LITTLE ROCK — You have to hand it to Michael Chiklis. He has played some wildly diverse characters in his acting career.
Now we have to add to that resume the role of a father with superpowers on ABC’s promising new series No Ordinary Family.
The drama, which has a healthy dose of humorous moments, debuts at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The show is worth your time, but the competition is fierce.
Also on at that hour are Fox’s hit series Glee, NBC’s fan favorite The Biggest Loser, and TV’s top drama, NCIS on CBS.
This is why they invented the DVR.
No Ordinary Family’s dilemma is not new. On numerous occasions when I’ve been on the TV critics’ summer press tour to Los Angeles, we’d ask the squirming network entertainment president du jour why he’d risk a promising new series up against an established hit.
They always answer that they have a great deal of faith in (promising new series) and believe that it will appeal to a different audience than the established hit.
Hopefully, they say, (promising new series) will find its audience and be a member of the network family for years to come.
The next summer we’d ask the same entertainment president why he canceled the series and he’d shed crocodile tears, say how much they loved the series and lament that despite their moving the show to three time slots and days, it just never found any traction with viewers.
Still, every new show has to go somewhere and this season there’s a dearth of “safe” hours for any new series to debut.
If one of the competing established programs is one of your must-see favorites, be sure to record No Ordinary Family for viewing at a later time. I believe you’ll enjoy it. And much of that enjoyment will be because of thetalented Chiklis.
Most viewers became aware of Chiklis when he played the chubby lead in ABC’s 1991 comedy-drama The Commish. That series lasted until 1996.
Chiklis next popped up as a trimmed down, beefed up and head shaved crooked cop on FX’s crime drama The Shield.
That seminal series ran from 2002 to 2008.
Now it’s time for Chiklis to tap into that part of his repertoire that he used to play The Thing in the Fantastic Four movies.
Chiklis doesn’t transform into a humanoid pile of rocks for No Ordinary Family, but he does get some nifty abilities.
And best of all, he gets to play husband to the comely Julie Benz. The last time we saw her she was dead in a bloody bathtub on Showtime’s Dexter. This role will be a lot more fun.
Here’s the background for No Ordinary Family.
The Powells are, in many ways, a typical modern family- too busy with their separate lives to be a real family.
Jim Powell (Chiklis) is a mildmannered police sketch artist who wishes he could do more with his life. His wife, Stephanie (Benz), is a really important workaholic scientist with not enough hours in the day.
The marriage is suffering. Jim feels emasculated at work and at home.
His teenage daughter, Daphne (Kay Panabaker), is afflicted with being a teenage girl (the horror!).
She posts comments on Twitter, sends text messages and sasses her folks.
Son JJ (Jimmy Bennett) isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer.
His teachers believe he may have a learning disability.
The adventure begins when Dad insists the family bond by taking a vacation to the Amazon.
Their plane crashes into the river, there’s a sort of green glow and everyone (except the pilot) is rescued seemingly intact.
Then, slowly, they separately
begin to develop superpow
ers tailored to their individual
needs.
Acquired powers: Jim be
comes super strong and able
to leap tall buildings; Stephanie
develops super speed; Daphne
gets telepathy; and JJ becomes
a genius.
They’re a bit like The Incred
ibles. Now what?
The pilot takes its time get
ting things rolling, but once they
do, it’s a wild ride. How does the
family dynamic change?
“I liked us better when we
were just dysfunctional,” Stepha
nie says.
Finally, the best thing about
No Ordinary Family is that the
entire family can watch it togeth
er. The kids will think the super
powers are cool and the parents
will identify with the struggle
to find common ground with
today’s hectic schedules.
Hopefully ABC will nurture
the series and not allow the bru
tal competition to cause the plug
to be pulled prematurely.
TV Week, Pages 89 on 09/26/2010