The Middle (TV series)
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| The Middle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre |
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| Created by |
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| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Patricia Heaton |
| Composer(s) | Joey Newman |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 191 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
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| Producer(s) |
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| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 21 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
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| Distributor | Warner Bros. Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Picture format | HDTV 720p |
| Original release | September 30, 2009 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | beta |
The series was renewed for a ninth season on January 25, 2017.[2]
Contents
[hide]Episodes[edit]
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | ||||
| 1 | 24 | September 30, 2009 | May 19, 2010 | ||
| 2 | 24 | September 22, 2010 | May 25, 2011 | ||
| 3 | 24 | September 21, 2011 | May 23, 2012 | ||
| 4 | 24 | September 26, 2012 | May 22, 2013 | ||
| 5 | 24 | September 25, 2013 | May 21, 2014 | ||
| 6 | 24 | September 24, 2014 | May 13, 2015 | ||
| 7 | 24 | September 23, 2015 | May 18, 2016 | ||
| 8 | 23 | October 11, 2016 | May 16, 2017 | ||
Cast and characters[edit]
The series features Frances "Frankie" Heck (Patricia Heaton), a middle class, middle-aged, Middle Western[3] woman and her husband Mike (Neil Flynn), who reside in the small fictional town of Orson, Indiana based on the real town of Jasper, Indiana.[4] They are the parents of three children, Axl (Charlie McDermott), Sue (Eden Sher), and Brick (Atticus Shaffer).[5]The series is narrated by Frankie, initially an under-performing salesperson at a used-car dealership and later a dental assistant. Her stoic husband Mike manages a local quarry and serves as a stabilizing influence in the family, though Frankie complains about his lack of affection at times. The kids are quite different from one another: oldest son Axl, a popular but under-motivated and cynical teenager, does well in sports but not in academics; daughter Sue is an enthusiastic young teen but chronically unsuccessful and socially awkward; and youngest son Brick is an intelligent but introverted compulsive reader with odd behavioral traits.
There are numerous recurring characters that the Hecks encounter in and around Orson.
Main[edit]
- Patricia Heaton as Frances "Frankie" Heck (née Spence), wife of Mike and mother of Axl, Sue, and Brick. Frankie is the central character in the show, as her voice is heard narrating at various points in every episode. After losing her job at a car dealership in season 4, Frankie is now a dental assistant.
- Neil Flynn as Michael "Mike" Heck Jr., Frankie's husband, known for his straightforward, sometimes distant manner and emotional stability. Mike works at the local limestone quarry as the manager and has a no-nonsense approach to work and family.
- Charlie McDermott as Axl Redford Heck, the oldest child of Frankie and Mike. Popular and athletic in school, he is also sarcastic, lazy, narcissistic, and often dominant over his younger siblings. He sometimes gives his siblings affection, but tries to hide it. In season 1, Axl was starting his freshman year of high school and proceeded to graduate high school at the end of season 4. He goes to fictional East Indiana State University on a football scholarship and becomes a business major. He graduates college in Season 8's "The Final Final".
- Eden Sher as Sue Sue Heck, the socially awkward middle child of Frankie and Mike. Her genuine nature, bubbly personality, and persistent sunny optimism tend to make others view her as annoying and makes her an object of ridicule, especially by her elder brother. As of season 3, Sue was starting her freshman year of high school and proceeded to graduate from high school at the end of season 6, going to East Indiana State University on a financial aid package. As of season 8, she is presumably a sophomore pursuing a degree in Hospitality and Hotel Management.
- Atticus Shaffer as Brick Ishmael Heck, youngest of Mike and Frankie's children. He loves to read and is very intelligent, but is also introverted, odd, and often easily distracted. Occasionally, while speaking, he will lower his head and repeat the last word spoken in an audible whisper. In season 1, Brick was starting second grade. He is a freshman in high school as of the season 8 premiere.
- Chris Kattan (regular seasons 1–2, recurring season 3, guest seasons 4 and 5) as Bob Weaver, Frankie's co-worker and friend at Ehlert Motors, where Frankie works for the first three seasons. After she gets fired in season 4, Frankie and Bob lose touch.
Recurring[edit]
- Don Ehlert (Brian Doyle-Murray) (season 1–6) is the owner of Ehlert Motors, where Frankie works for the first three seasons before she gets fired in early season 4. He is a crass, slightly overweight man that seems to be rude to Frankie because she is female, often referring to her as "Frances" instead of her preferred name. He likes Mike as the two often talk about sports.
