"The Middle" Season One Talkback (Spoilers)

**The Penguin** · #1 10-01-2009, 11:04 AM

Did anyone check out The Middle last night? It aired at 8:30 ET on ABC. You can watch the episode on ABC.com here. The series stars Emmy Award winner Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn (best known as The Janitor from Scrubs).

Forget about athletes, movie stars and politicians. Parents are the real heroes—but we think Frankie Heck (Patricia Heaton), must be some kind of superhero. A loving wife and mother of three, she's middle class in the middle of the country and is rapidly approaching middle age.

Frankie and her husband, Mike (Neil Flynn), have lived in Orson, Indiana, their whole lives. A man of few words (every one a zinger), Mike is a manager at the town quarry and Frankie is the third-best used car salesman (out of the three) at the local dealership. She may not be a high-powered career woman, but when it comes to her family, she'll go to just about any length. And with kids like these, she had better. There's Axl (Charlie McDermott), her semi-nudist teenage son conceived while under the influence of Guns N' Roses; Sue (Eden Sher), the awkward teenage daughter who fails at everything… but with the utmost of gusto; and their seven-year-old son Brick (Atticus Shaffer), whose best friend is his backpack.

Sometimes it seems like everyone is trying to get to the top, or struggling not to hit bottom, but we think Frankie and her family will find a lot of love, and a lot of laughs, somewhere in The Middle.

Last night's episode...

"Pilot" - Series Premiere
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 @ 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 CT on ABC
Sue auditions for show choir; Brick asks Frankie to come to his class presentation dressed in a costume; Frankie thinks she has finally sold a car.

ABC.com - The Middle

Brandon Pierce · #2 10-01-2009, 01:21 PM

Loved the scene where Mike (Neil Flynn) is yelling at his son. Flynn definetly broke some acting ground there.

Michael24 · #3 10-01-2009, 02:15 PM

I started watching it, but tuned out about midway through. I was really looking forward to this and Hank because I like Kelsey Grammar and Patricia Heaton, but I found both to be very disappointing. I also didn't care for the actor who played Heaton's husband, and the youngest kid got on my nerves.

Zorak Masaki · #4 10-01-2009, 03:12 PM

As i said in another thread, is it just me or was this show very reminiscent of Malcolm in the Middle, only from the Mothers perspective?

TMC1982 · #5 10-01-2009, 03:46 PM

"The Middle" is just a middling sitcom
"The Middle," says Heaher Havrilesky, "is worth watching mostly because it demonstrates the perils of lingering somewhere in the middle, whether it's between darkness and light, between subtlety and obviousness, between sharp, hilarious jokes and clumsy, mildly amusing punch lines. ABC's 'Modern Family' is the really great family sitcom to air this fall, and Fox's "Brothers" is the really bad one. Until it disregards the knee-jerk reactions of lowest-common-denominator testing audiences, 'The Middle' will remain somewhere in the middle."

"Middle" is in sync with middle America's mood // "Middle" is much better than "Hank"

Michael24 · #6 10-01-2009, 04:31 PM

^I am loving Modern Family. (Though I missed about half of it last night.) ABC looked to have a pretty good Wednesday night line-up, but of the four shows, Modern Family is the only one I've liked.

Jono11 · #7 10-01-2009, 04:58 PM

That show description is an encapsulation of everything wrong with America.

Survive · #8 10-01-2009, 05:27 PM

I really enjoyed it. I found Brick and Sue to be pretty funny though Axl didn't do much in the episode. I also thought that Frankie was pretty funny especially when she was at her job.

The jokes were kind of hit-or-miss with me though. Overall, I'll tune in next week to see if the show improves.

**The Penguin** · #9 10-01-2009, 07:35 PM

I watched this just because I didn't turn the TV off after Hank and I have to say, I rather liked it. Perhaps not the greatest show I've ever seen, but it was funny. I lived in Indiana the last four years so it was kind of neat to see for me. Orson is not a real city, but the mentioned in passing Terra Haute is.

