No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Discuss

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

I wasn't impressed. I'm tired of the whole superheroes schtick and this seemed like a cross between HEROES and a lightweight "feel good" Disney flick. There doesn't seem to be anything new here to offer that I haven't seen a dozen times before.

I definitely won't be watching it.

It was basically a mashup of Fantastic Four and The Incredibles, that added nothing fresh or inventive to either concept.

It's kind of funny how a show that tries something a little bit risky like The Event gets uniformly panned here, whereas a show like this that doesn't attempt to do anything the slightest bit original gets a free pass.

 

[startrekwatcher]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

Well the show isn't bad--if I was 10 years old and all of this was new to me then I'd probably enjoy it but the problem with so much of tv & films these days is it just recycles stuff I've seen before and it was done better the first time I saw it.

The only thing I can think of is Hollywood thinks we have short memories or I'm not the target audience. I mean predictable recycled stories are everywhere from soap operas like Days of Our Lives to sff shows like ENT that cribbed its first two seasons from previous Trek incarnations or shows like Fringe or Haven that want to be TXF clones telling the same predictable stale stories one more time. And don't even get me started on the glut of cop and lawyer shows that offer up absolutely nothing new and are the bread and butter of channels like CBS and USA. And even NBC is stealing from itself with yet another spy show with the lamentable Undercovers.

I won't accept that the human imagination is so limited that we've run out of fresh ideas for storytelling.

 

[melancholymecha]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

it was ok but I'll go against the grain here, I thought the first ep of Heroes was better, much more exciting, like you could really feel something amazing was happenning to those peoples lives. Theres too much casualness & too much Disney Channel teen drama stuff in this. The daughter is awful, why is she so obsessed with losing her virginity? she's about to crash in the ocean & all she can think of is she hasnt had sex yet?
Chiklis is the best thing about the show... Im also disappointed we wont get Donovan as the big bad or at least as some kind of lesser antagonist.

 

[C_Miller]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

I wasn't impressed. I'm tired of the whole superheroes schtick and this seemed like a cross between HEROES and a lightweight "feel good" Disney flick. There doesn't seem to be anything new here to offer that I haven't seen a dozen times before.

I definitely won't be watching it.

It was basically a mashup of Fantastic Four and The Incredibles, that added nothing fresh or inventive to either concept.

It's kind of funny how a show that tries something a little bit risky like The Event gets uniformly panned here, whereas a show like this that doesn't attempt to do anything the slightest bit original gets a free pass.

Sorry, I'd rather watch a show that executes a classic formula well than one that fails at a new one. New does not always equal good.

 

[startrekwatcher]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

it was ok but I'll go against the grain here, I thought the first ep of Heroes was better, much more exciting

Yeah I agree. It was compelling and it certainly piqued my curiosity about what is going on and who all the players were. No Ordinary Family is ordinary. Also Season One of HEROES also managed to meld story ideas in new interesting ways rather than stealing wholesale and rehashing them leading to its ability to stump viewers and have them waiting anxiously each week to see what happened next.

Sorry, I'd rather watch a show that executes a classic formula well than one that fails at a new one. New does not always equal good.

Frankly I'm not going to settle for either. I'd rather watch a show that executes a well told *fresh* story that holds my interest and surprises me--why settle for a pedestrian story told well. As I sat there watching it last night it felt like I was going through the motions and mentally checking off the list all the components you'd come to expect from a show like this rather than being wrapped up in what's going on. I'm not a fan of either The Event or this show obviously.

 

[C_Miller]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

it was ok but I'll go against the grain here, I thought the first ep of Heroes was better, much more exciting

Yeah I agree. It was compelling and it certainly piqued my curiosity about what is going on and who all the players were. No Ordinary Family is ordinary. Also Season One of HEROES also managed to meld story ideas in new interesting ways rather than stealing wholesale and rehashing them leading to its ability to stump viewers and have them waiting anxiously each week to see what happened next.

Sorry, I'd rather watch a show that executes a classic formula well than one that fails at a new one. New does not always equal good.

Frankly I'm not going to settle for either. I'd rather watch a show that executes a well told *fresh* story that holds my interest and surprises me--why settle for a pedestrian story told well. As I sat there watching it last night it felt like I was going through the motions and mentally checking off the list all the components you'd come to expect from a show like this rather than being wrapped up in what's going on. I'm not a fan of either The Event or this show obviously.

Classic formula also doesn't mean pedestrian either.

 

[Starbreaker]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

Every Marvel and DC comic ever made (mostly) starts off with superheroes discovering they have powers. It's not the freshest story ever, but it works.

 

[Chris3123]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

Also nice foreshadowing with the Nightcrawler action figure (I guess Stephanie doesn't know what Kitty Pryde looks like).

