And to answer that question, I still don’t know.
Just like Smallville, I began watching this show because of the meta-human (superpowered people) factor; with Smallville, I found out it was about Superman and was, without watching a single episode, hooked- and with NOF it’s the same kind of thing, but the twist here is that Michael Chiklis (The Shield, Fantastic Four) leads a super-broken, super-powered, and super-naïve family that never seems to get it-they will use their powers eventually as they were meant to be used. So far, however, as with ABC family’s productions, it’s all about the lessons we learn. Common lessons in every episode: lying is not bueno; eavesdropping (telepathic or not) and prematurely acting upon said eavesdropped conversations is no bueno; and using your powers to gain advantage over others without powers is cheating and it is….no bueno.
The show started out rough and HIGHLY unexplained. Family goes on an outing to team build, which involves a bush-plane view of the jungle. Of course, it ends in a plane crash and a family born-again as meta-humans. Since then, it’s been introduced that they are not the only ones out there, and it is seemingly more like a corporation that is behind the meta-testing on regular people. Here is the thing that gets me though- I get that super-powers need to come from somewhere and most often it’s from chemical testing (i.e. Green Goblin), the way NOF incorporates it- it’s just used and boring. The fact that it’s established that the mom works underneath the bad guy at a chemical research company early on is bogus because it doesn’t leave anything to the imagination for the rest of the season. Other meta-humans show up and you want to think “yeah, awesome! SUPERFIGHT!”, but no. Instead, Papa Crimefighter (who DOESN’T wear a mask when he goes out-BIG turn off to us comic-regulars) always gets his butt kicked. And this is outrageous because he is essentially The Thing without the get-up from the Fantastic Four films.
Overall, I don’t know why I am still picking this show up on Hulu. I mean, the super-human thing is always a good enticement for me to watch something, but the way ABC makes their family dramas, it just makes you want to slap them across the face with a corporate-wide bitchslap “Make something EXCITING for once!”
Upsides: People have super-powers
Downsides: No protagonist gets it.
No Ordinary Family [2 High-fives]
starring Michael Chiklis, Julie Benz, Romany Malco, Stephen Collins