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The Middle fits neatly into this new generation of comedies that turn their back on the traditional sitcom format and let their audiences in on the joke; The Office and Modern Family do it in mockumentary style, while The Middle takes a Scrubs voiceover approach to drop us into the mind of the main protagonist, with a dash of Cougar Town’s silliness. The result is quirky and has your mouth curve into a smile every few minutes, but doesn’t quite deliver the uproarious comedy its award-winning contemporaries do.
The idea behind The Middle is simple; the average American family living in a small town – you guessed it – The Middle of Nowhere, Indiana. Dad Mike works on a quarry, mom Frankie works as a struggling car saleswoman, and all three kids are deficient in one way or another – lazy teenager Axl makes trouble, awkward Sue is bad at everything and weird Brick’s “best friends with his backpack”. Nothing seems to be going right for Frankie, as she tries to balance all aspects of her life.
Patricia Heaton, who plays Frankie, always excels in comedy (anyone that’s watched her in Everybody Loves Raymond or short-lived Back to You knows that), and Scrubs’ ex-janitor Neil Flynn has his own moments as clueless dad Mike, who doesn’t know how to be supportive. But the pilot didn’t exhibit any signs of chemistry between the two, and their kids... well, that’s a whole other issue.
While I can imagine the difficulty of casting ‘awkward’ kids in Hollywood (the cute ones are easy to find, right?), these particular three don’t possess much charm. I especially shudder every time the youngest, Brick, appears on screen, a child actor with no neck who’d be more suited to a creepy horror film than a comedy (I say that as career advice). Now, I love kids, I really do. But The Middle’s casting directors are really testing me.
Sue’s teenage desperation might make for effective cringe TV (the pilot saw her ruin an entire show choir’s set as part of the crew), and in that respect, the entire episode’s biggest strength was cringe-worthy humour – but it’s nothing that hasn’t been seen before.
Though I am focusing on The Middle’s flaws, it was actually a light-hearted and pleasant way to spend half an hour, and possesses the potential to bloom into a comedy that can stand on its own two feet without comparisons – with a second season pick-up, it may just do that. For now, tune in if it’s on, but don’t strain yourself to catch it.
Catch The Middle on Sundays at 6.30pm on Sky1
So this is basically Malcolm in the Middle from the mother's perspective? How unoriginal. Brick and Axl are basically recycled versions of Dewey and Reece.
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