Best of the Week vol. XLVII

Quote of the Week: He’s out there on the street and he’s kicking (expletive deleted) like Batman. You’re married to Christian Bale. Or Michael Keaton at least. (Katie, No Ordinary Family)

Song of the Week: American Girl – Tom Petty (as sung by Jimmy T, Survivor)

Big News of the Week: The Baseball Playoffs Begin: Who knew? I really haven’t watched the sport since I realized that everyone was medically enhanced. Maybe when they finally clear the sport of the cream and the clear and add a cap so I actually think my team may have a chance to make the playoffs, I start paying attention again.

Gratuitous Token Hot Chick Picture of the Week:



Free Download of the Week: Law & Order: Los Angeles, Season 1 - Law & Order: Los Angeles (iTunes): For those the missed the first west coast version of the franchise, here it is for free.

Deal of the Week: The Happy Birthday Sale (The Big Bang Theory, Eastbound and Down, The Hangover [Blu Ray], The Wire)

Video of the Week: ABC Family’s syndication of Friday Night Lights has soften the blow that I will have to wait another four to seven months for the start of the new season. Of course for those with DirecTV, you only have to wait another two and a half weeks. Below is a promo for the DirecTV return featuring The Black Keys When the Lights Go Out.

Friday Night Lights Season 5 Promo


Next Week Pick of the Week: Rubicon, Sunday at 9:00 on AMC: Rubicon really kicked into gear last week and with only two episodes left (tomorrow and next week), we may be in for an explosive season finale. Quite literally with an extremist entering the country and the API boss apparently profiting from catastrophes his group identifies.

Around the Tubes vol. LXIX

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Haven, The Office, Suzanne Vega, Nowhere Boy, Outlaw, Djibouti, Mariah Carey, Rod Stewart, Michael Feinsein’s American Songbook, Sons of Anarchy, and a Tony Curtis marathon.

- Tonight is the season finale of Haven on Syfy at 10:00 which was recently renewed for a second season. Here is a preview:



- The Office will be releasing its latest webisodes The 3rd Floor October 21 and here is a trailer.



- Today at noon, Suzanne Vega will perform at the Borders in Ann Arbor. For those not within driving distance can watch via Livestream below:

borders on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

- Tonight is the release of the John Lennon coming of age bio-flick Nowhere Boy. Below is a clip featuring Lennon and Paul McCartney write their first song together when they were called The Quarrymen.

Exclusive Nowhere Boy Clip. Watch more top selected videos about: Nowhere Boy

- On the small screen tonight in a new episode of Outlaw featuring guest star Tom Schanley (Dexter) as a “surviving husband of a woman who is suspected of committing suicide after warning her employer, a car manufacturer, of unsafe conditions in the car. Turns out Carl may have played a role in her suicide as well.”

- The guy who wrote Fire in the Hole of which the FX series Justified is based on, Elmore Leonard will be turning 85 on October 11, a day before his latest novel, Djibouti is released. Lean more in the video below:



- I would venture to say most everyone has a few Mariah Carey Christmas tunes on their iPods and she will finally give us some new holiday cheer with the upcoming release of Merry Christmas II You. You can preorder the album and an exclusic DVD over at hsn.com/mariahcarey now or tune in to HSN Oct 20 during the 8 am, the 2 pm, and the 10 pm hours for more Mariah Carey surprises.

- In other HSN news, Rod Stewart will debut his latest album, Fly Me to The Moon…The Great American Songbook, Volume V, exclusively with HSN. He will be performing live during a one-hour primetime special on October 9 at 8 p.m. (ET) on HSN.

- Stewart isn’t the only one going back into the American songbook, next Monday the Michael Feinstein Foundation for the Preservation of the Great American Songbook debuts an extraordinary free website, Michael Feinsein’s American Songbook, in which music aficionados, music historians, teachers, and cultural researchers.

- SAMCRO fans rejoice, Sons of Anarchy has been renewed for a fourth season.

