The Whole Truth is cancelled. Leeard is sad (but unsurprised); Ern is happy.
Sadly, the sexist, shrill, backwards, (mostly) unfunny, and unoriginal comedy Better with You was picked up for a full season. We are happy to see that No Ordinary Family will have a full season too, though.
Showing posts with label No Ordinary Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label No Ordinary Family. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
No Ordinary Family - No Ordinary Vigilante review/recap
Four episodes into this show, it’s still in our top five of the new season. But it hasn’t returned to the overarching plot point of there being other people with powers on the show since episode two. It’s entertaining, but we wouldn’t be devastated if it were cancelled. We still like the tone and care about the characters, so we hope the show realizes its potential as a must-watch family show soon. It's still really easy to watch, so that's a plus.
Here’s what the family members were up to this week:
Jim - Jim is putting on a hoodie and roaming the park to catch muggers. His pitfall was his refusal to wear a moustache and other things to disguise his very distinctive, round head. Jim spotted a vigilante out in the park, shooting the muggers, and was affronted. The cops were on this vigilante’s side, but Jim didn’t think what the guy was doing was right. Pause while we call the kettle black, because Jim is a dangerous, inept, and careless vigilante as well. While he was whining about how the new vigilante shoots people, we couldn’t help but remember last episode, where Jim threw a bad guy off of a roof onto a cop car. Jim went out to the park again to look for muggers and the vigilante, but he was spotted and mistaken for that vigilante when another mugger was shot. Jim and his lawyer friend tracked down the vigilante and tried to bust him, but no one picked him out of a lineup. Jim talked to the man at the bar, and the man gave Jim a great life lesson about spending time with your kids. Seriously. Then the cops shot the vigilante in the park in a set-up while Jim was at home with his kids. One thing we thought was weird about this storyline was that this whole episode, the show was trying to show that the cops are inept and lazy. So now we NEED vigilantes? What is this, Gotham?
Stephanie - Stephanie has a new lab assistant, and it’s that Asian guy who was competing with her for the research funds. Asian guy revealed that a former scientist who disappeared was working on the same research Stephanie is working on (the stuff about what’s wrong with her family). Stephanie’s assistant, Katie, revealed that the former scientist was dead. Stephanie is coming across as the typical, shrew, working, perfect wife right now. We hope they do more with her character. Her relatively healthy marriage is unbelievable, because of the lack of equity in the marriage. She makes more money AND is way hotter than her husband? No wonder he is feeling insecure. If Jim were the hot one, this marriage would probably work and make more sense. When one partner is way better than the other one, the better person either takes the other for granted, or the one with less going for them starts to feel insecure (think of "The Reacher" and "The Settler" from How I Met Your Mother). We think that spells trouble. But this is TV, where all women are hot, and the show needed some sort of conflict for this marriage, so Jim is poor and useless.
JJ - Desperate for peer and parental acceptance, JJ used his super brain to get really good at football. Apparently, football is all math, physics, and trajectories. The pilot of Friday Night Lights has already shown how intellectual football is, but we appreciate the reminder. JJ’s math professor, who needs to get a life, was still following JJ around and trying to find signs that he is cheating. After seeing JJ excel in football, he called the Powell mom and dad and said that he thought their son was using a drug, like Adderall. JJ refused to tell his parents about his new abilities, so we assume that this “what’s wrong with JJ” storyline will continue into next week. This was the most unbelievable storyline of the episode, for two reasons. 1) JJ is teeny tiny. Even if he could know when and how to throw a football, eventually, he will be tackled and crushed like a bug. Not a good idea, JJ. 2) Don’t they have a JV football team at this school for the coach to suggest he go for until he gets a little bigger? We also have a beef with JJ keeping his powers a secret for this long. This isn’t a dark or entertaining secret, like Laura Linney’s on The Big C. It’s not going to be fun when JJ’s secret is revealed, unless the reveal is spectacular. It’s just going to be awkward, we think, so the show isn’t generating intensity with this particular plot point that is getting way too much screen time.
