Watercooler: Lucy Lawless is No Ordinary Guest Star
Lucy Lawless, No Ordinary Family
You know what the opposite of super is? When a show that's on the bubble scores a fierce guest star and utterly wastes her. Kind of like No Ordinary Family did last night.
When news broke that the live-action answer to The Incredibles had locked in Lucy Lawless for a four-episode arc, we were all like "our hero!" Not that the show is The Cape-bad — it's actually quite fun, despite two charmless kid characters — it's just that nobody is watching. You'd need Clark Kent's hearing to pick up any buzz on this one. So the hope was that maybe the flawless Lawless' stint as Mrs. X could save NOF from its villainous ratings and bring some heat to the Powells' home.
And she probably could... if the writers actually used her. But sadly, in her second episode (three weeks after debuting), the Spartacus star was seen in all of four brief scenes, and none with the regular cast. Stunty musical guest Sara Bareilles got more airtime and she doesn't even have powers! And while, yes, we did finally get some info on her mysterious character's role at Global Tech, it's probably a lost cause to start caring now: Lawless' next episode has been bumped to this Saturday's Siberia and her season-finale appearance is sure to be the show's last gasp, as well. Which is a shame, because we love Lucy. It would have been cool if Family had done something out of the ordinary with her.
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