No Ordinary Family

A new show called No Ordinary Family started a few weeks ago, and it looked very promising. I was over in the States at the start of the Fall season and I saw billboards for it all over Times Square that made it look really exciting, so I was disappointed when it didn't start showing in the UK as soon as I got back. And I was  surprised that when it did start showing in the UK it was on Watch, a channel I've never actually watched anything on before and an unlikely home for a hit new show. However after watching a couple of episodes I can see why.

It stars Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz as the parents of two teenagers in a typical middle class family. The Mom is torn between her successful career in scientific research, spending enough time with her children and working on her marriage. The Dad is unhappy that his career in art peaked as a sketch artist at the local police station and resents the lack of respect he gets from other men for being the main carer for his children. The daughter doesn't want to lose her boyfriend because she isn't ready to sleep with him, and the son is about to be put in the 'special' class because he keeps failing tests despite his best efforts.

But that all changes when a freak plane crash into some radioactive water leaves them with super powers.  The Mom can move at lightening speed so she has enough time for everything now. The Dad gets super strength, super high jumping and super tough skin. The daughter becomes psychic and the son starts to see The Matrix and ace all his maths exams.

Now so far so good, but unfortunately the show fails to capitalize on the innate coolness that comes with super powers. The script spends most of its time focusing on the relationships between the family members which is just dull. Every now and then we're given glimpses of a deeper plot involving more people with powers and an evil plan by the company the Mom works for, but it's moving so slowly it makes Lost seem pacy. Basically it suffers from all the same problems as Heroes but it only took 2 episodes to make that obvious.  The start of a new series should be gripping enough to see you through the next few episodes when the writers start saving their best material for sweeps. So given the amount of competition in my current Sky+ planner I think I'm going to have to give the rest of this show a miss.

Rating: 3 out of 10 - Not at all original and doesn't even pass the time that well. I found myself looking at my watch after the first 20 minutes and the 2nd episode didn't improve on that.