Daphne - Daphne heard a man at a liquor store think about how he was dipping into the cash register. Next, Daphne used her powers to read a popular girl’s mind and find out where a cool, no-sophomores part was going on. When she went to the party, however, the cool girl said, “We have a strict no losers policy,” and tried to throw her out. Desperate for peer acceptance, Daphne told the cool girl that she could get them alcohol. Fortunately, the stealing cashier worked both early afternoons and late nights. Yeah right. Daphne tried to blackmail the store cashier into selling her lots of booze, but the man knew she couldn’t prove his crime, so he called the police, and Daphne was busted. In the end, we saw JJ actually do something unselfish, for once, when he assured his parents that Daphne didn’t drink at the “cool” party. He was there, since he made the football team and is now cool, so he could attest to that fact. JJ did not get in trouble, and his father even made a great speech about how everyone needed to work hard and be good, like JJ. Typical parental response to the youngest child acting up. Ugh.
Episode grade: C+
Watch it here:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/186428/no-ordinary-family-no-ordinary-vigilante#s-p1-so-i0
Here’s what the family members were up to this week:
Jim - Jim is putting on a hoodie and roaming the park to catch muggers. His pitfall was his refusal to wear a moustache and other things to disguise his very distinctive, round head. Jim spotted a vigilante out in the park, shooting the muggers, and was affronted. The cops were on this vigilante’s side, but Jim didn’t think what the guy was doing was right. Pause while we call the kettle black, because Jim is a dangerous, inept, and careless vigilante as well. While he was whining about how the new vigilante shoots people, we couldn’t help but remember last episode, where Jim threw a bad guy off of a roof onto a cop car. Jim went out to the park again to look for muggers and the vigilante, but he was spotted and mistaken for that vigilante when another mugger was shot. Jim and his lawyer friend tracked down the vigilante and tried to bust him, but no one picked him out of a lineup. Jim talked to the man at the bar, and the man gave Jim a great life lesson about spending time with your kids. Seriously. Then the cops shot the vigilante in the park in a set-up while Jim was at home with his kids. One thing we thought was weird about this storyline was that this whole episode, the show was trying to show that the cops are inept and lazy. So now we NEED vigilantes? What is this, Gotham?
Stephanie - Stephanie has a new lab assistant, and it’s that Asian guy who was competing with her for the research funds. Asian guy revealed that a former scientist who disappeared was working on the same research Stephanie is working on (the stuff about what’s wrong with her family). Stephanie’s assistant, Katie, revealed that the former scientist was dead. Stephanie is coming across as the typical, shrew, working, perfect wife right now. We hope they do more with her character. Her relatively healthy marriage is unbelievable, because of the lack of equity in the marriage. She makes more money AND is way hotter than her husband? No wonder he is feeling insecure. If Jim were the hot one, this marriage would probably work and make more sense. When one partner is way better than the other one, the better person either takes the other for granted, or the one with less going for them starts to feel insecure (think of "The Reacher" and "The Settler" from How I Met Your Mother). We think that spells trouble. But this is TV, where all women are hot, and the show needed some sort of conflict for this marriage, so Jim is poor and useless.
JJ - Desperate for peer and parental acceptance, JJ used his super brain to get really good at football. Apparently, football is all math, physics, and trajectories. The pilot of Friday Night Lights has already shown how intellectual football is, but we appreciate the reminder. JJ’s math professor, who needs to get a life, was still following JJ around and trying to find signs that he is cheating. After seeing JJ excel in football, he called the Powell mom and dad and said that he thought their son was using a drug, like Adderall. JJ refused to tell his parents about his new abilities, so we assume that this “what’s wrong with JJ” storyline will continue into next week. This was the most unbelievable storyline of the episode, for two reasons. 1) JJ is teeny tiny. Even if he could know when and how to throw a football, eventually, he will be tackled and crushed like a bug. Not a good idea, JJ. 2) Don’t they have a JV football team at this school for the coach to suggest he go for until he gets a little bigger? We also have a beef with JJ keeping his powers a secret for this long. This isn’t a dark or entertaining secret, like Laura Linney’s on The Big C. It’s not going to be fun when JJ’s secret is revealed, unless the reveal is spectacular. It’s just going to be awkward, we think, so the show isn’t generating intensity with this particular plot point that is getting way too much screen time.
