It's easy to argue that a great percentage of TV sitcoms are family-centric. There are exceptions, like Cheers or Friends or The Office, but sitcom creators always seem willing to venture back into the dynamics of a dysfunctional family. A smaller percentage of that deals with families in or from the Midwest, possibly because they reach the ever-important, Middle America demographic. A smaller percentage of those sitcoms will actually go so far as to make the show's jokes and storylines cater to just how “Middle America” the sitcom family is; well, that's The Middle in a nutshell.
You can't get anymore “middle” than the Heck family. To quote from one of the creators during the behind-the-scenes featurette, “the middle” refers to lots of things: Middle America, middle class, middle age...middle middle middle. (By the way, it turns out you have to say “middle” about thirty times before it starts to sound meaningless.) The mother and backbone of the family, who also serves as the narrator for the series, is Frankie Heck (Patricia Heaton). She sells cars at a dealership, and from day to day does her best to balance raising her kids and not getting fired. Her help and husband, who actually isn't much help, is Mike (Neil Flynn), who works as a manager at a quarry, and does almost nothing except forget to do what his wife asks him to.
The children are harvested from your typical Middle America stock of sitcom children: the oldest, Axl (Charlie McDermott), is a microcosm of all 16-year-old teens who think their families are completely lame. He eschews work, sits on the the couch all day, and is virtually pantsless the entire show. His sister, Sue (Eden Sher), a few years younger, takes the role of tween-to-teen awkwardness and makes it her own. Sue is the by far the character who is most fun to watch, and garners some of the best laughs, usually by the reactions she receives from her family as they watch her fail miserably at every try-out her school has to offer. The youngest is Brick (Atticus Shaffer), who seems to have matured beyond his parents' intellectual capacity long ago, and the only reason he isn't socially awkward like his older sister is because he avoids social situations entirely.
Patricia Heaton is a good actress. One might recognize her from her work on Everybody Loves Raymond, as Ray's unwaveringly frowning wife. She was great as that role, as the straight-person who had to deal with Ray's hilarious antics. In The Middle, she is less the straight-person than she is the comedian, and it works out only some of the time. Even her actor husband, Neil Flynn, the ubiquitous janitor from Scrubs isn't nearly as bright of a light in this show. The two in scenes together is good, but not great.
Chemistry is actually the show's greatest fault; it isn't until mid-season that there's much evidence that there's any love in the family. Watching dysfunctional families can be great fun, and there's plenty of room for that heartwarming stuff when the family remains together with smiles after some tough situation. Roseanne and Malcolm in the Middle both come to mind as shows that were able to pull this off. The latter also comes to mind because of the one-camera setup, the goofy situations, and the strong-willed mother who does more yelling and less hugging. Malcolm was able to pull off the mother being a complete monster while still convincing the audience she loved her kids; The Middle doesn't accomplish this right away, and if I were watching this on a weekly basis, I'd probably have stopped watching after a few episodes. Frankie Heck repeatedly rags on her kids, mostly through her narration. She refers to Sue as being completely talentless, and calls her youngest son “busted.” It's almost as if, even after all the years the parents have lived with their children, they have failed to acclimate to their kids' shortcomings.
But the show does get better; the writing gets stronger, situations become more believable, and the family actually begins to connect. There's a great scene where Frankie and Mike try to get their kids to bond, so they take them outside into the street to play football, parents vs. kids. Of course, the kids come together and wail on their two parents, and their success leads to everybody being glad they hung out together, not to mention an amazing robotic victory dance from Brick. By the finale, the family actually seems to have grown from the pilot episode, which is all that one searching for a dramatic catharsis can ask for. And instead of some forced cliffhanger, the ending of the finale gives promise to a better and different season two.
I grew up in the Midwest and I can say that a lot of nails were hit on the head with The Middle, but whether or not you have roots in the heartland, it's a good show. The majority won't have you rolling with laughter, but there are enough laughs and good moments to keep the show alive for hopefully a few seasons.
DVD Bonus Features
There are deleted scenes for a good portion of the episodes. There's a behind-the-scenes bit called “Raising a Sitcom Family” where the creators and cast talk about their characters, a lot of where the show came from, and the process of making the show. “Sue's Best Shots” takes a cue from the time when Sue brought home her class photos, and delves into the idea of how bad she takes pictures. The cast also gets in on it and briefly discuss their worst school photos. There's also a gag reel with some bloopers, and the actors acting all funny behind the scenes.
"The Middle: The Complete First Season" is on sale August 31, 2010 and is not rated. Television. Directed by Lee Shallat Chemel. Written by Eileen Heisler, DeAnn Heline. Starring Atticus Shaffer, Charlie McDermott, Eden Sher, Neil Flynn, Patricia Heaton.
