Airdate: The Middle
Patricia Heaton's latest sitcom is described as a wry take on regular family life in the midwest.
- Published by David Knox
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New sitcom The Middle begins next Monday night on Nine, created by Eileen Heisler (Murphy Brown, How I Met Your Mother, Lipstick Jungle).
The show features Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond, Back to You) as Frankie Heck, a middle-class, Midwestern mother of three, married to Mike Heck (Neil Flynn).
Mother of three, Frankie has a job selling cars at the town’s only surviving car dealership while her husband is a manager at the local quarry. In between juggling shifts and picking up fast food dinners eaten in front of the TV, Frankie and Mike raise their kids with midwestern practicality. Axl is the oldest, a teenager who eats the family out of house and home and walks around in his underwear.
Described as “…a dead ringer for Malcolm in the Middle with its realistic, wry take on regular family life,” it was picked up for a full season of 22 episodes after airing just two episodes.
Brooke Shields will guest star as Frankie’s neighbour and nemesis.
The ABC comedy premiered in the US in September.
It begins 8pm Monday on Nine.
11 Responses
@moog, agree completely about Jane Kaczmarek. She was such a unique character and I feel that this is trying to be a remake of Malcolm that wont do as well. And they’re really not separating themselves from it with a name like The Middle :S I do love Neil Flynn tho, so I might tune in but I don’t know whether I’d stick around; more likely to just watch the Malcolm repeats on ten as of next week 😉
When I saw the promo ad I thought it was going to be a spin off Malcolm In The Middle :S
@Goonies
Couldn’t agree more, and I love how an actress who is supposed to represent the typical middle class mom is actually a sad Hollywood star who has admitted to a complete plastic sugery overhaul on her body!
Jane Kaczmarek was utterly fantastic as Lois and totally real.
I have seen the first ep, and yes, it is Malcolm in the Middle 3 years later. They even have a kid that looks earily similar to Dewey. Frankie even looks like Lois.
This actually looks like it could be good. I’m a fan of the traditional multi camera family sitcom so I’ll definately give it a go.
@Knowfirst:
Actually, it spells crap.
“________’s latest sitcom is described as a wry take on regular family life in __________ ”
Fill in the blanks and create your own sitcom!
I have banned anything with Patricia Heaton in it because of her rabid pro-life stance.
This show is C R A P. That spells s**t.
More quality summer viewing.
This is a good show, I was surprised when I checked it out and hope it does well here… that said it is on Nine so I just hope they leave it on for more than 2 weeks.