Storyline

The daily mishaps of a married woman and her semi-dysfunctional family and their attempts to survive life in general in the city of Orson, Indiana.

First Aired

2009-09-30
Last Aired

2018-05-22
Creator

DeAnn Heline
Genre

Comedy
Seasons

9
Episodes

215
Status

Ended
Language

English
Network

ABC

Keywords:

middle class dysfunctional family family middle america sitcom indiana

Stream and watch The Middle

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Season 6

Season 7

Season 8

Season 9

1. Pilot

The pilot episode of the American television series The Middle, written by DeAnn Heline and Eileen Hei...More

The pilot episode of the American television series The Middle, written by DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler and directed by Julie Anne Robinson, premiered on the ABC network in the United States on September 30, 2009. The pilot introduces viewers to the five central characters within the show who make up the Heck family: Frankie the working mother; her husband Mike; and their three children - teenagers Axl and Sue and their youngest child Brick. The show follows the characters as they deal with everyday challenges and family life, with Frankie serving as narrator. The critical reaction to the pilot episode were mostly favourable. The show held an aggregated score of 70/100 on the review website Metacritic. Many reviewers drew comparisons with another similarly named comedy series, Malcolm in the Middle.Less

22mins 2009-09-30

2. The Cheerleader

Trying to save her job, Frankie organizes a publicity stunt by filling a car with jelly beans. Meanwhi...More

Trying to save her job, Frankie organizes a publicity stunt by filling a car with jelly beans. Meanwhile, Sue fails to make the swim team and realizes that she needs glasses and Brick starts reading his mother's romance novels when he can't check books out of the library.Less

22mins 2009-10-07

3. The Floating Anniversary

Frankie and Mike's romantic anniversary get-away is ruined by various family matters, including Brick ...More

Frankie and Mike's romantic anniversary get-away is ruined by various family matters, including Brick being sick, Sue being lovesick, Axl just getting his learner's permit, and two psychotic aunt's and their dogs.Less

22mins 2009-10-14

4. The Trip

Sue sells sausage and cheese samples for the school. All her efforts go in vain as the school fails to...More

Sue sells sausage and cheese samples for the school. All her efforts go in vain as the school fails to see this. Frankie demands her daughter fights for her rights. Meanwhile, Brick discovers love with his current girlfriend a little stressful as she bosses him about.Less

22mins 2009-10-21

5. The Block Party

Brick's teachers tell Frankie and Mike that he is "socially challenged". Mike believes that enrolling ...More

Brick's teachers tell Frankie and Mike that he is "socially challenged". Mike believes that enrolling Brick on a basketball team is a good way to get him to interact with others, but the idea falls through. However, when Mike enters the neighborhood block-party lawnmower contest, he realizes that Brick has some special talents. Meanwhile, Frankie joins a booster club in the hopes of raising enough money for Axl's football team to buy new jerseys, but Axl refuses to give his old one up.Less

22mins 2009-10-28

6. The Front Door

When Axl accidentally breaks down the front door, Mike insists that, he fix it in order to teach him a...More

When Axl accidentally breaks down the front door, Mike insists that, he fix it in order to teach him a lesson, which leaves the Heck house wide open for days. At work, Frankie needs to sell a car within a week or she will have to wear a dog suit outside the lot for promotion. Meanwhile, it's picture day at school and Sue is concerned because she has never had a flattering picture taken of herself.Less

22mins 2009-11-04

7. The Scratch

Frankie accidentally hits Brick in the head with a beer bottle when trying to get the trash out before...More

Frankie accidentally hits Brick in the head with a beer bottle when trying to get the trash out before the garbage truck leaves. But when Brick innocently tells his school that the scratch was caused by his mother throwing a beer bottle at him, a social worker comes to evaluate the Heck family. Meanwhile, Bob helps Mr. Ehlert shoot a commercial for the car lot.Less