Daphne - Daphne heard a man at a liquor store think about how he was dipping into the cash register. Next, Daphne used her powers to read a popular girl’s mind and find out where a cool, no-sophomores part was going on. When she went to the party, however, the cool girl said, “We have a strict no losers policy,” and tried to throw her out. Desperate for peer acceptance, Daphne told the cool girl that she could get them alcohol. Fortunately, the stealing cashier worked both early afternoons and late nights. Yeah right. Daphne tried to blackmail the store cashier into selling her lots of booze, but the man knew she couldn’t prove his crime, so he called the police, and Daphne was busted. In the end, we saw JJ actually do something unselfish, for once, when he assured his parents that Daphne didn’t drink at the “cool” party. He was there, since he made the football team and is now cool, so he could attest to that fact. JJ did not get in trouble, and his father even made a great speech about how everyone needed to work hard and be good, like JJ. Typical parental response to the youngest child acting up. Ugh.
Episode grade: C+
Watch it here:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/186428/no-ordinary-family-no-ordinary-vigilante#s-p1-so-i0
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
No Ordinary Family- No Ordinary Ring recap/review
Another week with the Super Powells, and the show is still sweet and entertaining. It’s not yet a gripping must-see, but we are still enjoying it much more than most of the other new fall shows.
Jim
The episode opened with Jim hitting baseballs into the ocean. Watch out, boaters. Then, he met the other Powells at the wedding, and they all looked great. Suddenly, the lights went out and there was an armed robbery where the robbers took everyone’s jewelry and money, including Stephanie’s ring. Stephanie stopped Jim from interfering in the crowded wedding, because the robbers had machine guns and guests could get caught in a crossfire. That’s exactly what we were thinking. Smart Stephanie. We think the solution to Jim being bad at crime fighting is for him to convince Stephanie to come along and think for him. As the robbers ran away, Jim followed them but loses them because the building is too high for him to jump. Jim, still angry about Stephanie’s ring and his own impotence in the face of crime, kept his rented tux and started crashing weddings with his lawyer friend, hoping he would get another crack at the robbers. At the first wedding he crashed, he ended up thinking there were robbers when there weren’t and ruining the large wedding cake, something we saw coming ten miles away. The second crashed wedding involved the perps. Jim was able to leap the building this time, because he had taken dancing lessons. He grabbed on by the ankle and threw him off the building. Huh? For stealing? That’s not right. The guy didn’t die, but in real life, he probably would have. All the perps were released because the cops had no evidence on them, even though they were at the scene of the crime, wearing black matching crook getups, and carrying guns. Man, that's a good defense attorney right there. Even lamer, the crooks just happened to be carrying Stephanie’s ring, so Jim was able to get it back. Yeah. Right. They would not be carrying that.
Stephanie
Stephanie was informed that the board was going to fund her research. They just needed a sample of her blood for an insurance physical. Predictably, her assistant donated her own blood so that Stephanie’s secret blood anomalies wouldn’t be revealed. Stephanie had to swap assistant Katie’s blood with an old sample of her own from when she was hired. Katie, are you just an excuse for the show to have another attractive woman on the show who isn’t a mom or an adolescent? Stephanie successfully pulled of the switch without being seen, but her boss noticed a difference in the footage of the vials of blood. Yeah. Right. Like there would be a perfect shot of those vials on the security cameras. Even if there were, the boss would have to be some sort of “noticing things savant.” Nothing in this plotline made any sense. The idea that two scientists would bungle the handling of the blood test so badly in the first place is laughable. At the end of the episode, Jim took her to a romantic dinner on the roof, which was cheesy, but we were touched anyway.
