NO ORDINARY FAMILY: PILOT {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The first in this fantasy series about an “ordinary” California family who finds that they have developed superpowers after a near-death experience. In this episode, dad Jim Powell explains that his family had a normal, boring suburban life until they decided to take a family trip to Belem, Brazil. The kids, Daphne and J.J., are less than thrilled about the venture, especially once the small plane in which they are traveling gets caught in a bad storm. They experience engine failure, and Jim thinks back to a time when their family was “perfect” as he prepares to die. The plane crash-lands, however, in a lake, and though the pilot dies, the family survives. Back home, they resolve to have a “new beginning” as a family, and Jim and his wife, Stephanie, plan a dinner date. Jim goes to the batting cages with his best friend George and admits that he feels like he and his wife have been living “separate lives,” and George suggests couples therapy. Jim goes to work, where he is a police sketch artist, and tries to help a woman, Mrs. Downs, whose husband was murdered by robbers. Suddenly, a man in the precinct pulls out a gun and fires, but no one appears to be hurt and he is taken away. Jim is stunned to realize that he caught the bullet, which flattened against his hand.
Stephanie drops the kids at school, where Daphne greets her boyfriend, Lucas, angrily shooing away another girl who has been flirting with him. Stephanie, a research scientist, reveals in a work meeting that she found an important plant in Brazil with scientific uses, but her co-workers seem dismissive. However, her boss tells her that the company chairman wants to fund her research and wants to meet for drinks to her hear proposal. Testing his theory, Jim heads to the batting cages again and practices catching increasingly fast balls. He persuades an extremely reluctant George to shoot him, and once again catches the bullet. Delighted, he is unruffled when Stephanie calls to cancel their dinner date, needing to meet with the chairman instead. Pressed for time, she begins to run towards her car—and suddenly puts on a superhuman spurt of speed, shooting past cars on the highway. Jim continues testing his powers, learning the hard way that he cannot fly, but he can survive falls from great heights, and can also jump great distances. He has also taken to carrying around a police scanner, knowing he can help fight crime. Stephanie reveals her powers to her lab assistant, who measures her speed and finds that she can run a six-second mile. Both excited by their discoveries, Jim and Stephanie meet up for a romantic afternoon rendezvous, but end up having a serious talk about their lives and their children’s problems, about which Stephanie knows little because of her busy work schedule.
Just then, George calls and says that the robbers who killed Mrs. Downs’ husband are committing another crime, and Jim heads off to stop them. He catches the criminals, but is shot point-blank in the head. He collapses, but lives, and awakens to find that George has taken him home, meaning that Stephanie now knows about his powers. She reveals her super-speed, and they theorize that something happened during the plane crash, noting that the water in which they landed had mysterious “phosphorescence.” Shortly thereafter, Daphne calls her mother in a panic and reveals that she suddenly began hearing others’ thoughts at school, proving she too was affected. In a family meeting, J.J. sourly says that he has no specials skills, and Daphne snaps that the family isn’t “broken” and her parents’ relationship is the problem. Later, while spending time with Lucas, Daphne “hears” that he is cheating on her with her best friend, and she is heartbroken.
At work, Jim provides the cops with a sketch of the robber who escaped, Reed, and “tags along” without their knowledge when they pursue him. When they find Reed, he immediately shoots at the officers, dragging one, Officer Cho, off as his hostage. Jim confronts the criminal and attempts to take him down, but is shocked when Reed reveals that he too has superpowers: teleportation. He nearly finishes Jim, but Officer Cho manages to get free and shoots Reed dead. When Jim returns home, Stephanie emotionally tells him that he was “extraordinary” before receiving his powers and makes him promise not to continue crimefighting. However, he soon learns that George has constructed a “lair” from which he can continue finding bad guys. At school, J.J.’s powers finally reveal themselves: he suddenly knows all the answers to his math test with which he had struggled before. Stephanie and Jim commit to making their marriage and family work despite their big changes, and it is revealed that they have told their entire story to the couples therapist, who says they have a lot of work to do. Elsewhere, a mysterious man regards Reed’s dead body and tells another man to “find out who knows” about his powers. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: September 28, 2010 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:43:03
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 103897
- GENRE: Fantasy/science fiction
- SUBJECT HEADING: Families; Magic powers; Asian American Pacific Islanders Collection
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 2010-2011
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Greg Berlanti … Executive Producer
- Jon Harmon Feldman … Executive Producer
- Marc Guggenheim … Executive Producer
- David Semel … Executive Producer
- Morgan Wandell … Executive Producer
- Michael Chiklis … Co-Executive Producer
- Joe Hartwick, Jr. … Supervising Producer
- Melissa Berman … Producer
- Michael Cedar … Producer
- Ra'uf Glasgow … Producer
- Samantha Thomas … Producer
- Jennifer Lence … Co-Producer
- Carl Ogawa … Co-Producer
- Aaron Greenberg … Associate Producer
- Joanie Woehler Spolidoro … Associate Producer
- Blake Neely … Music by
- Michael Chiklis … Cast, Jim Powell
- Julie Benz … Cast, Stephanie Powell
- Christina Chang … Cast, Detective Yvonne Cho
- Kay Panabaker … Cast, Daphne Powell
- Jimmy Bennett … Cast, J.J. Powell
- Autumn Reeser … Cast, Katie Andrews
- Romany Malco … Cast, George St. Cloud
- Tom Amandes … Cast, Dr. Allen
- Jamie Harris … Cast, Reed Koblenz
- Nathan Keyes … Cast, Lucas Fisher
- Reggie Lee … Cast, Dr. Frances Chiles
- Stephen Collins … Cast, Dr. Dayton King
- Melanie Chartoff … Cast, Iris Mitchell
- Renee Faja … Cast, Sally Downs
- Nadine Crocker … Cast, Lindsay
- Gilland Jones … Cast, Emily
- Nate Reese … Cast, Chairman
- James Joseph Cole … Cast, Young Jim
- Krissy Carlson … Cast, Young Stephanie
- Oliver Alvarez … Cast, J.J.'s Classmate
- Ingrid Sanai Buron … Cast, Guidance Counselor
- Rey Herrera … Cast, Referee
- Karen-Eileen Gordon … Cast, Crime Victim
- Wiley Pickett … Cast, Cop
- Loren Lazerine … Cast, Security Guard
- Sean Andrew … Cast, Batting Cage Clerk
- Larry Omaha … Cast, Supply Clerk
- Lachlan Buchanan … Cast, Chad Claremont
- Marissa Cuervas … Cast, Amanda