- This Sunday TCM will pay tribute to Tony Curtis with a twenty-four hour marathon of his films. Here is the full rundown:

6 a.m. Beachhead (1954) – with Frank Lovejoy and Mary Murphy
7:45 a.m. Kings Go Forth (1958) – with Frank Sinatra and Natalie Wood
9:45 a.m. The Vikings (1958) – with Kirk Douglas, Ernest Borgnine and Janet Leigh
11:45 a.m. Operation Petticoat (1959) – with Cary Grant and Dina Merrill
2 p.m. Who Was That Lady? (1960) – with Janet Leigh and Dean Martin
4:15 p.m. Sex and the Single Girl (1964) – with Natalie Wood, Lauren Bacall and Henry Fonda
6:15 p.m. You Can’t Win ‘Em All (1970) – with Charles Bronson and Michèle Mercier
8 p.m. Sweet Smell of Success (1957) – with Burt Lancaster and Martin Milner
9:45 p.m. The Defiant Ones (1958) – with Sidney Poitier and Theodore Bikel
11:30 p.m. Trapeze (1956) – with Burt Lancaster and Gina Lollobrigida
1:30 a.m. The Great Race (1965) – with Jack Lemmon and Natalie Wood
4:15 a.m. Don’t Make Waves (1967) –with Claudia Cardinale and Sharon Tate

Previewing The Dog Whisperer 7.x

I thoroughly enjoy watching The Dog Whisperer because not only does it gives me tips for my dogs; it is a nice reminder that there are much worse behaving dogs on the planet than mine. Like on tomorrow’s season premiere we are introduced to a lamp shade eating dog. My dog has chewed on socks, CD’s and even paper, but never has she jumped up to take out one of my lamp shades.

For his second case, Cesar Millan gets offered a deal to tame Howie Mandel’s Chihuahua Lola, who Howie fears is going to kill him because she lunges at him every time Howie tries to sit next to his wife. As a Chihuahua owner myself I understand just how angry the dog can get, but lucky for me I am the one mine is protected so everyone around me gets the ankles gnawed on a little. Check out Howie getting flew from a one pound fur ball below:



Tomorrow is the first of fifteen all new episodes to air Fridays at 8:00 on the National Geographic Channel. Also this season, Cesar will be visiting Astronaut Suni Williams, who once received Cesar’s coaching while serving on the International Space Station. Actress Rhoa Mitra (The Gates) and her French bulldog, Oscar. Meghan Plunkett, daughter of former NFL quarter back and Heisman Trophy winner Jim Plunkett, who has been caring for a pit bull that belonged to her brother Jimmy, who, prior to his unexpected passing in 2008, had cultivated a close relationship with his dog based on Cesar’s relationship with his dog, Daddy. And even wildlife experts like Casey Anderson, a Nat Geo Wild host, will call on Cesar, along with his wife Missi Pyle to help with their two dogs.

Previewing HDNet and A&E Shows

Time Warner Cable dropped HDNet long before I upgraded to high definition so I am unfamiliar with the network and cannot actually watch earth of these show, but the channel has a couple premieres coming up. Tonight at 8:30 is the start of 24 episodes of Drinking Made Easy. Granted, as a former alcoholic, I probably should watch a show called Drinking Made Easy anyway. Here is a preview:




Premiering tomorrow at 8:00 as part ofHDNet’s Guys Night In is Get Out! which is heading north for the season with a Canadian season. Check out a preview below:



If reality crime fighters are more your speed, Dog the Bounty Hunter is back for its seventh season followed by the second season of Steven Segal in Lawman both on A&E tonight starting at 9:00. Check out previews for both shows below:

I Only Want to Be in Your Record Collection

If it is possible to invent music that is actually forty years old, then Mark Ronson invented the Motown sound for a new generation by hooking up with Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen and the brass section from the Dap Kings. His sound launched a new genre of retro leaning British singers including ADELE, Duffy, and most recently The Like. Which makes listening to his latest album a bit jarring.

On Record Collection there is nary a horn on the album. Instead Ronson jumps ahead two decades to the eighties with a synthesizer heavy album and even recruits eighties refugees Boy George and Simon Le Bon to sing on the album. It takes a listen or two to Record Collection just to get adjusted to the new sound which doesn’t quite reinvent a genre much like his work with The Dap Kings did.

Unlike his previous album, Version, which relied heavily on reworking cover songs ranging from Ryan Adams to Britney Spears (featuring Ol' Dirty Bastard, no, seriously), Record Collection is made up entirely of new songs mostly written by Ronson collaborator Alex Greenwalk of Phantom Planet. But much like his previous album, the songs of Record Collection live and die by the guest vocalist.

