“The Middle”, starring Patricia Heaton, premiered Wednesday September 30, 2009 at 8:30pmET on ABC, right in between the debut of Kelsey Grammer’s new comedy “Hank” and week 2 of “Modern Family”, featuring Ty Burrell. Interestingly, all three actors flocked to this network with new comedies following the cancellation of the brilliant, short-lived FOX sitcom they all starred on, “Back to You”.
“The Middle” was instantly compared to “Malcolm in the Middle” – not just because of the similar titles – but the overall style of the show.Heaton’s Frankie Heck had a similar look and attitude to Jane Kaczmarek’s Lois, and both comedies were centered on dysfunctional families with “quirky” kids. So, how was this “Middle” going to be able to differentiate and distinguish itself from that other series? And how was Heaton going to be able to make this show survive longer than “Back to You”?
The answer: by making as realistic a comedy as possible. Though I don’t live in the middle of America, right from the first episode, I found myself relating to the antics of the Heck family from Orson, Indiana: mom Frankie, initially a car saleswoman for Elhert Moters, husband Mike (Neil Flynn), who works at the local Quarry, and their kids: teens Axl (Charlie McDermott), Sue (Eden Sher) and young Brick (Atticus Shaffer). The way they talked, the situations they found themselves in, and the way they were able to pull themselves out, felt real… and funny.
And as the kids grew older, and family members, friends and jobs came and went, that brand of sharp, honest humor never went away. Over the past nine years, “The Middle” has been a consistently funny, engaging, sweet and endearing show – one that has kept its core audience throughout its near-decade span.
One of the reasons why is certainly the cast. I had the chance to meet Flynn and Sher at the Critics Choice Awards in 2016, and I interviewed Shaffer over the phone in 2012, when “The Middle” was starting its 4th season (and “Frankenweenie”, featuring Shaffer in a voice role, was being released). They’ve allowed their characters to grow, blossom, evolve – whatever way you want to call it – to the point where they’re practically my second family.
It’s no wonder that the one-hour Series Finale (airing this Tuesday at 8:30pmET) is called “A Heck of a Ride”, because it has been just so with the Hecks. Early on, viewers realized that “The Middle” was one of those shows that you had to watch every week in order to get all the storylines and understand what was happening in the weeks to follow. Storylines were always ongoing, and they continue to be heading into this Finale, with references going all the way back to the beginning.
“The Middle” began when I entered 6th grade, and it’s ending at the midway point of my college experience. It’s the show that’s accompanied all of my middle school, all of my high school and half of my college years. It’s always been there – whether on Wednesday nights at 8:30, Wednesdays at 8, Tuesdays at 8 (or, to be honest, on my DVR) – but I’ve never missed an episode!
“A Heck of a Ride – Part 2” (at 9:00) will be “The Middle”’s 215th episode. Heaton’s “Everybody Loves Raymond” also ran for 9 years on CBS, though with only 210 episodes, making “The Middle” Heaton’s most successful series of her career. Now yes – Heaton did win 2 Emmys for “Raymond” (and “The Middle” has almost never been part of the Emmy conversation – for reasons I frankly have never understood), but I don’t think she, nor many people out there, would’ve ever thought that “The Middle” would run longer than “Raymond” (even by 5 episodes).
ABC knew they had something special with “The Middle”. The show never dwindled on their cancellation meter, with the creators and cast informing the network last summer that their upcoming 9th season would be their last – giving them an entire year to wrap things up. These days, there are hardly any shows on the air that get that kind of opportunity.
The comedy TV landscape is changing, especially in the world of sitcoms. And I’m betting you that 20 years from now, people might look back on “The Middle” as the last, great, original live-action sitcom. In my opinion, “Modern Family” and “The Goldbergs”, among many other network sitcoms, have overstayed their welcome. The quality has declined – along with the viewership.
But for a long, fulfilling 9 years, “The Middle” always stayed true to itself. This will be a very difficult goodbye.