No Ordinary Family

Has anyone else been following this show? Two episodes in, and I'm really jazzed about the direction they're going. Michael Chikless and Julie Benz are awesome as the leads, and the power effects are subtle and cool. We've got a nice mystery going on, and people just now learning how to use their powers. It kind of reminds me of Heroes ... you know, when Heroes was cool.

This show seems to have a lighter sensibility than Heroes, which occasionally seemed to be obsessed with depicting graphic depravity. NOF is a bit lighter in tone.

mindspike wrote:Has anyone else been following this show?

Oh that's right! That's what I was going to do for fun today! Been really busy but have been meaning to catch up on the first two eps online. Can't wait! Thanks for the reminder!

It is all a matter of "compared to what" for me. Compared to Heroes, this is terrific. Compared to other SF, it's a bit more "Meh."

The key word is "family" -- it is an 8PM show, and does not have the dark stuff that BSG or other gritty SF has. My wife, not much of a geek, watches it with me.

Unfortunately, I dropped it halfway through episode three, around the point where the Dad's friend is teaching him how to dance. As a whole, the dialogue and the show are written in ways that don't make realistic sense.

I don't know any guys who would turn on some music during their lunch break and teach each other how to dance. Felt very "silly" and put on.

Also, it seemed clear to me that the telepathic girl knows the difference between people talking and hearing their thoughts. But she suddenly blurts out to her friend that she is sorry her parents are getting a divorce and is then surprised when her friend accuses her of reading her mail.

In general, these characters are written very unrealistically from a social/emotional standpoint. Many other things about the show were working great for me, but this consistent element in the scripts proved to be too much for my tastes.

This lack of realism can work in a show that fully commits to being "family entertainment" with younger audiences in mind. But this show also contains darker elements that don't fit that demographic. They seem confused about who they are making this show for.

I've been enjoying the show I'm more into it then I was with Heroes (Heroes was the show I wanted to like and just couldn't get into) what I think is really cool is the actress who plays the mom's best friend did a short movie called Art Theif Musical (it's better then it sounds) that was directed by one of my professors at college

I enjoyed the pilot, which reminded me of the Incredibles. I'm not able to take time to watch the rest of the show as it plays, but as soon as it comes out on DVD, I'm going to get it.

-I know this is late... but I wanted to reply anyway!
I watched abour five or six episodes of this and sort of got bored. Honestly, I love that the actor who played Thing is the dad. Thing is one of my favorite comic characters... but,any character that is revealed in this show seems forced. Everything seems forced. The kids are complete jerks with no redeemable qualities, and while I really WANT to like this show, I didn't care to continue with it. It was pretty dull story wise, the characters pretty predictable, the only neat power to watch was the son's super brain 'figuring things out'.
-I did think that the side-kick scientist girl was sort of bubbly and cute, but that really isn't enough to endear her to me. Over-all, I was disappointed and felt like it was a nice attempt with characters that were not thought out enough.
If it is still on, has anyone stuck it out? Does it get better?

The show got a full season but ABC didn't pick it up for a 2nd season.