The album starts off strong enough thanks to three guest raps from Q-Tip, Ghostface Killah, and Spank Rock. Q-Tip, dependable as ever, which makes you wonder how he doesn’t get more guest turns, gets the party started on the French electric Bang, Bang, Bang with hooks provide by New York duo MNDR. Ghostface Killah brings the energy Lose It (In the End), with Greenwald on the vocals, which sounds like an electronic version a song from a western movie. The trifecta ends with The Bike Song, a weird ode to two wheel transportation by Kyle Falconer which sounds like something that belongs on Yo Gabba Gabba! before Spank Rock rescued it with an old school rap.

After that, songs on Record Collection gets more precarious, D'Angelo crawls out of obscurity when he spent most of last decade to sound like Cee Lo Green on Glass Mountain Trust. Introducing the Business is a haunting tract buoyed by London Gay Men's Chorus and Newcomer Atlanta rapper Pill who is someone to look out for. But for most of the rest of the album you just wish Ronson would have stayed with the horns as his instrument of choice.

Song to Download – Lose It (In the End)

Record Collection gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Want My Music Television vol. XCII

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Loca - Shakira featuring Dizzee Rascal



It may be time for Shakira to take a vacation because it wasn’t that long ago I was finish being underwhelmed by her last album, and by the sound of the first single off the next one, I am set to be underwhelmed once again. But is nice to see Dizzee Rascal get some work on a mainstream artist’s track.


Mama's Song - Carrie Underwood



Carrie Underwood has sang some overlycheesy songs in her short career, but Mama’s songs make take the prize for her cheesiest yet.


White Knuckles - OK Go



Here is yet another awesome OK Go video (now with 100% more dog) set to another mediocre at best songs.


Obsession - Sky Ferreira



I have no idea who Sky Ferreira is, she seems to be some sort of cross Avril Lavinge and the creepy chick from Gossip Girl who thinks she is Courtney Love. Whoever she is she gets points for the Reservoir Dogs reference, which I guestimate a movie that may actually be older than she is, even getting Mr. Blonde himself Michael Madsen to appear.

57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. CL

Rubicon: C’mon, all the bombs go off at 4:20 EST and no one makes the easiest connection all? Of course this is the day Tanya in on her rehab assignment; she surely would have gotten it. You can download Rubicon on iTunes.

Chuck: Was that really Balki Bartokomous who showed up for half a second? The show is really going overboard with their guest stars. This week The Hulk, a Victoria’s Secret model (okay, I do not have much problem with that), and the Old Spice guy. There are even recycling them next week with the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Nicole Richie and whoever Greta will be that week. I am all for bringing familiar faces, but it is beginning to be too much. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.

How I Met Your Mother: So how exacklt did Barney talk everyone in to helping him move out his mother? But anyway. I am totally on the underselling things. Just set the bar so low that you can walk over it. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Event: I may already be off the bandwagon. When the skevvy hairy dude was killed off I wondered to myself was he a pawn used by the ht brunette, how was he chosen. Then realized that his death will be the end of it and I doubt we will ever hear from him again and will just go down as a red herring. And of course my biggest complaint about Lost is that 90% turned out to be red herring.. I don’t expect every loose end to be tied up, but I am disappointed that I am already resigned to not getting an answer to the show.

In none disappointing news, I was totally right about the alien angle and that Sophia’s buddies were the ones that diverted the plane. What I didn’t see coming was the one CIA agent was an alien all along as seen in the graphic vein removal scene. Which begs the question, who is the hot brunette and who is she working for? You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Event on iTunes.

Castle: If there is one thing I learned from Lost (besides never end a series in a church) is that I really hate the argument between fate an free will. And as fun as having a psychic possibly predicting her own death, I treally6 disliked Castle and Beckett debating for and against back and forth. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes

Parenthood: Wow, Sarah’s really getting around, first she flirts with the boss and now a warehouse worker. You know this cannot end well for her, but the question is will she bring her brother down with her. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Survivor: Nicaragua: I couldn’t watch this episode live and managed to go most of Thursday without being spoiled, avoiding websites that cover the show, starting conversations by saying I missed it and the such. But of course this was the week Jimmy Johnson gets voted off and I get spoiled by PTI when they wish a Happy Tails to the former football coach. Hurnph. And on a side note, can please go back to separate Reward and Immunity challenges please? You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Modern Family: The correlation between how much the families interact and how funny an episode hold up again as this was much funnier than last week mostly thanks to Al Bundy slapping the evil out of the chickens. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.