Daphne
Daphne is making out like a bandit in keeping JJ’s secret. If she doesn’t tell on him for having powers, he has to do her homework. Seems fair. She read her friend Megan’s mind and found out that Megan’s parents are splitting. Like a moron, Daphne starts talking about it. Megan thought Daphne had creeped in her backpack and found the info in there. (On a text? In a diary?) Upset that a peer might think she was a freak, Daphne asked Jim and Stephanie if she could tell Megan and they said no. Daphne, angry at her dad for trying to keep his crime fighting a secret (like he had any chance of doing that with a mind reader in the house), ran off to tell Megan anyway. We knew she wouldn’t, so there was no tension. We are over Daphne storming around and whining like a typical TV teenager every episode. Speaking of character themes we are over, we are also over Jim acting sad that he has a useless job compared to his wife. Can he just start the application to become a cop already? It would make it easier for him to fight crime.
JJ
JJ was crushing on a girl, and he asked his sister to read her mind to see if he should go for it. Turns out, the girl thinks, “He’s nice…for a tool. I hope he doesn’t like me.” Ouch. JJ isn’t so bad! To spare his feelings, Daphne told JJ the girl only dated Jewish boys. Predictably, this prompted JJ to learn everything there is to know about Judaism and pretend to be a Jew. This did not work at all, and it was totally awkward, but funny. We think JJ should always be comic relief. It’s ok JJ. At least you have mad knowledge of a major religion, right?
We are still fans of this new show, but the level of predictability was ridiculous in every storyline except for Jim’s. We like that he’s not a great superhero yet. It makes sense that he doesn’t yet know what to do when he arrives to stop a crime. We like that they are emphasizing how Jim’s clumsiness gets in his way, even with the powers. Also, a few things pushed the boundaries of plausibility, even in a show based on an implausible premise. There was also a weird lesson about how the dad was only lying to protect Daphne, like Daphne lied to JJ to protect him. That’s a nice lesson for a family show. We thought this one was a little sloppy, writing-wise, and it would be so easy to fix the problems and make it believable. Everything else, including tone, was good.
Episode grade: C
Catch up and watch this episode here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/184781/no-ordinary-family-no-ordinary-ring#s-p1-so-i0
Jim
The episode opened with Jim hitting baseballs into the ocean. Watch out, boaters. Then, he met the other Powells at the wedding, and they all looked great. Suddenly, the lights went out and there was an armed robbery where the robbers took everyone’s jewelry and money, including Stephanie’s ring. Stephanie stopped Jim from interfering in the crowded wedding, because the robbers had machine guns and guests could get caught in a crossfire. That’s exactly what we were thinking. Smart Stephanie. We think the solution to Jim being bad at crime fighting is for him to convince Stephanie to come along and think for him. As the robbers ran away, Jim followed them but loses them because the building is too high for him to jump. Jim, still angry about Stephanie’s ring and his own impotence in the face of crime, kept his rented tux and started crashing weddings with his lawyer friend, hoping he would get another crack at the robbers. At the first wedding he crashed, he ended up thinking there were robbers when there weren’t and ruining the large wedding cake, something we saw coming ten miles away. The second crashed wedding involved the perps. Jim was able to leap the building this time, because he had taken dancing lessons. He grabbed on by the ankle and threw him off the building. Huh? For stealing? That’s not right. The guy didn’t die, but in real life, he probably would have. All the perps were released because the cops had no evidence on them, even though they were at the scene of the crime, wearing black matching crook getups, and carrying guns. Man, that's a good defense attorney right there. Even lamer, the crooks just happened to be carrying Stephanie’s ring, so Jim was able to get it back. Yeah. Right. They would not be carrying that.
Stephanie
Stephanie was informed that the board was going to fund her research. They just needed a sample of her blood for an insurance physical. Predictably, her assistant donated her own blood so that Stephanie’s secret blood anomalies wouldn’t be revealed. Stephanie had to swap assistant Katie’s blood with an old sample of her own from when she was hired. Katie, are you just an excuse for the show to have another attractive woman on the show who isn’t a mom or an adolescent? Stephanie successfully pulled of the switch without being seen, but her boss noticed a difference in the footage of the vials of blood. Yeah. Right. Like there would be a perfect shot of those vials on the security cameras. Even if there were, the boss would have to be some sort of “noticing things savant.” Nothing in this plotline made any sense. The idea that two scientists would bungle the handling of the blood test so badly in the first place is laughable. At the end of the episode, Jim took her to a romantic dinner on the roof, which was cheesy, but we were touched anyway.
