I watched the No Ordinary Family pilot about a month ago when ABC posted it online. I wrote a note or two about it and saved it as a draft, but I never got around to reviewing it. I honestly don't remember the pilot well enough to give a detailed review. So, I'll just share my basic thoughts on it:
I enjoyed the casting of the parents. I'm a fan of Julie Benz's from her work on Buffy and Angel, so I enjoyed seeing her again (I know she was on Dexter, but I've never watched that). I'd never seen Michael Chiklis in anything before, but I thought he was great for his role. I couldn't stand the daughter, but honestly, I'm not sure good casting would have fixed that. Her role was a one-note role, and that note was whiny. All she did in the pilot was whine and text. Oh, and she made oh-so-cool references to twitter and photoshop. I don't have much to say about the brother, but he was somewhat likeable. I really would have liked for the storyline about his not having a power to have been drawn out a bit more because I think it could have led to a good twist and some good conflict.
As for the show as a whole, I can't say I'm a fan. I found No Ordinary Family to be cliche and unoriginal. I don't mind that it's similar to The Incredibles or other shows; I just wish that it brought something new and interesting to the table. Obviously, as this was the pilot and was expositional, there's a lot of room for improvement. That being said, I probably won't watch again unless I happen to come upon it while flipping channels or the rest of the season gets rave reviews.
And one last thing. I don't remember who he played on No Ordinary Family now, but I wrote "7th Heaven dad!!!" in my notes. Just thought I'd share that little piece of information with you.
