My Favorite Sitcom: The Middle

    I think The Middle resonated so well with its audience is because it depicted the working class (lower-middle class) family and its challenges. So many sitcoms show a perfectly clean house, and all the appliances always seem to work. In The Middle, things aren’t perfect. It talks about not having money to buy a new dryer or repair the sink. There is no other sitcom that does it quite like this. The writers got the struggle of the true middle-class family. As someone who grew up in lower-middle class society I resonated with having parents who struggled financially but still somehow made it work just like The Heck family.

               The characters were also relatable. I related to all 5 main characters at least a little. Yet, I relate the most to Brick. He has many quirks and one specific quirk he and I both share. He likes to read and write so do I. The older I get the more I relate to the parents. It lasted for 9 seasons and had an amazing cast that never left the show, even the neighboring family all 5 of them lasted all 9 seasons. This is unusual for a show that ran that long. The guest co-stars were stacked as well. Ray Romano, Betty White, Whoopi Goldberg, Dick Van Dyke, Kristie Alley just to name a few.  

Let's highlight all 9 seasons.

Seasons 1 and 2- The Set Up

Season 1 is a nice season; however, the acting from the children needed some polishing. Seasons 1 best episode I think is “The Block Party”. I love the first half of this season I think the 2^nd half needed some work. Season 2 was solid and set it up for success with the next 4 seasons.   

Season 3 through 6- Sue in high school. The Middle hits its stride

The show really hit its stride during this era. Sue’s high school years was a challenge and she remained positive all the way through. Seasons 3 through 6 have some amazing episode. The premiere of seasons 3 and 5 are incredible and the season finale of 4 and 6 also amazing in different ways. I think season 6 could have ended the show; but I am glad it didn’t end there! We do meet a couple new characters with Axl going to college in season 5. Hutch is one of my favorite characters for seasons 5 to 8.

Season 7 -8- Sue starts college and Axl graduates' college. (The Middle Grows Up)

While Axl went to college in season 5, seasons 5 and 6 still felt like The Middle. Now with Sue in college it started to feel like a spinoff. I think seasons 7 was probably the weakest season; however, I do like seeing another side of the sibling relationship between Sue and Axl (watch season 7, episode 2). I think seasons 7 and 8 made some mistakes. They are definitely my least favorites! 

Season 9- Wrap it up! 

This season is the perfect send off and corrected seasons 7 and 8 mistakes. I absolutely adore this season and wanted a season 10 since it was back on track. 

Season 10- The canceled Sue spin-off

There is a filmed Pilot episode of a Sue series I hope to see someday.

Do you like The Middle?