Pilot season: Michael Chiklis joins ABC's 'Family'

"The Shield" star Michael Chiklis is moving back to broadcast television with a lead role in ABC's drama pilot "No Ordinary Family."

Chiklis, who starred in "The Commish" and "Daddio" for ABC in the 1990s, will play the father of a family that's discovering it has special powers. He'll also be a co-executive producer of the pilot, the showbiz trade papers report.

"No Ordinary Family" comes from Greg Berlanti ("Brothers & Sisters") and Jon Harmon Feldman ("Big Shots"), who worked together on "Dirty Sexy Money."

Chiklis has previously played a superhero in the "Fantastic Four" movies. We're going ahead and assuming he won't be turned into a rock-man like The Thing in "No Ordinary Family."

In other pilot casting news:

- "Friday Night Lights" star Zach Gilford has signed on to ABC's legal drama "Matadors," which centers on a feud between two families of lawyers. He will play a third-generation defense attorney at a prestigious firm, according to The Hollywood Reporter. (Gilford has been playing much younger than his actual age, 28, on "FNL.")

He's the first person to join the cast, which will also feature a family that works in the state's attorney's office. Jack Orman ("ER") created the show.

- Jason Ritter ("The Class") will witness "The Event" at NBC. He'll star in the drama pilot as a man who finds himself caught up in a web of conspiracy, the HR says. Nick Wauters ("Eureka," "The 4400") wrote the pilot.

Ritter guest-starred on NBC's "Mercy" earlier this season. His other credits include "W." and "Joan of Arcadia."

- Elsewhere, Laura Benanti ("Eli Stone") will play the lead role in CBS' comedy "Open Books"; Todd Williams ("In Plain Sight") has joined the FOX cop show "Ridealong"; and Aisha Hinds ("True Blood") will play a police lieutenant in ABC's "187 Detroit."

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Photo credit: FX