Michael Chiklis is one of those very lucky actors who has had success leading multiple television series over the years. In the 1990′s, he played a young police commissioner on The Commish. Then, in the past decade, he starred in FX’s gritty and critically acclaimed The Shield. He’s starred in two Fantastic Four films and now he might be headed for Hit #3 with ABC’s new super-powered family drama No Ordinary Family.

Following a successful NOF panel at the Comic-Con International in San Diego, Chiklis, Julie Benz, and the show’s producers took the time to do press roundtables, and KSiteTV was one of those outlets that was able to speak with him. The Benz interview can be found here and the Chiklis interview can be found below.

Please do not duplicate this interview onto other websites. Instead, just link to KSiteTV! Thanks! Questions are in bold; answers are not.

Can you talk about what it’s like to be a superhero again?

It’s funny. I’ve gotten that a handful of times now. “A superhero again.” Whereas as an industry, we’re on cop show #557,000. And everybody’s like “oh, another cop show.” But I can only think of one other superhero genre television show in the last 20 years. People are like “Again?” I just that it’s a huge genre. There is so much room for it to grow. Look at Comic-Con. It’s growing like Vegas. People love the genre, and there are so many possibilities, and it’s something that captures peoples’ imaginations. It’s exciting. So I’m really happy to be doing a show that melds genres. It is at its core a family show wrapped in a police procedural, wrapped in a superhero genre.

So it’s not like Vic Mackey with powers?

No. Not at all. This guy’s not Vic Mackey at all. This guy is heroic in spirit, and he’s a good man. There’s no ambivalence about that. He is an ordinary guy. He’s very much an everyman, and something extraordinary happens to him and his family. It’s parents who have superpowers, and that’s a well-made and entertaining show. You add the superpower element to it, and it just heightens all of the different questions we can ask.

Did you want something lighter after playing Vic for so long?

I suppose if the miracle occurred where a script came across my desk that was as brilliantly well-written as The Shield was, in a totally different world, with a character as well-defined as Vic Mackey, I would have jumped on it. But that’s the kind of character you really don’t ever get to play in a lifetime. So, yeah. I’m always on the lookout for something like that, but in the absence of something that good, from a hardcore drama perspective, I really wanted to do something that was decidedly lighter, that had a much broader appeal. Because let’s face it: The Shield wasn’t for everybody. It just wasn’t. My 11 year old was starting to doubt that I was an actor at all. So, the short answer is yes. I wanted to do something that is lighter and more palatable for a larger audience. But at the same time, I feel like my family itself is sort of a microcosm of America, in that you have my wife, myself, my 16 year old, and my 11 year old, and we all go and watch our niche programming, but once in a while something comes along that we can all watch together and all dig on, and that’s what I was looking for. Something that I could sit down with my whole family, and I would enjoy as much as my 11 year old, my 16 year old, and my wife. That’s a rare thing, where it’s universal and everybody can dig on it. Often times I’ll sit with my 11 year old and survive through something she wants to watch, and often she can’t watch what I’m watching, so this is something that really has that broad deal, where everybody will really dig it.

In the pilot it is explained that your character is invulnerable, but then he attempts to fly. Is that a logical thing to assume, that you can fly even though your powers have given no indication of that?

That was my friend [George, played by Romany Malco]. It wasn’t me! I was telling him I couldn’t fly. I told him I couldn’t do it. He was just convinced, saying “If you could do this, you probably could fly. Go ahead. Try it.” And he talked me into it, because he’s a lawyer, and he’s good at talking people into stuff, and I jumped, and it didn’t work.

Would super-strength be your first choice of power if you could really have one?

Yeah, it really always has been. I don’t know why. Sometimes you often feel very vulnerable in the world, and I guess there’s something really appealing about the idea of being invulnerable.

No Ordinary Family premieres Tuesday, September 28 on ABC. You can read more information about the show here on KSiteTV! Thanks to Michael Chiklis for taking the time to participate in this roundtable discussion!

Julie Benz today Tweeted a photo with herself and actress Julia Campbell, saying the following:

Working with the lovely julia campbell… Recognize her from Dexter??

Campbell, a veteran of Dexter, might also be familiar to audiences for her appearances on many other series in recent years, including Michael Chiklis’ The Shield. A credit on her resume that should take viewers way back was that she was on the early FOX series Women in Prison.

No confirmation yet on who Campbell will be playing, but considering the timing the role of rival mom “Nina Claremont” might be likely.

Julie Benz is no stranger to good television. Not too long ago she played a memorable role on Showtime’s Dexter, and before that she took what initially seemed to be a small role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and expanded it into something great on the Buffy spin-off Angel. Me, I remember her as “Babs Nielsen” on Hi Honey I’m Home, but there are probably not a lot of people who remember that.

KSiteTV’s Craig Byrne was fortunate enough to get the chance to participate in roundtable discussions with the cast and producers of ABC’s upcoming family super-hero drama No Ordinary Family at the Comic-Con International in San Diego. The interview follows, and at interview’s end, you can see the trailer for this highly-anticipated series.

Please do not duplicate this interview onto other websites. Instead, just link to KSiteTV! Thanks! Questions are in bold; answers are not.

What was it that attracted you to the role of Stephanie Powell on No Ordinary Family?

For me, I wanted to find a character that was the exact opposite of Rita [from Dexter], and I got lucky when I found Stephanie. She really is the exact opposite. She’s a much more active character. She’s a very career-oriented Type A personality. I was an athlete growing up and I love to be physically challenged, and having done quite a few action films, I love being challenged that way on set, and doing all that kind of adrenaline-rush stuff. I hope I get to do more of it on our show.

Did you have any hesitation taking on another TV series so soon?