Daphne
Daphne is making out like a bandit in keeping JJ’s secret. If she doesn’t tell on him for having powers, he has to do her homework. Seems fair. She read her friend Megan’s mind and found out that Megan’s parents are splitting. Like a moron, Daphne starts talking about it. Megan thought Daphne had creeped in her backpack and found the info in there. (On a text? In a diary?) Upset that a peer might think she was a freak, Daphne asked Jim and Stephanie if she could tell Megan and they said no. Daphne, angry at her dad for trying to keep his crime fighting a secret (like he had any chance of doing that with a mind reader in the house), ran off to tell Megan anyway. We knew she wouldn’t, so there was no tension. We are over Daphne storming around and whining like a typical TV teenager every episode. Speaking of character themes we are over, we are also over Jim acting sad that he has a useless job compared to his wife. Can he just start the application to become a cop already? It would make it easier for him to fight crime.
JJ
JJ was crushing on a girl, and he asked his sister to read her mind to see if he should go for it. Turns out, the girl thinks, “He’s nice…for a tool. I hope he doesn’t like me.” Ouch. JJ isn’t so bad! To spare his feelings, Daphne told JJ the girl only dated Jewish boys. Predictably, this prompted JJ to learn everything there is to know about Judaism and pretend to be a Jew. This did not work at all, and it was totally awkward, but funny. We think JJ should always be comic relief. It’s ok JJ. At least you have mad knowledge of a major religion, right?
We are still fans of this new show, but the level of predictability was ridiculous in every storyline except for Jim’s. We like that he’s not a great superhero yet. It makes sense that he doesn’t yet know what to do when he arrives to stop a crime. We like that they are emphasizing how Jim’s clumsiness gets in his way, even with the powers. Also, a few things pushed the boundaries of plausibility, even in a show based on an implausible premise. There was also a weird lesson about how the dad was only lying to protect Daphne, like Daphne lied to JJ to protect him. That’s a nice lesson for a family show. We thought this one was a little sloppy, writing-wise, and it would be so easy to fix the problems and make it believable. Everything else, including tone, was good.
Episode grade: C
Catch up and watch this episode here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/184781/no-ordinary-family-no-ordinary-ring#s-p1-so-i0
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
No Ordinary Family- No Ordinary Marriage recap/review
No Ordinary Family continued to show promise and entertain last night’s viewers. The second episode focused on the four family members learning to use their new powers. It also showed them contemplating the potential downsides and dangers.
Jim (the dad): His powers are officially strength, super leaping, and the ability to take a lot of damage. Jim and his friend George spend a lot of time getting Jim up to snuff to fight crime. “Think of yourself as a superhero in training,” George said. Jim practiced stopping moving cars, but only succeeded during an actual emergency. When Jim’s wife finds out that he is still trying to be Batman, she tries to get him to stop. But it would be a pretty boring show if he did, so when George is taken hostage by bank robbers, Jim arrives in time to save George. Jim told a female cop coworker about his powers, but one of the “super villains” killed her at the end of the episode.
Stephanie (the mom): Man, we wish we could run a mile in six seconds. Fantastic and sympathetic as this character is, she’s not really cottoning onto the fact that superpowers are to be used. Right? She got her lab assistant to send for a water sample from the crash site, thinking that analyzing it might shed light on the source of their powers. While trying to dash back to a work emergency, Stephanie was hurt in an attempt to avoid a collision with bicycling children. She shouldn’t have been reading a text while she was running Super Fast… When Jim found out that she was hurt (she heals fast too), the couple made a pact not to use their powers until Stephanie figures out more about them. Stephanie broke the pact to get the water sample faster. To her credit, she didn’t lie to Jim about it.
