TheMiddle-related stories
Posted Nov 22nd 2009 4:03PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming, OpEd, The Closer, Friday Night Lights, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free, Mad Men, Burn Notice, Glee
Thanksgiving is coming and for many of us it's time to eat, drink and watch football. It's also a time to reflect on the things you're grateful for and since TV Squad is all about television, here's what I'm grateful for this holiday season, with regard to the tube.
Mad Men season finale
There was really nothing as satisfying in the entire year for me. Matt Weiner promised a game-changing episode and he delivered it with a whopper of a wrap up. Actually, nothing was really wrapped; it was more like the cards have been dealt and we're still waiting to see how the hands are played.
Continue reading What Allison is thankful for
Posted Nov 21st 2009 2:09PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Video, Commercials, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free
You know how sometimes you see an actor or actress and they look so familiar, but you can't remember where you saw him or her, or what the TV show was? That's how I've been with the little boy who plays Brick on
The Middle. His name is
Atticus Shaffer, and since the ABC sitcom began this fall, I've been scratching my head over him. Where did I see him before?
Turns out that it was on a commercial for AIG. Yes, AIG, that huge insurance company that was a big part of the economic collapse. The company that was too big for America to let fail.
Continue reading That's why I recognize Brick from The Middle!
Posted Nov 19th 2009 11:15AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E07) Right from the beginning,
The Middle had me in familiar territory. I remember rushing around the house gathering trash and trying to get it out to the curb before the trash truck finished at the neighbor's house. And I remember just missing it; what a horrible feeling that was.
From there, while I was still able to enjoy the episode for the laughs it offered, I was just as equally terrified. As a parent, I've often wondered just how close we are to having the state take our children away. How innocent a comment or statement would it take before these agencies swoop down on our lives with all their self-righteous glory and scare the living crap out of us that they're going to tear our families apart?
From the moment when the police officer told Mike he wasn't even allowed to touch Brick in the principal's office, to the social worker refusing to tell Frankie and Mike how the evaluation went until she filed her report, it just seems like way too much power for some outside entities to have over our families.
Continue reading Review: The Middle - The Scratch
Posted Nov 18th 2009 9:00PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free
When you think of
Brooke Shields, you think glamor and fashion and high style... Well, I do anyway. She's
Suddenly Susan and one of the hot ladies on
Lipstick Jungle. I do not think of her as a suburban mother of four in Orson, Indiana. However, that's exactly what she's going to be on an upcoming episode of ABC's sitcom
The Middle.
As oxymoronic as it seems, I love the idea of
Brooke on The Middle. She'll be going deep into the heart of the heartland to play a character who's supposed to be like Fran Heck,
Patricia Heaton's character on The Middle. There's nothing as liberating for an actor as the chance to let loose and break the mold.
Continue reading Brooke Shields is getting in The Middle
Posted Nov 5th 2009 1:22AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E06) Something big is going to happen with Axl, and I can't wait for it. Yes, he's doing the same bored, sleeping, lazy teenager act that we've seen a million times before, but I like the way he works off of both Neil Flynn and Patricia Heaton. And I think there's real potential for him to break out into something unique; like when he put his clothes on for the bus in two seconds.
The writers have already crafted both Brick and Sue into wholly unique, and bizarre, children. By comparison the only thing odd about Axl so far is his name. He's just so ... ordinary! Ordinary was enough, though, for him to be part of a pretty funny storyline that pitted him at odds with his father.
It also makes me terrified of the upcoming teen years. Maybe I'll just ship mine out to some other family to deal with. Maybe he can move to Orson, Indiana and I'll just let Mike and Frankie take care of him. Better send him with an extra coat. You never know when a door might go missing.
Continue reading Review: The Middle - The Front Door
Posted Oct 31st 2009 10:00AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
Like a stray dog that works his way into your heart, I think I've fallen in love with
The Middle. I didn't want to get so attached, because -- quite frankly -- ABC's track record for sticking with quality shows isn't so great. I'm still mourning
Pushing Daisies. But
The Middle is nothing like
Pushing Daisies, nor does it fall into the quirky, clever mode of other shows that ABC has been promulgating for years.
Ugly Betty is quirky.
Better off Ted is quirky.
Dirty Sexy Money was quirky. Quirky's the word.
Continue reading My Big Bang theory: The Middle's Brick is another Sheldon
Posted Oct 30th 2009 2:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, How I Met Your Mother, NCIS, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
The candy manufacturers had better watch out, because as Halloween is approaching, TV shows have been coming up with their own candies, inspired by some of the more colorful, interesting characters. Take a look at this list, and see which are treats and which are tricks. And, listen, tell us what kind of candy your favorite TV characters might inspire!
8. How I Met Your Mother - Robin Scherbatsky's Canadian corn
Oh, Canada. Slutty pumpkins aside, Robin had to convince her American friends that Canada not only celebrates Halloween, but Canadian corn is the best Halloween candy ever. That's right, Canadian corn. It's like candy corn, only it's orange on the top and white on the bottom. It also tastes like pancakes because it isn't made with corn syrup; it's made with maple syrup.
Continue reading Eight TV character-inspired Halloween candies
Posted Oct 29th 2009 1:10AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E05) Things are starting to settle into a familiar and comfortable pattern. There was nothing particularly groundbreaking in the presentation or even the subject matter of this episode, but it was still enjoyable. It's the love within the Heck family, even within Axl, that makes this a heartwarming comedy.
It doesn't have the sharp wit and cleverness of its follow-up
Modern Family, but it's still leaps and bounds better than its lead-in -- Oh, that's right. ABC went with a re-airing of
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown instead of
Hank. Didn't they air that last night, too. That's okay, Kelsey. It'll be just fine. You'll get that back nine order any day now.
