- No Ordinary Friends My faith in the concept behind this show has effectively been shaken, so I didn’t have any presumptions that the resumption of it would signal any significant change in direction. It didn’t take long for this story to entirely support my view, with a story that combined the very worst of No Ordinary Family‘s failings. It started well enough with Jim trying to stop an art thief, and then saving a man from being run over by a bus. These two seemingly unconnected events have a curious link, which becomes apparent after Dave Cotten (played by once child actor Rick Schroder) turns up with his family at the Powell home to thank him in person. The most diabolical of these by far was those parts allocated to Katie and her relationship with ‘The Watcher’, where she reveals first to Stephanie and then later him that she’s a virgin. The Office often has moments where you want to look away as characters do or say embarrassing things, but Katie’s scenes were so dire that I wanted to turn off entirely and just move on with my life. I know Katie, played by the lovely Autumn Reeser, is supposed to be a bit ditsy, but I didn’t buy this diversion for one moment. The writer who creates her dialogue has an entirely inane idea of the sort of things that nerds come out with, and Katie comes over as a decidedly fake one to this fully paid-up member of that subculture. Normally, at this point in my No Ordinary Family reviews, I’d maybe suggest that they alter things, and even say perhaps how they might do that, but I’ve actually run totally out of gas on that trip. If this show is fixable, and far be it from me to suggest that it isn’t, then it’s doing an exceptionally good job of hiding any intentions to address what issues it has. The humour in here isn’t funny, the drama insufficiently dramatic, and the characters are starting to grind on me like a piece of this narrative vehicle is dragging along the ground. Maybe it’s about time the Powells handed their powers back, and we all found something better to do with our time. Read our review of episode 10, No Ordinary Sidekick, here. Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.