Terriers: So the person living in Hank’s attic is his crazy sister (played by Donal Louge’s real twin sister). Didn’t see that one coming. And Hank and his partner just seem to continue to fail upward uncovering big and bigger fish in some weird conspiracy. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Terriers on iTunes

The Big Bang Theory: I really hate it when the show dips into my own personal life for storylines. Not only am I as limber as Sheldon, I have been preparing for the Singularity also. And yes this is a real thing but by estimates, as long as we make it to seventy, we might be able to make it as long as we stay away from any rogue badgers.

Community: Annie and chloroform may be the greatest gag this show has ever down. Yes even funnier than anything in the paintball episode even if I knew it was coming once Abed pulled it out of his caper bag. You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

Best of the Week vol. XLVI

Quote of the Week: I want to rub my brain with Purell. (Annie, Community)

Song of the Week: Stand by Me – Ben E King (as sung by Ben Vereen, Wayne Brady and Barney, How I Met Your Mother)

Big News of the Week: Lone Star First to Go: In one of the least shocking news items of the week, Fox was quick to cancel a the most critically acclaimed new shows of the season, which is the very reason I haven’t bothered to watch anything on the network since the series finale of Arrested Development. With Outlaw, The Whole Truth, My Generation (Scooter's Update: My Generation joined Lone Star in the two episodes and canceled club when ABC officially canceled the show yesterday) and Undercovers also hovering just above the CW median average, Lone Star may have some company before we celebrate Thanksgiving. For other quickly axed shows, head over to The Daily Beast where they countdown 10 Most Quickly Axed Shows of the Last 10 Years. Anyone remember The Will?

Links of the Week

- For other thoughts on the new fall season, head over to The New Yorker.

- Fans of The Glades, stars Matt Passmore and Kiele Sanchez will be hosting an online viewing party during the final episode. Head over to Facebook to RSVP.

- New episode of Eastbound and Down airs tomorrow and for those that cannot wait that long can download the Kenny Powers’ Home Run Fiesta: Deep Inside Mexico app for the low, low price of free in all its 8-bit glory.

- In other HBO news, their latest documentary premieres Monday at 9:00. Sins of My Father features interviews with Sebastian Marroquin (formerly Juan Pablo Escobar) and his mother, Maria Victoria, and never-before-revealed home movies, photographs and audio recordings from the Escobar family archive.

- The new season of Don’t Forget the Lyrics premieres Tuesday on My Network TV and will feature the Backstreet Boys. No, contestants will not try to remember the next line of I Want it That Way; Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, AJ McLean and Nick Carter will be playing the game to raise money for UNICEF.

Lastly, here is something every straight dude can agree with: Glee Sucks.

Gratuitous Token Hot Chick Picture of the Week:



Free Download of the Week: Pilot - No Ordinary Family, Season 1 (iTunes): If you missed the season premiere, or just want to have for prosperity, here is your chance. Also, you can check out my preview of No Ordinary Family.

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5 Each (Amazon MP3) This deal includes albums by Gnarls Barkley, Spoon, John Mellencamp, and Duran Duran.



Video of the Week: The Roots recently teamed up with John Legend for an album of soul covers and naturally promoted the release on Late Night. Since they are the house band, they got to perform a ten minute epic of the Bill Withers song I Can’t Write Left Handed. And as a bonus treat, another live performce by the two of the Arcade Fire song, Wake Up (not to be confused with the title track off their album Wake Up!).





Next Week Pick of the Week: The Challenge: Cutthroat, Wednesday at 10:00 on MTV: The promos have made it a little ambiguous of what “Cutthroat” will differ from other Challenges, aside from being three teams this time around. The season will see the return of CT who is conspicuously missing from the original cast list which probably someone will be kicked off before there is even a challenge, which is something CT knows a lot about.

Betty Ford, oh, Won’t You be My Valentine

Throughout the nineties artist tried to marry rock with electronic music, even Eric Clapton devoted an album to attempted genre mashing (check out Pilgrim) to little effect, but no one made that merger as successful until David Gray came around. Babylon was a folksy song that was easy to sing along with, but underneath was a beat that sounded like a rap beat stripped of its bassline.

Once you listened to the album that Babylon was found on, this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame, White Ladder, you found more of the same. Where Babylon took the acoustic guitar route, Please Forgive Me when with a driving piano line to go along with the frantic electric percussion track before a head bob-along-bass part gets added to the second verse.