There was absolutely no hesitation. I feel so damn lucky. [laughs] Someone asked me if I had thought about taking a break, and I’m like “I don’t think actors think about taking breaks,” because self-imposed breaks are put on you. When works come in, you take work, and I’m a full believer of when work is flowing, you take it. You don’t go “I’m going to take a break,” because trust me, in five years, somebody will be telling me to take a break. So, no. I love working in television. I love doing films too, but I really love working in television. I love the family that’s created on a long-running show. I love working with the same crew. I love knowing I’m going to work every day. It’s a way of having security in a world that very little security exists as an actor, and I love that. And I love that you’re going into peoples’ homes on a regular basis. They’re letting you into their house through the television, and it is a whole different experience, and I love being a part of that creation.

What kind of genre or category does No Ordinary Family fall into?

Well, I think what you see first in the show is the family drama that exists in families naturally, and then all of the sudden they have these super-abilities put on them. I describe the show as The Incredibles meets Heroes with some Brothers & Sisters thrown into it, and it really is that. The base of the show is very much like Brothers & Sisters, which is very much a family drama, and then the super powers are put on top of that. I think we’ve all wanted to have a super-ability at some point or another. We all fantasize about being able to have super-speed, or super-strength, or being able to read minds. I’d like to read all of your minds right now.

How much of your character’s backstory have you been clued in on?

Absolutely nothing, because I’ll tell. [laughs]

What have you figured out for yourself?

I think Stephanie’s such a well-written character that it was just really easy for me to step in and bring her to life. I don’t know, but sometimes when it’s the right marriage of actor and character that just happens. And then working with Michael [Chiklis] – we just have a great chemistry together. There’s a natural rapport that we have on set. I met him ten years ago socially, so I think that helped, too.

Was this your first time working with him?

This was my first time working with him, yes. But my ex-husband had done a movie with him a couple of years ago, and I met him then.

Could you tell about the actors that make up Stephanie’s family?

Yes. Kay Panabaker and Jimmy Bennett, they play our kids, and they’re wonderful kids. Kay’s been around forever, and so has Jimmy. They’ve done more work than all of us put together. They’re really, extremely talented. I’m almost blown away by Kay, and her work, there’s a rawness to it. There’s nothing forced that comes out of her.

You’ve done some really dark series, like Angel and Dexter. What’s it like to lighten up this time with this show?

It’s fun. I got my start in comedy 20 years ago, and I really thought that’s all I was going to do, was comedy, and then my life changed when I took on playing Darla on Buffy and Angel, and then I get thought of as a dramatic actress, and it changed even more because of Rita. So for me to kind of go back to my roots and do something lighter… it’s really a hybrid show, because there is a sense of drama on the show, but then there’s also obvious comedy that comes out of it. It’s, for me, just a perfect marriage of genres, and a perfect time of my life where I really tackle all of it. I’m ready to explore of a lighter side. I don’t feel I need to be all tortured anymore.

Right after Dexter you had a role on Desperate Housewives. Can you talk about that?

Oh, that was a wonderful bridge. Playing Robin was just a gift. I got offered the role the day after the Dexter finale aired, and I couldn’t believe it. I was like “Really?” I had been such a fan of the show for so long, and to finally be on Wisteria Lane and play a lesbian stripper at my age? I mean, I was like “Okay! Sure!” And to go on and then play a character that wasn’t going in to wreck someone’s marriage, or wasn’t going in to steal someone’s husband… I went in and fell in love with one of the women on the show, and that hadn’t been done before. It was really cool, and it’s also how I met with ABC, and how all of this kind of came about. It just was very serendipitous how it all happened. I mean, if you told me when I was going to take a bloodbath and my job ended, that I’d end up here, I would have told you you were all high.

In the pilot, your characters tell your best friends about your superpowers. Usually in the comics when that happens, those people are in danger. So why should they tell them?

I think for dramatic effect, that they need to know. Michael told his best friend; I told my assistant, as someone who has a scientific brain, who could help me research because I can’t do the research on my own. So, Katie’s there to help me figure out what’s going on, and Autumn Reeser is fantastic in the role.

No Ordinary Family premieres Tuesday, September 28 on ABC. You can read more information about the show here on KSiteTV! Thanks to Julie Benz for taking the time to participate in this roundtable discussion!

Here are some minor spoilers for the third episode of No Ordinary Family, which premieres in late September on ABC.

Read the full story

At ABC’s No Ordinary Family booth at Comic-Con, and on their connected website where fans can see photos of themselves lifting a car, they’ve been showing off this new logo and cast image for the series. Check it out!

Here are two new promos for No Ordinary Family, premiering September 29 on ABC:

For more on the show look around KSiteTV!

ABC has released more images from their new family-superhero drama No Ordinary Family, which premieres Sept. 29 on the network.

Take a look at the new images!

EW’s Michael Ausiello is reporting that Josh Stewart (Criminal Minds) has joined the cast of No Ordinary Family as a mysterious character known as The Watcher. No relation to Uatu or Giles. The character sounds like he could be a danger to the Powell family of the series.

The role will be another series regular in an already-large cast.

For more on No Ordinary Family, check out KSiteTV’s NOF section.

Chuck writer Ali Adler is jumping over to ABC where she’ll be a writer and co-executive producer on No Ordinary Family.

Adler confirmed this news wayyy back in May on Twitter but apparently it’s taken us this long to catch on. Oops!

You can read more about the superhero family drama here.

One-time Star Trek crewmember and 7th Heaven dad Stephen Collins has joined the cast of ABC’s upcoming super-family series No Ordinary Family, THR has revealed.

Collins will be playing the boss to Julie Benz’s character, and the role will be a series regular.

No Ordinary Family premieres Tuesdays this Fall on ABC.