As ABC made clear during its upfront presentation, its seven dramas are not created equal. No Ordinary Family, about a clan of superheroes, and My Generation, about a clan of classmates, are “event dramas†in a class above the genre shows — cop, lawyer, doctor — that fill out the rest of ABC’s schedule. But would you rather watch Michael Chiklis leap tall buildings in a single bound, or Michael Imperioli do cop talk? (You can check out ABC’s comedies here.)
In No Ordinary Family, a mom, dad, son, and daughter crash a plane into water that “had some phosphorescence.†It turns them into superheroes who can run fast, read minds, and, in dad’s case (Michael Chiklis), have the the intimidating ability to … jump really high.
My Generation has the premise of a reality show: A documentary crew filmed high-schoolers in 2000, and follows up with them ten years later to see where they are now. Still all up in each others’ business, for one thing.
Michael Imperioli headlines the cast of Detroit 1-8-7, a police show about life on the mean streets of Detroit, where even a random gutter contains three different bullet casings.
Legal drama The Whole Truth looks at each case from the defense and prosecution’s perspective. (Per ABC’s upfront yesterday, the truth will be revealed at the end.) Rob Morrow and Joely Richardson both star, but she’s being recast, which is why you won’t see her below.
Dana Delaney stars in Body of Proof as the only kind of medical examiner that exists on television: brilliant, obnoxious, and tortured.
Off the Map, or Grey’s Anatomy set in the Amazon, where people, apparently, get impaled by sting-rays. Even though Grey’s has already used the tropical Candiru fish in one of its episodes, we fully expect Off the Map to explore other, Candiru-related injuries.