Do You Remember: No Ordinary Family

Back in September of 2010, ABC introduced a new crime drama with a science fiction twist from series creators Jon Harmon Feldman (who created the Eliza Dushku-led FOX drama Tru Calling) and Greg Berlanti (prior to his reign as producer extraordinaire of Arrow and all of the DC-inspired shows as well as Blindspot and You – and MANY more).

That new show was No Ordinary Family, which focused on the Powell family, a typical American family living in the fictional town of Pacific Bay, California, whose members gained special powers after their plane crashes in the Amazon, Brazil.

The main cast included:

Michael Chiklis (The Shield and Gotham), who played Jim Powell, Sr. He was a police sketch artist who developed super strength, near invulnerability and amazing skill at leaping over tall buildings.

Julie Benz (Dexter, Defiance and the Buffy TV franchise), who played Jim’s wife Dr. Stephanie Crane Powell. She was a scientist at Global Tech, who developed super speed and incredibly fast metabolism.

Kay Panabaker (Summerland and Phil of the Future), who played Daphne Powell, Jim and Stephanie’s 16-year-old daughter, who developed telepathy and the ability to view the memories of others.

Jimmy Bennett (the box office films Evan Almighty and Orphan), who played James “JJ” Powell, Jr., Jim and Stephanie’s 14-year-old son, who was able to speed-read, giving him a photographic memory.

Autumn Reeser (Hallmark Channel movie alum and The Arrangement), who played Katie Andrews, a lab tech and Stephanie’s personal assistant, who was also quite the comic book fangirl.

Romany Malco (A Million Little Things), who played George St. Cloud, the ADA in Pacific Bay and a long-time friend of Jim Sr., who knew about the family’s superpowers and was a comic book fanboy.

Stephen Collins (7th Heaven alum before his public downfall), who played Dr. Dayton King, Stephanie’s boss at Global Tech, who was enamored with Stephanie and was considered “a typical Hitchcockian villain in the show.

Josh Stewart (Shooter and The Punisher), who played the Watcher (aka Will aka Joshua). He was Dr. King’s evil enforcer and assassin [and later revealed to be Dr. King’s adopted son, who also pretended to be Katie’s boyfriend.

Among the recurring actors who appeared in the show were:

Christina Chang (The Good Doctor)
Guillermo Diaz (Scandal)
Reggie Lee (Grimm and All Rise)
Amy Acker (Angel and Person of Interest)
Luke Kleintank (The Man in the High Castle)
Rebecca Mader (Once Upon a Time)
Jean-Luc Bilodeau (Baby Daddy and Kyle XY)
Jackson Rathbone (the Twilight movie franchise)
Rachel Miner (Supernatural)
Chord Overstreet (Glee)
Ethan Suplee (My Name Is Earl)
Jason Wiles (Third Watch)
Annie Wersching (24 and Timeless)
Eric Balfour (Haven)
Max Greenfield (Veronica Mars and New Girl)
Tom Amandes (Everwood)
Amy Gumenick (Supernatural, TURN: Washington’s Spies and Arrow)

Some of the bigger name guest stars who appeared in episodes included:

Lucy Lawless (Xena, Warrior Princess and Battlestar Galactica)
Tate Donovan (The O.C.)
Bruce McGill (MacGyver and Rizzoli & Isles)
Cybill Shepherd (Moonlighting)
Anthony Michael Hall (The Dead Zone and the classic 80’s movie The Breakfast Club)
Ricky Schroder (Silver Spoons and NYPD Blue)
Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica and Lucifer)
Robert Picardo (China Beach and Star Trek: Voyager)

The show started out strong with over 10 million viewers, but as each episode aired the ratings continued dropped until it was only garnering between 3 and 5 million viewers. The series was eventually cancelled due to low ratings. It did get nominated for Favorite New TV Drama at the People’s Choice Awards for that TV season.

Here is a trailer for No Ordinary Family:

The show aired for 20 episodes from September 28, 2010 to April 5, 2011 on ABC.

Do you remember No Ordinary Family?

Check out our other Do You Remember articles.