March 14, 2011

Fans of "No Ordinary Family" should probably prepare themselves for the fact that next month's season closer will also be its series finale. It's been a tough run for the freshman ABC drama since it debuted last September. Being slotted in Tuesday nights against some pretty steep competition, the show has always struggled to find a wide audience. And while there is no official word from ABC on the superhero series' future, all signs point to cancellation for the show.

Let's first have a look at the ratings. The show premiered decently enough with a 3.2 rating in the key adults 18-49 demographic, but quickly dropped off over the course of the season to a point where its most recent episode earned a 1.2 - far less than half of what it debuted with. That rating alone would be enough to limit the show's chances for renewal.

Then late last month, news broke that ABC had trimmed the number of episodes for the show's first season by two.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the series' two lead stars have recently signed on to new fall pilot shows on another network. Michael Chiklis has booked a role on a new CBS comedy pilot called "Vince Uncensored", while co-star Julie Benz has joined an untitled CBS supernatural medical drama. In both cases the stars' new projects are in second position to No Ordinary Family, meaning the superhero drama has priority should it be renewed. It should be noted, however, that stars of returning shows don't typically start booking other projects.

We likely won't know No Ordinary Family's fate until May, but as it stands now the show likely will not return when the Fall season starts.