The marriage of folk and electric is most notable on drug fuel We’re Not Right which mixes advanced towards former first ladies and bouncing computer blips and booms. That’s not to says Gray fully rests on the gimmick, even if he still remains one of the few that can successfully make eclectic folk. The stand out track on White Ladder (which recently ranked as number 18 on The 100 Greatest Albums of the 00’s) is the a track that only features his voice and a piano, This Year’s Love, a sweeping ballad that deserves air time at every prom and wedding reception until the end of time.

Gray could also do a stripped down guitar song as heard on the album closer, an acoustic reworking of Soft Cell’s Say Hello, Wave Goodbye. No, seriously, Soft Cell had a song not called Tainted Love and Gray took the new wave, very eighties sounding song and turned it into a reflective, acoustic nine minute gem and fitting end to a classic album.

Breaking Down the 100 Greatest Albums of the 00’s

Some say we will look back at the 00’s as the decade when the full length album died, and for the most part they will be right. Sure albums will never go away as long as there are people stupid enough to plop down ten dollars for an album with only a good song or two. But the album as an event has long passed. In this instant gratification day and age, we just want to get to the three minutes of musical joy instead of having to spend a whole album digesting an album. I cannot remember one album I sat around with a bunch of friends last decade dissecting it with friends like I did back in the ninties (granted this may be an age thing).

So my list of the 100 Greatest Albums of the 00’s is less about a cohesive album (which there were very few of in the 00’s) than just a collection of twelve good to great songs. I’m sure there can be griping of albums I left out, but when compiling a list of albums for consideration, I only included albums I actual spent money on (or had someone else buy for me, with the obvious exception of two albums on the list), and when it comes down to it, if I didn’t even bother to drop ten dollars (or even less at discount prices), it is not something worthy of my list anyway. Here is how my list broke down by the numbers.

Artists with Multiple Albums
Dave Matthews (Band) – 5
Jack Johnson – 4
John Mayer (Trio) – 4
Ryan Adams (and the Cardinals) - 4
Alicia Keys – 3
Coldplay – 3
Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley) – 3
Kanye West – 3
Michelle Branch (The Wreckers) – 3
The Roots – 3
U2 - 3

Albums by Year
2000 – 6
2001 – 12
2002 – 11
2003 – 8
2004 – 9
2005 – 12
2006 – 8
2007 – 10
2008 – 14
2009 – 10

Albums by Genre
Rock - 19
Rap - 15
Alternative – 14
Pop - 13
Adult Contemporary – 11
RnB - 9
Folk - 8
Country - 5
Blues - 3
Hard Rock - 3