This week, we focused on Brick. The more I see of the little whispering weirdo, the more I like him, and while I hate to keep bringing this up, the more I need the show to address his physical ailment. Commenter 'Jeremy' said he has found evidence pointing to it being osteogenesis imperfecta. This is the same thing
Carnivale's Michael J. Anderson has.
Continue reading Review: The Middle - The Block Party
Posted Oct 22nd 2009 1:08AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E04) Okay, there's clearly something going on with Atticus Shaffer's legs, or leg. It's not a big deal, but at the same time I can't help but notice it when he's limping around. I wish the show would just address whatever it is, so I can stop thinking they're trying to pull a fast one over on us and pretend there's nothing there. It's like when
How I Met Your Mother was horribly trying to cover up two pregnant bellies all last season.
Brick can have a medical condition, and we'll still love him as much as ever. In fact, it would make the family even more "just like the rest of us." Regardless, Brick was hilarious this week with his new girlfriend. I remember when my son was getting his first little girlfriends, and it seemed to go down about the same way. Not the point where his new girlfriend gives me a verbal beat-down on my own front porch, but maybe we're just not to that point yet.
The other main plotline had us finally finding something that Sue is good at! I'm as shocked as you are.
Continue reading Review: The Middle - The Trip
Posted Oct 17th 2009 9:03AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free
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.
Continue reading What Patricia Heaton is doing right in The Middle
Posted Oct 15th 2009 5:03AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E03) We already know that Sue Heck has no discernible talent, but a ton of enthusiasm. This week we learned that her cluelessness goes even beyond physical activities. She's as earnest in her social endeavors as ever. Unfortunately, she's also as oblivious to the reality of her actions and their consequences. I love everything about it.
The moral of this episode, I guess, is that a mother is never allowed even fifteen minutes of time alone. Granted, it appears that Frankie's fifteen minutes happened to coincide with the worst chain of events possible, but the moral remains the same. A mother's job is never done, and she's never off the clock. At least she has the love of her husband to help her when the time comes, and he came through in a big way for her.
Continue reading The Middle: The Floating Anniversary
Posted Oct 9th 2009 8:37AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Reality-Free, Cougar Town, Modern Family
I've always heard that three out of four ain't bad. But if you're Kelsey Grammer, it's a whole different ball game. While there's been no word on the horrid
Hank, ABC has ordered
full season pick-ups for the rest of their Wednesday comedy block. At this point, I'd say that was inevitable. ABC's bold experiment of a whole new night of programming seems to have worked out.
Early buzz on
Modern Family particularly brought people to sample the wares, and luckily that show delivered.
The Middle has been impressive as well, and would probably fare even better if it switched places with
Cougar Town. Courteney Cox's latest vehicle is much better than I expected, but not up to the creative caliber of its lead-ins.
As for
Hank? Well, it is the only multi-camera comedy on the night, so it stands out a bit in that respect. Oh, and its derivative and lacking in any originality or, and this one can be a bit of a problem, comedy. So there's that to deal with as well.
Posted Sep 3rd 2009 12:04PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Programming, Reality-Free
The networks have had a quiet summer, quietly introducing scripted bomb after scripted bomb, so they're certainly ready to jump into the new fall season. And It looks to be an interesting one. ABC is scheduling a two-hour block of new comedies on Wednesdays as the sitcom tries to make a comeback.
Even more risky is NBC handing 10:00 to Jay Leno every night of the week. Everyone's waiting to see how that one plays out. FOX is banking on huge positive buzz for
Glee to make it a hit, while ABC is hoping
FlashForward can pick up where
Lost is leaving off when it wraps its run this season.
To help you with it all, TV Squad has put together a handy calendar of all the premieres so you can schedule responsibly in this busy time of TV watching. Some nights have as many as twelve premieres scheduled, so you might need to invest in a few more DVRs to catch all your favorites; Monday's still look grim. Bookmark this page and you'll have it handy to help see you through.
Continue reading TV Squad's complete 2009-10 fall season premiere calendar
Posted Aug 2nd 2009 3:01PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Celebrities, Reality-Free, Comic-Con
When the San Diego Comic-Con opened its doors to allow
every corner of television onto their floors, they weren't kidding. After seeing the roster of panels, I'm surprised the original panel from PBS's
Washington Week didn't field questions from guys dressed in Transformer cosplay.
Apparently, Warner Brothers set up a panel for just about every television show that have in development including Patricia Heaton's new ABC sitcom
The Middle, making it the most "fish out of water" selection for a panel at the geek confab.
And so did the geeks in attendance. The panel only drew
around 75 attendees and studio heads ordered Heaton not to introduce the panel because the crowd was too small.
Continue reading And the most out of place Comic-Con panel award goes to...
Posted Jul 13th 2009 12:05PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Programming, Pickups and Renewals, Upfronts, Reality-Free
ABC is banking big on comedy this fall, with a Wednesday night lineup featuring four new sitcoms starring some familiar faces. The network is also set to unveil more high-concept dramas, including
Flash Forward,
V,
The Forgotten and
Eastwick.
I caught the first act of the
Flash Forward pilot during the network's upfront presentation in May. It was good enough to become my most anticipated show of the upcoming fall season. My second most anticipated show is
V, the revamp of the '80 series/miniseries about an alien invasion. ABC hasn't released full screeners for
V or
Flash Forward yet, but we got advanced looks at some of the network's other new shows, including
Eastwick and
Cougar Town, the new comedy from
Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence. Look for previews of more new ABC shows here at TV Squad before the fall season kicks off in September.
Continue reading TV Squad previews ABC's new shows (Part 1)
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