Daphne (the daughter): There’s enough noise in this day and age, so we feel bad for Daphne having to hear all her insipid schoolmates’ thoughts. Fortunately, Stephanie helped her learn how to tune them out and/or focus on one person at a time.
JJ (the son): JJ’s powers were clarified. Sort of. He has a “super brain.” When he sees math problems, he just “gets them” now. His power is that he is much smarter now. JJ hid his powers from his parents, because he wanted them to be proud of him for his improving grades. He could not hide it from Daphne, but she agreed to keep his secret for the time being. The downside to JJ’s powers is that his teacher is now accusing him of cheating, which WOULD be the only rational explanation for this former problem student to suddenly have more math skills than mathematics graduate students.
We loved when Jim took a rude acquaintance down after the man and his wife mocked Jim because Stephanie makes more money. This episode wasn’t as good as the pilot, but it was a worthy episode two. And with the exception of a little light cursing, it remains a good family show.
Episode grade: B
Jim (the dad): His powers are officially strength, super leaping, and the ability to take a lot of damage. Jim and his friend George spend a lot of time getting Jim up to snuff to fight crime. “Think of yourself as a superhero in training,” George said. Jim practiced stopping moving cars, but only succeeded during an actual emergency. When Jim’s wife finds out that he is still trying to be Batman, she tries to get him to stop. But it would be a pretty boring show if he did, so when George is taken hostage by bank robbers, Jim arrives in time to save George. Jim told a female cop coworker about his powers, but one of the “super villains” killed her at the end of the episode.
Stephanie (the mom): Man, we wish we could run a mile in six seconds. Fantastic and sympathetic as this character is, she’s not really cottoning onto the fact that superpowers are to be used. Right? She got her lab assistant to send for a water sample from the crash site, thinking that analyzing it might shed light on the source of their powers. While trying to dash back to a work emergency, Stephanie was hurt in an attempt to avoid a collision with bicycling children. She shouldn’t have been reading a text while she was running Super Fast… When Jim found out that she was hurt (she heals fast too), the couple made a pact not to use their powers until Stephanie figures out more about them. Stephanie broke the pact to get the water sample faster. To her credit, she didn’t lie to Jim about it.
Daphne (the daughter): There’s enough noise in this day and age, so we feel bad for Daphne having to hear all her insipid schoolmates’ thoughts. Fortunately, Stephanie helped her learn how to tune them out and/or focus on one person at a time.
JJ (the son): JJ’s powers were clarified. Sort of. He has a “super brain.” When he sees math problems, he just “gets them” now. His power is that he is much smarter now. JJ hid his powers from his parents, because he wanted them to be proud of him for his improving grades. He could not hide it from Daphne, but she agreed to keep his secret for the time being. The downside to JJ’s powers is that his teacher is now accusing him of cheating, which WOULD be the only rational explanation for this former problem student to suddenly have more math skills than mathematics graduate students.
We loved when Jim took a rude acquaintance down after the man and his wife mocked Jim because Stephanie makes more money. This episode wasn’t as good as the pilot, but it was a worthy episode two. And with the exception of a little light cursing, it remains a good family show.
Episode grade: B
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
No Ordinary Family pilot review
We watched the pilot of No Ordinary Family today to see if it should replace Life Unexpected in our Tuesday night lineup. We were really surprised at how much we enjoyed this show. For now, we will keep watching. Here’s why:
-It was fun and entertaining without being goofy or stupid. The family and their issues were believable and likeable immediately. If you have kids or younger siblings who can't watch most good TV, sit them down on the couch for this. It has the vibe and feel of some of our favorite movies when we were young.
-Julie Benz! Ok, she was awful in the Boondock Saints 2, but so was every other aspect of the movie, so she fit right in. We love her from Dexter, Roswell, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel so we are glad to see her playing the mother in this show. She looks great. They put some makeup on her. This is what we think Natasha Bedingfield will look like in 15 years.