It has a pretty good core cast and I really liked seeing Brian Doyle Murray as the owner of the car lot and Chris Kattan as Heaton's co-worker. This show could be good, I'm much more likely to watch it next week than I am the previously mentioned Hank. We'll see.

mr.happy · #10 10-02-2009, 09:08 PM

I thought this was pretty entertaining. Perhaps not quite outstanding, but it has potential, and after enduring the first episode of Hank, it was like coming up for air after spending 22 minutes submerged in raw TV sewage, and how sweet it tasted. The air, that is. The raw TV sewage not so much. It wasn't laugh-out-loud funny, but the characters were likable, and although the kids were weird, they weren't irritatingly weird like Malcolm In The Middle. Oh, how I hated those kids. As for this bunch, I particularly liked the youngest one's quirk about muttering words under his breath.

I'm in for at least another week.

**The Penguin** · #11 10-07-2009, 07:16 PM

The Middle returns for its second week tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

"The Cheerleader"
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 @ 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 CT on ABC
Frankie organizes a publicity stunt in hopes of saving her job; Sue discovers she needs glasses; Brick starts reading his mother's romance novels.

JasonFox · #12 10-07-2009, 08:29 PM

Hank is just finishing up so excited for episode 2 of The Middle man ABC is turning into CBS with their 2 hour comedy blocks.

**The Penguin** · #13 10-07-2009, 09:24 PM

I can't quite decide if I want to continue watching this show or not. I like it, but it hasn't grabbed me like most of the other sitcoms I have started watching in the last several years. The other new shows I've started this season really sucked me in immediately, but this one not as much.

I liked Frankie's plan to fill a car with jelly beans and how Mr. Ehlert moved the Post-It Note to fire Frankie to next week.

The jelly beans all stuck together was great.

The way things all fell apart at the end was kind of fun. Indiana weather can do that in my experience although I've never had a dryer show up in the lawn.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonFox

Hank is just finishing up so excited for episode 2 of The Middle man ABC is turning into CBS with their 2 hour comedy blocks.

ABC has been trying to revive their comedy line-up for years. This big block shows they're serious (even if they don't all make it).

JD08 · #14 10-07-2009, 10:55 PM

I found it funny especially the taking candy from her but nobody else the "I'll wait in the bushes" line was hilarious. I liked it it's like Malcolm in the middle-lite I like those kind of shows no gimmick just normal life.

**The Penguin** · #15 10-14-2009, 06:59 PM

New episode tonight at 8:30 ET. The Middle, along with the shows that follow it, Modern Family and Cougar Town have been picked up for a full season by ABC.

"The Floating Anniversary"
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 @ 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 CT on ABC
Sick Brick, lovesick Sue, Axl, two crazy aunts and their diaper-wearing dog thwart Frankie and Mike's romantic plans for their anniversary.

**The Penguin** · #16 10-15-2009, 10:08 AM

I like this show, but I don't love this show. I nearly didn't watch it this week, but then I did at the last minute. It's fun, but it's not my favorite. If I eliminate even a half hour of official TV from my personal schedule, I feel like I accomplished something so I think I'm going to cut this one loose. It's not "good riddance" for me like it was with Hank, but I don't think this show does enough for me.

The chaos of Frankie's life (especially when she shut off her phone) was kind of fun to observe even as it got more ridiculous with her two crazy aunts and their dog with emphysema.

Poor Sue didn't manage to do anything but embarrass the new kid Brendan. The idea that no one even knew who she was to make fun of her seemed about right. Axl driving and Brick being sick sick were decent side stories for the kids that intersected with their mom's world in a big way.

I felt bad for Bob trying to be proud of his... I think he said "bag in the wind" lifestyle and Mike had a great plan having him babysit the entire clan while he and Frankie... got carpet in French Lick (okay, I guess it's a thing).

**The Penguin** · #17 10-21-2009, 07:05 PM

No one commented last week so I'm not sure if this show still has some fans out there, but I have personally decided not to watch it anymore. I will not bump the thread after this week, but I welcome someone to take that over. Even if no one does that, comments are welcome and encouraged on a weekly basis. New episode of The Middle, tonight at 8:30 ET on ABC.

"The Trip"
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 @ 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 CT on ABC
Frankie encourages Sue to fight for her right to attend a class trip to the state capitol; Brick's first girlfriend turns out to be a bit bossy.