaphors for their common problems and its this formula that ABC attempts once again with its new show No Ordinary Family.
The immediate reaction on Twitter was largely positive, though there were those who saw this set-up as cliche, crying foul that this was just another Incredibles/Heroes/Fantastic Four rip-off. Maybe it’s not the story device we should be criticizing. The Incredibles was a carbon copy of The Fantastic Four, yet it was universally praised by fans and critics for its well drawn characters and effective narrative. Heroes received similar praise initially, though it suffered great criticism after losing its character-centered focus. So while NOF has similar traits as these shows, we should perhaps critique the actual story and not the device just yet.
NOF’s greatest strength in its premiere is its actors. It’s an absolute dream cast. Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz have realistic chemistry playing a couple that’s been imperfectly married for years. There’s a modern quality to their relationship that is refreshing. She, a brilliant scientist, is the breadwinner, while he, a self professed “failed artist”, works part-time as a police sketch artist and full-time dad. Chiklis’s Jim struggles with feelings of inadequacy, thus the emergence of his super-strength, while Benz’s Stephanie struggles with her own insecurities of not being there for her family, which results in her super-speed. Each of the partners finds a confidante, someone they turn to before revealing the truth to each other. (Is this simply a plot device to introduce the supporting cast, or is this a statement on modern marriage?) Jim’s confidante is DA George St. Cloud played by Romany Malco, whose razor sharp comic timing made him one of the scene stealers of The Forty Year Old Virgin, while Stephanie turns to lab underling Katie Andrews, played by the always vibrant Autumn Reeser, late of The OC.
Kay Panabaker and Jimmy Bennett play Daphne and JJ Powell, the angsty, disaffected teen children of Stephanie and Jim. They play their roles well, but, apart from a romantic tiff for Daphne, they weren’t given much to do since the focus of this premiere was on the parents. An interesting note here is that both children were given seemingly non-combative powers: telepathy and problem solving(?) – JJ’s powers are still a little unclear to me, other than dominating math-lete competitions. One of the modern criticisms of certain heroes is their propensity for putting young charges in the line of fire, like Batman training a young boy to be his sidekick to take on dangerous sociopaths. How these children will be incorporated into the action of the show will be interesting to see.
Throughout the hour there were some decent action sequences, particularly the scene where Jim learns that he is not alone in the superpower department and takes on a dangerous criminal reminiscent of a certain furry blue X-Man. It’s the character interactions that shine, however. Despite the familiar storytelling device, the show feels fresh, largely because Benz and Chiklis convince us it is fresh and new.
Hints of a larger story were also introduced. I won’t spoil it for those who may have it sitting on their DVR, but a secret “Big Bad” is revealed in the final moments. This kind of overarching story can anchor the show, or it can make a slave of the show. One of the missteps of Heroes was moving too quickly away from the extraordinary of the ordinary and turning it into the ordinary of the extraordinary: it quickly became a show about a world filled with heroes and villains with amazing abilities, instead of a small handful trying to fit in with the ordinary. We are already seeing hints of a larger world outside the Powell’s circle, but here’s to hoping we keep the focus on the family dynamic. Let’s see how they will attempt to live in a world where they are now unique, before revealing too much of global conspiracies and super-villain cabals, lest we go the path of Heroes once more.
What are you reactions? Is this just another tired retread, or will No Ordinary Family break new ground?
UPDATE! According to TV by the Numbers, No Ordinary Family opened with around a strong ten million viewers, just behind Glee’s thirteen million. There was even upward movement toward the eleven million mark from 8:30-9. Of course both shows were outpaced by the mind bending complexity of CBS’s Minute to Win It. A strong opening is great, but the real story will be next Wednesday when we see how much of a drop off in viewers the show suffers, or if we see an uptick because of positive word of mouth.
Tags: Fantastic Four, FEATURED, Heroes, Incredibles, No Ordinary Family, superheroes, Television