-It was fun and entertaining without being goofy or stupid. The family and their issues were believable and likeable immediately. If you have kids or younger siblings who can't watch most good TV, sit them down on the couch for this. It has the vibe and feel of some of our favorite movies when we were young.
-Julie Benz! Ok, she was awful in the Boondock Saints 2, but so was every other aspect of the movie, so she fit right in. We love her from Dexter, Roswell, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel so we are glad to see her playing the mother in this show. She looks great. They put some makeup on her. This is what we think Natasha Bedingfield will look like in 15 years.
-We like that the parents’ powers can help them with their problems. The dad works at a police station, and he is tired of being unable to help people. He feels he has no purpose, because his job doesn’t involve actively fighting crime. His wife, on the other hand, has a great, important job. He supports her and raises the kids while she is away, but he can’t help but feel worthless sometimes. The mom, on the other hand, has no time for both her family and work. Busy trying to be the perfect spouse, mother, and employee, she doesn’t know how to talk to her kids or what is going on in their lives. But then, Dad becomes resistant to bullets and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Mom gets super speed. Cutting down travel time alone helps her get back to her family in time to help them deal with their new powers. The powers free both parents to work through their personal issues and get second chances at righting their failures. Plus, Mom and Dad have a good marriage despite the challenges. We loved when Mom showed Dad appreciation for being so good to the family. Yay for good marriages on TV!
-This is what we would call a family show that doesn’t suck. You could easily watch this with your 12-year-old and you both will be entertained. It was easy to watch from the beginning, and we liked it instantly. We weren’t bored at all during this episode.
-There were already some sweet moments, and we love that the Dad is such a good guy that he immediately starts using his powers to fight crime after talking to a victim of the criminals.
-We like the voiceovers, especially the way the switch between Mom and Dad.
-We like the teen girl’s power. Instead of giving her super strength (like we thought they would) and trying to do some feminist Strong Woman point, they gave her a more interesting, subtle gift that requires more brains than brawn.
-Mom and Dad both have friends who serve as sounding boards, as well as awesome lair builders. The assistants are as funny as Mom and Dad are brave. (Dude, if we were that dad, we would have jumped from a shorter building or tried having paintballs shot at us while testing our powers. But whatever. He was excited. It's understandable.)
-There are already bad guys who can give the super family a run for their money. There was already some good action as well as family drama.
-Good pacing.
-We like having sympathetic protagonists again. Every person in the family is what we would call “a good person.” Let the baddies and school bullies be bad. We already have Dexter, Jack Bauer, every shrill shrew woman on TV, Don Draper, Nucky Thomson, and others to be our antiheroes. We need a mix on our TV sets. Every once in a while, we want to root for good people. We wonder if all the antiheroes on TV come from a cynical view that everyone, if put in the wrong situation, will act cruelly or selfishly. This isn't true. Google Sophie School, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Raoul Wallenberg, and Johnny Ferrier.
-We love the teen girl’s self-respect as shown when she wouldn’t sleep with her boyfriend when she knew she wasn’t ready just because she was afraid she might lose him.
Things we didn’t like so much:
-What is the teen boy’s power? He was taking a test and the answers appeared on the board. Is it being super good at math? Seeing answers? Seeing the future? What?!! It looked lame, but he was excited. Hopefully we see more of that power and it adds to the show.
Things we didn’t like so much:
-What is the teen boy’s power? He was taking a test and the answers appeared on the board. Is it being super good at math? Seeing answers? Seeing the future? What?!! It looked lame, but he was excited. Hopefully we see more of that power and it adds to the show.
-They had better explain where people get these powers better than just “florescent light under the sea.”
Maybe we are being too generous, but after watching too many pilots this fall that were a bit of a chore to get through, we are giving this an A-. If it stays this good, we will be back every week.
Maybe we are being too generous, but after watching too many pilots this fall that were a bit of a chore to get through, we are giving this an A-. If it stays this good, we will be back every week.
Watch Tuesday night’s pilot here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/181431/no-ordinary-family-pilot?c=Action-and-Adventure#s-p1-so-i0
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