The 100 Greatest Albums of the 00's

1. The College Dropout - Kanye West

2. A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay

3. Continuum - John Mayer

4. The Rising - Bruce Springsteen

5. The Spirit Room - Michelle Branch

6. The Grey Album - Danger Mouse

7. The Lillywhite Sessions - Dave Matthews Band

8. Gold - Ryan Adams

9. Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King - Dave Matthews Band

10. Wreck of the Day - Anna Nalick

11. Final Straw - Snow Patrol

12. Only By the Night - Kings of Leon

13. Bible Belt - Diane Birch

14. American IV: Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash

15. I and Love and You - The Avett Brothers

16. Back to Black - Amy Winehouse

17. Heavier Things - John Mayer

18. White Ladder - David Gray

19. Hot Fuss - The Killers

20. Room for Squares - John Mayer

21. Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends - Coldplay

22. Plans - Death Cab for Cutie

23. Magic - Bruce Springsteen

24. All That You Can't Leave Behind - U2

25. Eye to the Telescope - KT Tunstall

26. On and On - Jack Johnson

27. Cardinology - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals

28. White Blood Cells - The White Stripes

29. Attack & Release - The Black Keys

30. The Renaissance - Q-Tip

31. Parachutes - Coldplay

32. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - U2

33. Late Registration - Kanye West

34. Bleed American - Jimmy Eat World

35. Alright, Still - Lily Allen

36. Musicforthemorningafter - Pete Yorn

37. As I Am - Alicia Keys

38. Songs About Jane - Maroon 5

39. Hotel Paper - Michelle Branch

40. Whoa, Nelly! - Nelly Furtado

41. Tell 'Em What Your Name Is! - Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

42. Heartbreaker - Ryan Adams

43. Get Rich or Die Tryin' - 50 Cent

44. Stand Still, Look Pretty - The Wreckers

45. The Odd Couple - Gnarls Barkley

46. Narrow Stairs - Death Cab for Cutie

47. Extraordinary Machine - Fiona Apple

48. Get Lifted - John Legend

49. A New Day at Midnight - David Gray

50. Brushfire Fairytales - Jack Johnson

51. The Diary of Alicia Keys - Alicia Keys

52. Audioslave - Audioslave

53. Graduation - Kanye West

54. In Between Dreams - Jack Johnson

55. Phrenology - The Roots

56. Fearless - Taylor Swift

57. O - Damien Rice

58. Love, Save the Empty - Erin McCarley

59. Stand Up - Dave Matthews Band

60. Songs In A Minor - Alicia Keys

61. Easy Tiger - Ryan Adams

62. The Way I See It - Raphael Saadiq

63. Room Noises - Eisley

64. Twenty Three - Tristan Prettyman

65. Songs for Silverman - Ben Folds

66. Taking the Long Way - Dixie Chicks

67. Closer - Better Than Ezra

68. Busted Stuff - Dave Matthews Band

69. Eyes Open - Snow Patrol

70. Be Not Nobody - Vanessa Carlton

71. Hello - Tristan Prettyman

72. Emotionalism - The Avett Brothers

73. Some Devil - Dave Matthews

74. Riding With the King - B.B. King & Eric Clapton

75. Game Theory - The Roots

76. Kamaal the Abstract - Q-Tip

77. St. Elsewhere - Gnarls Barkley

78. Musicology - Prince

79. To the 5 Boroughs - Beastie Boys

80. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Spoon

81. The Blueprint - Jay-Z

82. Afterglow - Sarah McLachlan

83. Stillmatic - Nas

84. Me and Mr. Johnson - Eric Clapton

85. Sleep Through the Static - Jack Johnson

86. Try! - Live In Concert - John Mayer Trio

87. Be - Common

88. This Is the Life - Amy Macdonald

89. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

90. Before the Robots - Better Than Ezra

91. No Line On the Horizon - U2

92. The Fall - Norah Jones

93. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys

94. Shaman - Santana

95. Rising Down - The Roots

96. Taylor Swift - Taylor Swift

97. Amanda Leigh - Mandy Moore

98. Troubadour - K'naan

99. Back to Then - Darius Rucker

100. Little Voice - Sara Bareilles

Previewing No Ordinary Family

No Ordinary Family is the most shocking new show of the fall season. It is shocking in that it doesn’t try to be shocking at all. Every year for the past decade we have seen shows try to push the limits of what they can get away with in primetime that networks haven’t placed a family friendly program on their schedule since the heyday of ABC’s TGIF. No Ordinary Family is so safe, ABC could simulcast the show on its sister station Disney Channel.

Disney is a good reference point because you cannot write a review of No Ordinary Family without mentioning The Incredibles, the Pixar movie about a family of superheroes living in suburbia. In the live action version we get Michael Chiklis (Fantastic Four) as the super strong dad. Mom is played by Julie Benz (Angel) who can run really fast. Kay Panabaker (Nancy Drew) can read others’ thoughts while her brother Jimmy Bennett (Star Trek) who can, well; I am not entirely sure what h can do. But like every good superhero story, the blessing of superpowers can also be a curse. Chiklis realizes his mortality; Benz has to feed refuel to keep up with all the calories she burns by running a mile a second; Panabaker learns, much like Buffy Summers before her, that telepathy is not all what it is cracked up to be; and Bennett, well, I am still not sure what he does.

Yet the most entertaining characters of No Ordinary Family are the sidekick. Romany Malco (Too Legit: The MC Hammer Story) gets all the best lines as Chiklis’ buddy who he enlists to see what he can and cannot do. While Autumn Reeser (Lost Boys: The Tribe) is the frantic assistant to Benz whom she confides in about her new found power. No sidekicks for the children yet, hopefully that means they die a horrible death because they are beyond annoying in the first episode. Hopefully they bite the big one and focus on the adults or the superpowers give them an attitude adjustment because they are really dragging down the watchability of the show.

What is conspicuously missing from the first episode is that of a big bad. Hopefully someone (or something) arises because what are superheroes without nemesis(‘s-eses)? A twist at the end gives me hope there might be one.

No Ordinary Family airs Tuesdays at 8:00 on ABC. You will be able to steam episodes on Hulu. You will also be able to download No Ordinary Family on iTunes.