I haven't seen the online version of the pilot, so maybe they did originally used Nightcrawler there. But in the aired episode it was clearly a Kitty Pryde mini-bust, complete with Lockheed on her shoulder. After a quick Google search I found the product they used.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

Above Average. I liked it quite a bit. (although I missed the first 15 minutes)

The reveal that the robber could teleport was nice "oh crap" moment - and the fight that followed was *very well* executed. As others have said, a better fight between superpowered characters than what Heroes did in 4 years.

I'll definitely watch again.

One Q - Is Marvel involved in this production? I'm just wondering, given the volume of of X-men references - Plus the "nightcrawler" effect.

Marvel (and ABC) is owned by Disney. I expect there will be a lot of name dropping of Marvel characters in the series. Synergy

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

it was ok but I'll go against the grain here, I thought the first ep of Heroes was better, much more exciting, like you could really feel something amazing was happenning to those peoples lives. Theres too much casualness & too much Disney Channel teen drama stuff in this.

Oh I agree! The premiere of Heroes gave me much more of a sense that something big and epic might be underway. No Ordinary Family may not go off the rails as badly (I hope not!) but I don't see anywhere near the same potential for greatness.

So far, this is the season of the pale imitations. The Event for Lost, now No Ordinary Family for Heroes. Same basic idea, but no zing.

It's kind of funny how a show that tries something a little bit risky like The Event gets uniformly panned here, whereas a show like this that doesn't attempt to do anything the slightest bit original gets a free pass.

The Event is trying to do something original? I must have missed that part. Both shows are knockoffs being executed in a very ordinary and uninspired way, but No Ordinary Family has better casting, with several charming actors who can compensate somewhat for the writing, vs The Event, which has only one guy worth watching (Jason Ritter).

I haven't seen the online version of the pilot, so maybe they did originally used Nightcrawler there. But in the aired episode it was clearly a Kitty Pryde mini-bust, complete with Lockheed on her shoulder. After a quick Google search I found the product they used.

Oh I mistook Lockheed for Nightcrawler's arms or something.

 

[Anwar]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

I dunno, I like they're starting out with a much smaller scope than Heroes. That means it has more room to eventually grow into something more epic (if that's what they want to do) while still being able to tell smaller stories about the immediate characters. Like how Farscape started out as basically the random adventures of a leaderless gang and eventually became this Galactic Epic.

 

[Brikar99]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

This pilot was about as bland as it gets. Took the obvious route in every way it could, including the dull "humor." I could go for a light-hearted, fun superhero show... Too bad there wasn't anything fun on display here.

 

[Mistral]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

It's ABC Family- I went in looking for nothing more than light entertainment. I got it and a little more. This one went on the dvr as a series afterwards. I'll give it some time...

 

[C_Miller]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

This feels like it could easily be Modern Family meets Heroes, which I would greatly approve of, so I'll be sticking around.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

This feels like it could easily be Modern Family meets Heroes, which I would greatly approve of, so I'll be sticking around.

No Ordinary Modern Family?

 

[Trekker4747]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

I watched the pilot.

It's.... interesting. It certainly had an old-school '80s Disney Movie of the Week vibe to it. Very heavily, infact.

The biggest and strongest point in this show is going to be Chilkis and the cast.

 

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

]The Event is trying to do something original? I must have missed that part. Both shows are knockoffs being executed in a very ordinary and uninspired way, but No Ordinary Family has better casting, with several charming actors who can compensate somewhat for the writing, vs The Event, which has only one guy worth watching (Jason Ritter).

To each his own, but at least The Event has had a couple of twists that I didn't see coming. There wasn't anything the least bit surprising or unexpected in Ordinary Family... Is there anyone here who didn't figure out the son's power would be super-smarts at least 30 minutes before it was "revealed"?

 

[Checkmate]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

I didn't realize that they were aiming for shocking twists or major plot developments in an episode designed to simply introduce the characters and the basic story idea.

Huh.

Guess you really do learn something new everyday. Time for me to start raging and crying because the episode failed to do what it never set out to do in the first place! RAAWWWWWWWRRRRR!!!

 

[Aragorn]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

So we should be grading on effort rather than execution? Reminds me of grade school report cards with actual grades and effort grades. Only those who place sole emphasis on the effort grades now deem that all youth sporting events should end in a tie.

 

[stj]

Re: No Ordinary Family: "Pilot" - Sept. 28 (online now) - Grade & Disc

People without a sense of humor should bail right now. It'll save a lot of frustration. They've already set up domestic comedy about Chiklis ignoring his sincere promise and still fighting crime! Didn't you guys notice?