Take one part standard sitcom family, add in “fish out of water” and a little of goofy teen comedy and you have the new Nickelodeon show The Thundermans.

The Thundermans is “an American superhero live-action comedy television series that began airing on Nickelodeon, on October 14, 2013. The series is created by Jed Spingarn. The show revolves around a suburban family with superpowers and specifically 14-year-old twins therein, one a superhero and one a supervillain. It stars Chris Tallman, Rosa Blasi, Jack Griffo, Kira Kosarin, Addison Riecke, and Diego Velazquez.”

I was prepared to dislike the show – considering Nick’s recent onslaught of poor programming, including Wendell & Vinnie and Marvin, Marvin.  But by the fourth episode, “Report Card,” I was hooked.  I actually laughed out loud at many parts of the episode. Is it Seinfeld?  No.  But this episode had a certainly quirkiness and goofiness I loved.  Any show that has a math mascot named “Arithmo-tic” and lines like “Math Bowl?  Is that where you flush away any chance of having a social life?” is ok with me.

The show focuses on twins Max and Phoebe Thunderman.  Played with erstwhile enthusiasm by Jack Griffo and Kira Kosarin, the duo is quite believable as brother and sister.  While there’s a certain brother and sister animosity between the two, there’s also a certain amount of respect between them as well.  They may be competitive, but they care about each other as well.  Phoebe desparately wants to fit as a normal teen at Hiddenville High (“clubs and friends make school her lair”) while Max seems both bemused and bothered by people around him.  Phoebe’s career track takes her to Hero U while Max’s is to Villian U.  However, Phoebe wants a little bit of that villiany, while Max doesn’t mind playing the hero.  Griffo and Kosarin are both funny, play off each other well and have great chemistry.  They are quite believable as brother and sister.  More importantly, they clearly have not graduated from the Nick/Disney school of overacting.

The superhero slant to the show could have become overbearing.  Max and Phoebe’s use of super powers during the Math Bowl makes sense in terms of their competitive spirit.  Super powers are used to outwit the others and, in general, to advance the story.  I’m not sure, though, that Billy zipping around the kitchen after becoming his dad’s sidekick is an effective use of superheroness.

I’ll give some kudos to the opening credits as well.  The music track is spirited and engaging.  As with theme songs of yore, the lyrics nicely outline the show’s story arc.

Needs improvement: Please, no more stereotypes of smart kids as nerds.

Line of the episode: Because my report card spells “AAAAA” while yours spells “AAAA-B.”

Best scene: The final scene.  It’s totally wacky.

Check out the episode Report Card.