TCA: Chiklis muscles up, again, for Family

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Vic Mackey didn’t need superhero powers to scare the bejesus out of villains on “The Shield,” but he’ll take all the help he can get in “No Ordinary Family.”Michael-chiklis-2

TCA panel discussion hit upon the level of violence the new ABC drama will offer compared to what “The Shield” delivered, and Chiklis, whose gone the superhero route in “The Fantastic Four” film, reiterated “Family” – despite the bad guys getting the worst of it – would be more than mollified for primetime broadcast standards.

“If you want to see some violence, watch my previous show. If you compare that to the violence in this show, there’s quite a chasm there,” he said.

Chiklis’ turn as Mackey impressed many showrunners and several sent the actor scripts once they heard he was looking to get back into television. He was upfront about reaching an audience that never saw “The Shield” or was turned off by its violence.

“I had an opportunity to do something that had mass appeal,” he explained. “I want to entertain people — 8, 18 or 80 (years old) appealed to me.”

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Though he likely won’t be filling an executive’s seat at a network in the near future, he understands the challenge of the broadcast business and, standing from the FX sidelines for so many years, can see how cable is dominating on the storytelling side.

“Cable is the purview of hard-hitting adult drama,” he explained. “Aside from procedurals, reality TV and sports, what are the networks to do? We have a challenge to do what was formally a bigscreen event on the small screen.”

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