TV Guide's new list of "bubble shows" --programs that are likely to be canceled unless their networks find a really good reason to keep them--is only the latest media voice to aver what all suspect: that No Ordinary Family, the superhero series starring Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz, is dead in the water.

The piece is set up in a good news/bad news format for each show, and situation is so dire for Family that TVG writers Adam Bryant and Denise Martin dropped the bomb in the show's good news section: which is to say, there ain't any good news. "We're not going to lie," they admitted. "This show is a goner."

For weeks now everyone has been saying the same thing, but ABC, still configuring its fall schedule, has kept mum. "I expect it will be canceled," agreed Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, citing in particular ABC's sudden time-slot change to 10 p.m. Saturday nights near the end of its run--a death slot for a light, family-friendly fantasy. Not only did the time slot change signal the network's collapse in confidence in the show--after it had already shorted its initial order, the first sign of its disdain--but it guaranteed that Family's season finale wouldn't have a chance to generate an eleventh-hour viewing surge that might tip the scales toward renewal, as occasionally happens with shows with marginal ratings.

(That finale, content wise, had both pluses and minuses: on the one hand, the creation of 80 new supervillains created a particularly formidable threat for the family, and the final fight with Dr. King was well handled. On the other hand, there that cheesy last line--"Your government needs you." Cue eye roll.)

TV by the Numbers, crunching the latest ratings, likewise places No Ordinary Family and NBC's The Event in its "certain to be canceled" category. Both shows come out lower in their renew/cancel index than The Cape, which NBC all but canceled in February.

What happened with Family? Despite a strong cast, including two well-liked leads, and decent writing the show generated no buzz in the press and no traction among viewers. It's not that everyone decided the show was awful (some, like me, thought it was charming, and had great potential); it's that no one watched it in the first place, even when it was on Tuesdays--where it faced off against major hits with established audiences: Glee, NCIS, and One Tree Hill.

Also on the bubble list: NBC's Chuck, which is apparently in even more danger than ever, and ABC's V, both of which are on this year's schedule only because of a last-minute reprieve last year. V did, at least, have a strong finale, but its viewership was cataclysmically down from the series premiere in 2009, a measure network execs pay even more attention to that the actual ratings numbers themselves.

As is inevitably mentioned in the gloom and doom coverage of No Ordinary Family, both stars signed on for pilots for the fall season that were contingent on the cancellation of Family. That does mean that both Chiklis and Benz will be available should Family somehow survive--but it also means that no one, least of all its stars, expect it to.

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I have to admit I've been putting off writing this: Elisabeth Sladen, one of the best-loved figures in Doctor Who, has died of cancer at the age of 63. The news comes only two months after word of the death of Sladen's costar and friend, Nicholas Courtney.

Sladen played Sarah Jane Smith, who joined Doctor Who in 1974 as the last of Jon Pertwee's three companions and who stayed on into the Tom Baker era. During her original run she logged 18 serials before she departed in 1976. Some of her stories ranked among the most memorable in classic Who, including her debut, "The Time Warrior"; "The Ark in Space"; "Genesis of the Daleks"; "The Pyramids of Mars"; and "The Masque of Mandragora."

Popular during her tenure as a regular, she was even more so after, her winning disposition and commitment to supporting the program even after she'd left it winning ardent fans among both viewers and the show's cast and crew. A small indication of the special place she held was her prominence in the twentieth-anniversary special, The Five Doctors, in which Sarah Jane (thanks in part to a last-minute reshuffling caused by Tom Baker's withdrawal) was the only ex-companion shown being specially picked up by the time scoop.

Sarah Jane's fan base was strong enough to bring her onto the revived show in a second-season episode ("School Reunion") despite Russell T. Davies's desire to limit overt tributes to the classic series. "School Reunion," in turn, was so well received that Sarah Jane was given her own show, the younger-audience-oriented Sarah Jane Adventures, which has run for successful four seasons (filming for three episodes for season 5 was completed before Sladen's death). Read More...

MOVIES--Opening this week:

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (2011)
"No Pulse? No Problem." Though the original story is an Italian graphic novel set in London, New Orleans seems like the ideal locale for a p.i. whose clients consist of the supernatural and undead. Brandon Routh's seldom-seen penchant for wry sarcasm is a good fit for the material--especially matched with his Superman Returns costar Sam Huntington (replacing a character called Groucho from the comics) and the always reliable Peter Stormare. Fans of the comic may be distracted by the Hollywoodification toward action-adventure: the director is Kevin Munroe, whose last film as a writer/director is TMNT (2007); but the main cause for concern is the screenwriting team's two previous credits, both huge flops: A Sound of Thunder and Sahara. Check out the clips and trailers on the video page for a closer look. More details below the jump.
Trailers, clips, and video. Image Gallery.

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HOME VIDEO--Out on DVD and Blu-Ray this week:

The Neverending Story III: Escape from Fantasia (1994)
All you need to know (and more) about this third film in a decidedly rocky franchise you can find in Michael Novelli's excellent recap, but suffice to say that this installment--starring Jason James Richter (Free Willy) and a very young and embarrassed Jack Black as the real world villain Slip--has even less to do with Michael Ende's novel than the previous two films.
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Mongolian Death Worm (2010)
Sean Patrick Flannery (The Dead Zone, Boondock Saints) sleepwalks through another Syfy channel Saturday Night Not-So-Special, this time featuring that favorite of cryptozoologists, giant worms that roar when they attack. Providing equally listless support is Victoria Pratt (Mutant X) and Drew Waters (Wade from Friday Night Lights)--remember them?
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