No Ordinary Family

No Ordinary Family is in some ways a typical family drama. The father is struggling with his job where he feels ineffectual and trying to keep a fracturing family together, the mother is an over-achiever and the bread-winner of the family and mostly oblivious to the family's crisis, the high-school daughter struggles with wanting to be popular without giving in to sexual peer pressure by her boyfriend and peers and the younger son struggles with school and feeling inferior due to a learning disability. What differs is that while on a vacation, a plane crash into a mysterious lake leaves each with super-powers, gifts tailored to their unique problems.

The father and husband who feels weak and powerless both at home and at work is super-strong and near invulnerable. No longer having to feel like a second rate cop as a sketch artist, he tries to use his powers to become an active crime-fighter and superhero.

The mother and wife who is overworked and struggles to meet the trying demands of battling two fronts, home and work, gains super-speed. A gift of time.

The daughter trying to traverse the dangers and pitfalls of high school, and the feeling of being different and alone even in a crowd can suddenly read the minds of those around her, what they are truly thinking and feeling.

And, the son who feels like an idiot, gains some kind of super-intelligence, able to easily see the solutions to complex problems.

Being a superhero show in addition to a family drama, there is of course danger. The father is not as invulnerable as he thinks as he tries to take on crime and discovers there are others also with powers. And, the resolution of the pilot episode shows that the mother's boss is tied somehow to the crime wave that he's investigating, providing an over-arcing plot and storyline to future episodes as the family must come to terms with their powers.

There are clever and funny bits. When the spouses realize individually they have powers, they initially turn to their closest friends instead of each other in scenes that establish subtle bits to each character. The husband has a close friend but the wife really only has an overworked and eager to please lab assistant. The mysterious crime wave is attributed to a gang called the "Obama Bombers". At first I thought I heard wrong until we see one of the criminals and he's indeed wearing a rubber Obama mask.

The show falters with the youngest son. The two siblings are both given rather passive powers which are going to be problematical to use them effectively other than highlighting the possible problems that such abilities can cause in a family and school atmosphere. And, how long can that be played out before becoming tired? However, even in the first episode, the son's powers are the least dealt with as he doesn't display them until near the end so we don't see any follow-up to his sudden bout of super intelligence.

The actors all do a wonderful job with their parts. The children look and act like the teenagers they are meant to be as opposed to over-sexed glamorous adults. Michael Chiklis as the husband and father covers much of the same ground as he did as the Thing in the Fantastic Four movies, but he excels at playing someone that is both tough and vulnerable. You feel for him as a family man that's overshadowed by his wife's accomplishments and his struggles at keeping a family together that's threatening to drift apart with their individual concerns. Julie Benz as the mother and wife, well I cannot be totally objective there. I've had a crush on her since her days on Angel. Something about her voice... Stephen Collins as her boss plays a bit against character as he is set up with some secrets of his own, having mysterious links to others with powers that have a more criminal bent.

Much is made of the show being one the whole family can watch and it definitely has that vibe. Yet, it does so without feeling like it's being dumbed down for the adults. The real life tribulations are real ones that families cope with. And, while it's about superheroes, it doesn't venture into making fun of them or going cynical with them though maintaining a slight light-hearted feel. The over-the-top nature and comedy comes mainly from the spouses' friends and they react as many superhero fans would if their best friend gained powers. Benz' assistant wonders how the super-speed doesn't destroy the clothes, Chiklis' buddy makes him a lair decked out with dozens of computers and talks him into trying to fly. These are logical reactions as a public that thinks about all of the tropes of superheroes. Sort of like Hiro in Heroes who kept trying to cast himself and those around him into traditional superhero archetypes and cliches. But, Chiklis doesn't set himself up as a superhero or make a costume. His use of powers to go after the Obama Bomber is a natural development of his character as a frustrated police artist and not because it's the superhero thing to do. Although, he does betray a certain knowledge of superheroes when he insists that his jumps over a building are "bounds".

SGU Stargate Universe: The ongoing cast is so large for this show, the finale was a bit more convoluted than I remembered so the season premier left me playing quite a bit of catch-up with what was going on with the individual characters and plot. While it managed to resolve the major issues, it left a few other minor mysteries to be developed such as the sudden healing of Chloe's character who was practically dead from the blood loss and shock of being shot. There is actual use of the gate on the ship to temporarily remove a bunch of characters and cast from the story and to remind viewers that the show is called "Stargate" though it's really about a crew being trapped on an errant alien spacecraft. While it is hard to keep track of many of the secondary and tertiary characters, the show is a more complex and well thought out science fiction show than the more light-hearted and action oriented shows of the franchise and I feel better than the Sci-Fi channel's much lauded Battlestar Galactica whose style it emulates. If for no other reason that the science fiction extrapolation is better handled. Galactica never ceased to annoy in how North American-centric so many props and clothing were. Despite the budget, no thought was really given as to the fact that these people were from completely different and alien cultures. Yet their formal clothes included your standard suit jacket, pin stripe shirt and neck tie.

The Human Target debut delayed: All summer long, I've been wondering why The Human Target was moved to Fridays opposite Smallville. Despite being on separate networks, both are adaptations of characters published by DC Comics and by extension, Warner Brothers. You'd think that the company would do everything in their power to fight having two of their properties being in direct competition. Especially as this is the last season of Smallville and only the second of The Human Target, so it behooves them to want both especially to succeed. The former so as to not to have to do a rush wrap up job is numbers start tanking and also in case there is a chance of a spinoff. The latter so that it will not only make it to the magical third season which is generally when a show becomes profitable for syndication but also to maintain a presence of having successful properties on the air. Well, the premier originally scheduled for this Friday has been delayed until mid-November and moved back to Wednesdays!