No Ordinary Family

This show has the unhealthy feel of a network executive deciding that ABC needs a family-style superhero series that would feed off the "Heroes" audience who were feeling betrayed by the powers that be who ruined "Heroes." The feeling continues when it seems like they grabbed Marc Guggenheim off "Eli Stone" because someone mentioned he used to write comic books. And it doesn't get any better when they cast veteran superhero actor Michael Chiklis in the lead, and gets even worse when he gets almost the same powers, if not the look of The Thing, his role in the Fantastic Four films.

All that said, "No Ordinary Family" is a likable, family friendly and genre friendly show. My problem with it is much the same problem I have with M. Night's Unbreakable (a flick I love, I might add), it's all origin and training, no superhero stuff. I want a superhero show, not a learner with training wheels, I want the hero, the guy (or gal) who can, I want to strong chin, starry eyes to root for against the bad guys. It's what the genre is, or should be, about.

Speaking of bad guys, the villains of this piece, are one of the elements that does keep me coming back. I hate to bring it back to the failure of "Heroes," but the bad guys being more charismatic than the good guys is not a good thing. Let's hope "No Ordinary Family" can shake out of training phase and not submit to the "Heroes" curse.