- Pete Miller (Peter Breitmayer) (seasons 1–4) is Ehlert Motors' best salesman and star employee. He is disliked by Frankie and Bob for his continuous boasting and teacher's-pet relationship with Mr. Ehlert.
- Edie and Ginny Freehold (Jeanette Miller and Frances Bay) are Frankie's elderly great-aunts who are heavy smokers and drinkers. Throughout the series, it is heavily hinted that none of the Hecks enjoy looking after them. Both characters die off-screen. Ginny dies in season 3 (following Bay's death) and Edie in season 6 (after Miller retired from acting).
- Brad Bottig (Brock Ciarlelli) is Sue's flamboyant, theater-loving, tap dancing, and slightly camp "boyfriend" in season 1. After she catches him smoking at his house, they split up but remain close friends. In season 7, he comes out as gay to Sue in a passive way but she already knew and is happy for him. They remain close friends after graduation, meeting up when they can. They both spent summer 2016 (between seasons 7–8) working at Dollywood. In season 8, Brad transferred to East Indiana State because he disliked NYU.
- Carly (Blaine Saunders) (season 1–6) is Sue's best friend in school, and for a while is her only close female friend. The two girls are extremely alike but lose contact after graduation.
- Sean Donahue (Beau Wirick) is one of Axl's best friends, teammate on the high school football team, and Nancy Donahue's only son. He is outwardly complimentary and polite to the Hecks, but also supports many of Axl's schemes. He takes on a "hippy" persona in season 7, but has reverted to a clean-cut look in season 8.
- Nancy Donahue (Jen Ray) is the Hecks' idyllic neighbor of whom the Hecks are shown to be jealous. Frankie is shown trying to imitate Nancy's parenting, but mostly fails.
- Ron Donahue (Sean O'Bryan) is the Hecks' neighbor, Nancy's husband, and Sean's dad.
- Darrin McGrew (John Gammon) (seasons 1–6) is Axl's dimwitted other best friend and teammate, and becomes Sue's boyfriend in season 4. They break up and get together again, then finally decide to split up in season 6 after Darrin proposed marriage and Sue declined. The character has not appeared after this.
- Paula Norwood (Julie Brown) is another of the Hecks' neighbors.
- Bill Norwood (Pat Finn) is Paula's husband and one of the Hecks' neighbors.
- Michael "Big Mike" Heck Sr. (John Cullum) is Mike's reclusive, man-of-few-words, hoarder father.
- Orville "Rusty" Heck (Norm Macdonald) is Mike's unreliable, silly, yet optimistic and cheerful brother. He sometimes lives with Big Mike and started a diaper business with Mike.
- Pat Spence (Marsha Mason) is Frankie's mother. She is keen to help the Hecks in any way she can and spoils the kids, much to Frankie's annoyance.
- Tag Spence (Jerry Van Dyke) is Frankie's father and Pat's husband. He seems to like Mike a lot and spends a lot of time with him, much to Mike's annoyance.
- Janet (Molly Shannon) is Frankie's perfectionist sister who has so far only appeared in two episodes of the entire series (S3E10 "Thanksgiving III" and S4E18 "The Name") but is referenced a lot.
- Reverend Timothy "Tim-Tom" Thomas (Paul Hipp), is a musical charismatic/hip-to-the-kids youth minister at the Hecks' church whom Sue deeply admires for his meaningful and jolly songs about the difficulties of teenage life. He has appeared in at least one episode each season.
- Rita Glossner (Brooke Shields) is the Hecks' uncouth and troubled neighbor. She is the single mother of three stealing, rude sons but apparently is not aware of their nastiness as she describes them as "good boys." The Season 8 episode "Trip and Fall" reveals that Rita has a fourth son, Rodney, her oldest child who has just made her a grandmother.
- Derrick Glossner (David Chandler), Wade Glossner (Parker Bolek), Diaper Glossner (Gibson Bobby Sjobeck), and an unnamed girl make up the dreaded Glossner children, Rita's rowdy, foul-mouthed, rude, burglarizing offspring.
- Zack (Andrew J. Fishman) (season 1–3) is Brick's friend from the socially challenged class. He sometimes acts like a cat, meowing and wearing oven-mitts.
- Matt (Moisés Arias) is a boy on the wrestling team at Sue and Axl's school who likes Sue and becomes her first real
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