No Ordinary Family: Season 1
  • Network: ABC
  • Series Premiere Date: Sep 28, 2010
  • Season #: 1
User Score
6.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 62 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 43 out of 62
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 62
  3. Negative: 9 out of 62

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  1. skantea
    Oct 31, 2010
    4
    I really wanted this show to work but it already feels like the wheels are falling off. It seemed as if the writers were playing the appropriate pacing game, keeping things slowed down, giving the characters plenty of face time to emote so viewers could empathize, but there just aren't enough details for a viewers to lose themselves in while we're waiting for things to heat up.
    This ones     skewing towards the younger kids (10-15), and giving us grown up kids too much time to get distracted.
    It's snoozin' and quickly losin'.    … Expand
  2. Ethan24
    Mar 29, 2011
    4
    I have a hard time watching No Ordinary Family because I had SUCH HIGH HOPES before it premiered. Ever since then every time I watch im just reminded of what kind of show it could (should) have been.
  3. Juggernaut
    Mar 8, 2011
    4
    The idea is good, but the development is poor. The worst thing of the show is the teenage actors and the sidekicks. Chiklis and Benz try to save the show, but the dialogues are too poor to do something about it.
    There is a lack of plot and the fx are BAD!
  4. IceMetalPunk
    Jan 14, 2011
    2
    I forced myself to sit through the pilot, and it was torture. The idea of a real-life Incredibles for grown-ups is a great one, in my opinion, but this was a terrible execution of it. My main gripe is that it seemed so dumbed-down that I could almost hear the writers saying to each other, "No, our audience is too stupid to understand that. Get rid of it." For example, they kept calling the mother (I've forgotten everyone's names by now) a "scientist", but they are never more specific. As if saying she's a chemist, or a physicist, or a medical researcher, or whatever would confuse us idiotic viewers, they even use the generic "scientist" term in the award she wins (or was it a promotion? I don't remember). And then there's the explanation for how they got their abilities: "The water was glowing. That must have given us our powers." Please. That's so patronizing, and given the woman's career as some kind of general scientist, she should never have been satisfied with that. Yet she's the one who decided it was an amazing explanation! The end hinted at a conspiracy plot, which interested me a little, but not nearly enough to continue watching this. If No Ordinary Family gets a second season after FlashForward was canceled, I swear I'm going to set off a bomb at ABC's Programming offices, then shoot any survivors. This show may as well have been titled "No Decent Writing" instead.

    -IMP ;) :)    … Expand
  5. kristen58
    Sep 30, 2010
    3
    I was really excited for this show, partly because I love The Incredibles and partly because I'm in love with Julie Benz, but I was pretty disappointed. This seems like a show that would be really fast paced and exciting, but it was quite slow and boring.
  6. Poke598
    Jan 4, 2011
    3
    I really tried to like this show, but I found myself rolling myself at many scenes. The acting is atrocious and the dialogue is so predictable. It just came across as very cheesy to me. Mind you, I am not well-versed in sci-fi movies or shows, so that could account for part of my opinion.
  7. spamtheAbutton
    Oct 27, 2010
    1
    Wow a complete bore -- how many times can we watch Chiklis land on a rooftop? I loved Julie Benz in Dexter, but here she seems inert and ineffectual. Pass!
  8. tentilsix
    Nov 19, 2010
    3
    I wanted to like this show . The premise sounded fun and exciting , promising laughter , drama , suspense and perhaps a touch of I Love Lucy on steroids . I admire Michael Chiklis from his previous work . I suppose if I had grammar school kids we could watch it together but I can barely sit still through an episode on my own . Sorry , Micheal and cast . You are just too ordinary for me .… Expand
  9. junnja
    Jan 10, 2011
    1
    I was intrigued by the whole premise of this show. A family with superpowers. Wow!! Not exactly original, but hey!! not alot is these days. The only thing bigger than Micheal 'Jim Powell' Chiklis's biceps in this show, was the dissapointment in what could have been, and hopefully, may still be, a potentially interesting idea. However, the writing is so bad, that no matter how top-heavy with well-known actors the cast is, it can't be saved. I'm afraid, bad writing, equals bad acting. Sorry. I have watched eleven episodes so far, and it still hasn't really estabilshed where it's at. I know that shows like this can take their own time to bed in. Sometimes we can find a gem we haven't watched from the start, and then have to go back and play catch-up, when everyone else is talking about it. But this is ridiculious. The main problem, and the most tiresome one for me, is the constant arguing about using their powers, or not using them. Are you crime-fighting, and saving the world, or not? Either, get on with it. or leave us all to our fate. As with any drama, there has to be a dark side, but we don't really know that much about them yet. Or care, at this stage. The whole thing is punctuated, if not very cleverly, with domestic and family problems. Especially teenage angst and all its heartaches, and anything else beginning and ending in bland, reminding us they're just `an ordinary family'. But they're not. That's the point. A point I feel we could have reached a helluva lot quicker than 11 episodes in. Why watch 11 episodes then? Only for the purpose of giving it a chance really. I know the makers of shows of this genre, ask us to suspend belief somewhat. But there is a difference between that, and an insult to our intelligence. Some of the stuff, although not that important, is just plain silly. The instantly built lair (What are all those screens for. Eh? Jim never looks at anything. He just jumps around keeping the roof repairers in business). The fact that George holds down a very important job as an Assistant DA, eventhough he's hardly ever there, is unbelievable. Maybe it's his chronic insomnia, which keeps him going, day and night. 'The dude never sleeps'. BTW Stephanie. it doesn't matter how fast you vaccum, it won't pick up any quicker. lol. Sorry. I'm just being cruel now. AND, by no means least, are we supposed to believe that when Daphne reads a guy's mind when he's looking at her, he's thinking, ' Hey, she's kinda cute'. Yeah right!! I know that people say you should stick with something until you've given it a decent chance. In this case, if I'd stuck any closer with it, we'd have needed to be surgically seperated. I hope this show does something soon, or I'll be running as fast as Stephanie, in the opposite direction from my TV, before I accquire the Superpower of relentless boredom.… Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
65 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 28
  3. Negative: 0 out of 28
  1. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Kris King
    63
    The pilot offers up the promising and the bland in about equal measure. With its accomplished adult cast, and writers from Chuck and Smallville, the show could go on to make for a pretty fun adventure series, but the looming threat of boring teenage gloom and the hints of a convoluted plot involving Stephanie Powell's sinister employer could sink whatever potential there is.
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  2. Newsday
    Reviewed by: Verne Gay
    50
    Family is a trifle--part comic book, part kids' show--that is perfectly pleasant but without edge, bite or dramatic heft. With Chiklis aboard, it's like witnessing a concert pianist execute an elaborate version of "Chopsticks."
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  3. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Reviewed by: Rob Owen
    40
    The show's premise has enormous potential--it's essentially a live-action version of "The Incredibles," about a family that gains superpowers--but Tuesday's premiere disappoints with its slow-moving plot and whiny characters.
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