This is what comedy is all about. A typical, everyday situation that snowballs into a series of events that just leaves you shaking your head and laughing.

In the case of last night’s episode of The Middle, that situation was garbage day, an event that only occurs once every two weeks in the Hecks’ part of Indiana. The garbage truck is heard rumbling along a block away, waking the entire family and kicking their cleanup efforts into high gear. Frankie tosses a beer bottle towards someone, and it hits Brick in the arm. And then “Mom hit me with a beer bottle” brings in the social workers. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ll admit that maybe the East Coast is rougher geography than some, but how in the world do you get a deer (and not a thief) in your house, when you don’t have a front door?

That’s just one of the many quant side-points that The Middle employs in creating its off-beat, and very likable feel. This week it was Axl’s (and Mike’s) turn to take center stage, as maybe Atticus Shaffer (Brick) was hitting his federally mandated child labor law hours limit. Oh sure, he still built a pyramid out of sugar cubes — for fun — but last night’s episode was missing its traditional Brick-ness. It was still quite good, don’t get me wrong, but it’s telling that I have no quotes that I feel I must share. Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, so not the sport as much as the three syllables in the word, putting it in the ranks of all of the other three syllable words that Brick went off to list before bed. He may do well in a country club setting; there’s archery, badminton….

When’s the last time such a distinctively unusual character was crafted from nothing on TV? And I find it unfathomable that anyone scripted all of that for Atticus Shaffer. This has got to be of his creation. Can you imagine that from an unseasoned, kid actor? Read the rest of this entry »

Well, more like Olivia pushing Brick out of a tree. But Brick being Brick, I suppose it makes sense that he wouldn’t have wooed this young lady, or even been the active participant in instigating their relationship. And it makes sense, too, that Mike would ask, “So, this Olivia, is she here right now?” when Brick told his parents that he was dating someone.

But did you see it going where it did? Or doing so as well as it did? The relationship was only minimally mined for the interaction between the two kids — the best parts involved Brick and his family. Read the rest of this entry »

In the sitcom world, there are shows that deal with the funny that can happen in a closed environment, and there are those open to any possibility. That’s better known as workplace versus family. Neil Flynn is a veteran of workplace hilarity, having spent years toiling as Janitor on Scrubs. Patricia Heaton, on the other hand, has the majority of her experience in the family genre, albeit as a stay-at-home mom. So both are exploring new territory, to an extent.

What’s my point? It’s always fun to see comedy in mundane things, laughing at situations you yourself were in just this morning. Making lunch, juggling a sick kid and work, getting time with your spouse, caring for a dog with emphysema … who didn’t deal with one of those yesterday? Read the rest of this entry »

The Middle held up upon a second look, and Patricia Heaton is proving that she’s no one hit wonder — although, personally I learned that with Back to You, but whatever.

It’s interesting how a simple thing like making ends meet can have the tentacles to touch so many funny stories on one episode. No money leads to an inability to pay a library fine, leads to no book for Brick (Atticus Shaffer), leads to his terrifying his family with his daily socializing, leads to him reading romance novels, leads to him getting his library book, meets Sue (Eden Sher) and her swimming head-on. Simple, farcical, and very amusing. Read the rest of this entry »

Patricia Heaton is yet another Back to You alum heard from on ABC’s new Wednesday night (joining Kelsey Grammer on Hank, and Ty Burrell on Modern Family). Luckily for her, her new series, The Middle, has a lot more in common with Burrell’s than Grammer’s … as in, it’s great.

Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Potential it’s definitely got, and good it is; great will come a bit later. But it still beats Hank!

I was actually pleasantly surprised at enjoying the pilot — the ad with Heaton in a superhero costume convinced me that this was going to be a slapstick. Instead, The Middle joins other strong family sitcoms like Malcolm in the Middle (thanks, Keith!), and even Heaton’s own Everybody Loves Raymond, in a genre that is scarce on TV today (and I’m not referring to the rarest of all genres known as “enjoyable”): fun for the whole family. Read the rest of this entry »