Not too hot and not too cold, the ratings for The Middle are just right. Over the years, the comedy starring Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn has served up steady enough ratings for ABC — steady enough for the network to give it an early renewal for this fall, that is. As announced a couple of weeks ago, Season 9 will debut in the 2017-18 TV season.
The show centres on a middle-class Midwestern family in Orson, Ind., that’s dealing with things like broken appliances — and being broke themselves — on a daily basis. Heaton plays frazzled mom Frankie Heck opposite level-headed hubby Mike, portrayed by Flynn. Charlie McDermott, Eden Sher and Atticus Shaffer star as their kids.
“The Middle has been one of the network’s most consistent performers and helped us to launch a whole new night of comedy when it moved to Tuesdays this season,” ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey recently told Deadline. “The Indiana Hecks have found America’s sweet spot with their authentic, acerbic and always loving take on parenting, work, kids, marriage and life.”
This season, viewers have watched optimistic outcast Sue (Sher), and confident slacker Axl (McDermott), navigating college, while socially challenged Brick (Shaffer), started high school.
But in tonight’s new episode, Ovary and Out, it’s all about Frankie.
She discovers that her child-bearing years are over and doesn’t take the news too well, so Mike tries to boost her spirits by offering to watch the neighbour’s baby overnight. Hijinks, we assume, ensue.
In one subplot, Axl’s best friend from high school Sean Donahue (Beau Wirick), hits it off with Sue’s roommate Lexie (Daniela Bobadilla). And in a storyline sure to please armchair typographers, Brick brushes up on his knowledge of fonts. The episode re-airs on City this Thursday. (ABC)
Rick Mercer Report
In a new episode of the enduring homegrown series, Rick Mercer takes part in a human bonspiel and later goes wakeboarding on the world’s largest indoor lark.
“There’s only two things that I’ve really been passionate about and that’s comedy and politics. And somehow I was so very fortunate that I managed to bring the two together,” Mercer recently told q host Tom Power. “And I love my subject matter, you have to love your subject matter. I love my country and I love politics and I think that you can’t fake that.” (CBC)
NCIS
The Sherlocks are back! The privately funded investigation team returns for the new episode Nonstop, in which a petty officer is murdered in a small town outside Washington, D.C. There’s a twist, of course: two new people have joined The Sherlocks. Next week, NCIS will crossover with NCIS: New Orleans for a two-part, two-hour special titled Pandora’s Box. (CBS, Global)
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