TVSquad

I wasn't really prepared to like The Middle. I had no expectations, really, because aside from knowing that it was Patricia Heaton's latest sitcom, there had been very little scuttlebutt about it. So, when I tuned in, I expected the typical Patty Heaton I had seen for years on Everybody Loves Raymond or the upscale version I'd watched on Back to You.

Well, what a surprise when I saw her on The Middle. This is a Patty I had never seen before, and I not only liked her character, I admire her performance.

In the flush of all the returning series with fresh episodes comes this tasty morsel of news. ABC will premiere Miss/Guided, a new sitcom starring Judy Greer (Love Monkey) on March 18.

Miss Guided is the story of Becky Freeley, who returns to the same high school she went to as a teenager as a guidance counselor, sorta, kinda like Welcome Back, Kotter. But Becky wasn't a sweat hog in her high school days -- she was an ugly duckling with braces and teenage anxieties. Now, as an adult, she hopes to be able to handle HS with more elan. Becky's hopes hit a speed bump when she meets the sexy mechanic-turned Spanish teacher, Tim (Kristoffer Polaha), whom she likes...a lot. Then, she learns that the new English teacher is Lisa Germain (Brooke Burns), her former nemesis back in school. And wouldn't you know it, Lisa likes Tim, too!

AMC already has one critically acclaimed and Golden Globe nominated drama under its belt with the brilliant Mad Men. A second new series, Breaking Bad, hopes to follow that success, beginning in January. Malcolm in the Middle's Bryan Cranston stars as a high school chemistry teacher who turns to a life of crime in order to support his family after he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. If it's half as good as Mad Men it'll be twice as good as most of what's on TV.

But not content to wait around to see how Breaking Bad does critically and commercially, Variety reports that AMC has no less than four more shows in various stages of development, including two westerns. Westerns haven't been able to find success on the broadcast networks in years. Now by "Western" I'm talking the John Wayne/Clint Eastwood brand of Westerns with gunfights and saloon whores, not the likes of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, which did find an audience but was a very different kind of show.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Chris Sligh was so like-able until he got eliminated this week on American Idol.
  
• One is staying and one is going. But what's really the difference between Miss USA and Miss America?
  
• Frankie Muniz is desperate to be known for something other than "Malcolm in the Middle," but I'm not sure if a Mohawk makes me believe him as a race car driver.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can download the file directly (Quicktime required). You can also subscribe to this podcast via our feed.

This Sunday the final episode of Malcolm in the Middle will air on FOX. I fell in love with this show during its first few seasons, but eventually my interested began to wane and I don't think I've seen a single new episode in at least the last three years. Somehow, I think I just got used to the show's shtick and lost interest. Also, as shallow as it may sound, I liked the show better when the kids were younger and their antics seemed more cartoonish. At any rate, the Chicago Sun-Times has a fun interview with Linwood Boomer, the show's creator whose credits also include Night Court and 3rd Rock from the Sun. It seems Boomer didn't have much luck pitching the show to other networks before landing it on FOX, and he makes no bones about the ignorance of studio executives who are unwilling to take chances on anything. The series finale, titled "Graduation," airs on May 14 at 8:30.

At one point last year, I remember being surprised to hear that Malcolm in the Middle was still on television. I watched it when it first launched on FOX on Sunday nights and I loved it. But, then it disappeared to Friday nights and, quite frankly, I forgot all about it. Well, it turns out the show is still on the air and it's actually in the middle of its fifth season! Since FOX moved Malcolm to Fridays, its numbers have dwindled down to about 3.5 million viewers, giving it the unfortunate title of being the least-watched show on FOX. Malcolm arrives in its new time slot starting on January 29 at 7 pm EST. Let's hope the Sunday night slot will give Malcolm new life! I know I'll be watching.

When you're 19 years old and you can afford to blow $3.75 million on a house - the house Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey lived in, and where the gloriousness that was The Newlyweds was filmed - life must feel pretty sweet.  Justin Berfield, who plays the bullying middle son on Malcolm in the Middle, bought the Simpson-Lachey house for an undisclosed sum. The house was listed for $3.75 million.

I remember seeing Frankie Muniz, who plays Malcolm, on The Tonight Show several years ago, when he was 15 - he was talking to Jay Leno about his car collection, and Leno (along with me and all the other hard-working schmucks out there) was marveling that this kid who couldn't even drive yet was collecting these very spendy cars. Now another Malcolm kid buys a mansion. Geez, I guess I should've pursued that whole "land a part in a popular sitcom" path when I was a kid.

• The season may be over, but at TV Guide it's all Lost Lost Lost Lost Lost:  a guide to the best episodes, a revealing Q and A session with creators J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof (the words that Boone heard on the radio before he died were definitely "we're the survivors of Flight 815"), and a sneak peak at season 2.
• Malcolm in the Middle creator Linwood Boomer is leaving the show.
• Matt Roush hates The Bad Girl's Guide.
• John Stamos was all set to join ER as a doctor this fall...until ABC renewed Jake In Progress.
• In the print edition only: a profile of David Letterman's racing team, competing in today's Indy 500.