- Network: ABC
- Series Premiere Date: Sep 30, 2009
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Critic Reviews
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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The writers have great ears for "real" dialogue, and, in fact, not a single line here feels like a dead ball. The characters, too, arrive fully formed and believable. First impressions are absolutely vital in TV, and The Middle makes an excellent one.
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The Middle isn't the kind of sitcom you laugh at; it's the kind you laugh with.
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The Middle is precisely the show ABC should be doing: a smart, amusing sitcom that understands the damage cutbacks have done to folks in the middle.
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This one has more heart and is a better fit with its primetime neighbors.
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What makes this a standout family show is not the absence of dirty words. Who needs those when there's an abundance of eccentric humor and bright writing?
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She's a genuine character in her own right and The Middle worth checking out as the lead-in to the season's best new comedy, ABC's "Modern Family."
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A lively show with no canned laughter, where love has no chance to conquer all the family deficiencies but does make them not only bearable, but fun.
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The Middle is funny enough to merit a weekly visit.
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A smart and funny sitcom....Heaton is splendid as Heck, with a high-profile supporting cast.
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In its second season, Patricia Heaton's family sitcom seems to have found its natural resting point.
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Even though Heaton is also reverting to type with the harried, jaded housewife bit, she somehow manages to get some freshness into the old girl.
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The Middle has nothing to worry about: People from coast to coast are going to be laughing at this swift sitcom.
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I am not yet ready to say The Middle is a great sitcom, but it sure seems in synch with the mood of middle America today.
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Like "Hank," The Middle is no Next New Thing; indeed, both argue for the opposite, the pleasures of the known, of craft and of watching people who know what they're doing do it.
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Until watching The Middle, I would have said it was time the sitcom concept of the madcap mom trying to balance kiddies and career got a decent burial, complete with a stake through the heart. But Heaton and producers Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline give the idea new life.
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It’s a solid meat-and-potatoes family comedy; next to "Hank," it’s the next "Malcolm in the Middle."
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The mayhem that ensues isn't exactly unexpected, but it is pretty funny. On ABC, that's definitely a step in the right direction.
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The Middle hits its comedic targets often enough, but its main problems is that it overdoes the quirkiness a bit.
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It's hard to know where The Middle will go after tonight's decent pilot. And that's part of the sitcom's promise, that it has the potential to blossom into a sweet if small celebration of a family of oddballs living distinctly unhip lives.
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Ms. Heaton is less acerbic than she was on "Everybody Loves Raymond," but just as comical playing an overwhelmed Midwesterner who works at Orson's only surviving car dealership.
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The Middle appropriately falls somewhere in the middle, in a zone where the immediate challenge has less to do with being flown-over than flipped-away from.
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ABC's The Middle, a comedy about living in the nondescript middle part of the country, resides somewhere in the nondescript middle of the pack of new fall comedies.
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It's traditional sitcom fodder. But what makes The Middle a pleasant surprise is that the series itself is eccentric and funny in unexpected ways, not just the kids.
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The Middle is just a show about a quirky family, and their quirks simply aren't that interesting.
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The Middle feels like a sitcom version of standup comedy. "Three guys and two girls walk into Indiana..."It's not offensive. Just superfluous.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 139 out of 177
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Mixed: 14 out of 177
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Negative: 24 out of 177
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Aug 21, 2010
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Mar 11, 2011
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Nov 10, 2012