22mins 2009-11-18

8. Thanksgiving

Frankie's plan to have an idyllic family Thanksgiving backfires when Mr. Ehlert demands his staff work...More

Frankie's plan to have an idyllic family Thanksgiving backfires when Mr. Ehlert demands his staff work over the holiday. Brick goes missing in a corn maze.Less

22mins 2009-11-25

9. Siblings

Frankie encounters two perfect siblings and vows to make her children stop fighting and become a lovin...More

Frankie encounters two perfect siblings and vows to make her children stop fighting and become a loving family. Meanwhile, Aunt Edie makes a costly mistake at the quarry and Mike considers firing her.Less

22mins 2009-12-02

10. Christmas

Mike takes over the responsibility of organizing the Heck family Christmas while Frankie practices for...More

Mike takes over the responsibility of organizing the Heck family Christmas while Frankie practices for a solo that she is singing at midnight mass. However, she gets jealous when Mike seems to be doing a better job than she ever did. Meanwhile, Frankie and Mike help Brick get over a problem so he can get into the Christmas spirit.Less

22mins 2009-12-09

11. The Jeans

A hormonally charged Sue wants a cool pair of jeans in order to fit in with her peers, resulting in Fr...More

A hormonally charged Sue wants a cool pair of jeans in order to fit in with her peers, resulting in Frankie and Mike enduring the unpredictability of teenagers, while Axl wants a car to impress a girl. Meanwhile, attempting to teach Brick about responsibility, Frankie and Mike reluctantly allow him to take care of Aunt Edie and Aunt Ginny's dog Doris for a few days.Less

22mins 2010-01-06

12. The Neighbor

When Sue has a run-in with her sons, Frankie fears that a confrontation with the trasy neighbor may be...More

When Sue has a run-in with her sons, Frankie fears that a confrontation with the trasy neighbor may be at hand. Meanwhile, Axl attempts to bribe Brick after he's asked to teach his little brother how to kick a ball for a gym requirement. However, Brick is the one turning the tables and it ends up bribing him for another favor.Less

22mins 2010-01-06

13. The Interview

Mike loses his job when the plant shuts down for scientific research after he discovers a dinosaur bon...More

Mike loses his job when the plant shuts down for scientific research after he discovers a dinosaur bone in the quarry. However, Mike starts to get irregular feelings when he discovers how drastically things have change technologically over the years when considering the terms of searching for a job. Meanwhile, Frankie feels she must once again come to Brick's rescue when he decides to run for school historian.Less

22mins 2010-01-13

14. The Yelling

Frankie makes a deal with her kids, that if they do their homework and keep chores she won't nag them....More

Frankie makes a deal with her kids, that if they do their homework and keep chores she won't nag them. Meanwhile, Mike takes a job as a night driver with Bob.Less

22mins 2010-02-03

15. Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day unexpectedly finds Frankie and Mike home alone and ready for a romantic evening while ...More

Valentine's Day unexpectedly finds Frankie and Mike home alone and ready for a romantic evening while Brick is away at his first sleepover, Sue goes to her first boy-girl party, and Axl has a big date night planned with some friends. But Cupid's arrow doesn't exactly hit the target, and the best laid plans soon begin to unravel.Less

22mins 2010-02-10

16. The Bee

When Mike discovers that Brick is a spelling whiz and won the school spelling bee, he puts all his eff...More

When Mike discovers that Brick is a spelling whiz and won the school spelling bee, he puts all his efforts into training him to win the regional bee, which could ultimately lead to competing in the Scripps Spelling Bee. But as the family gets set for their road trip to Chicago for the regional bee, Frankie and Mike are horrified when they realize they forgot one thing -- Sue's birthday.Less

22mins 2010-03-03

17. The Break Up

Axl is heartbroken when his girlfriend (Alexa Vega) breaks up with him; Sue and Brick watch a scary mo...More

Axl is heartbroken when his girlfriend (Alexa Vega) breaks up with him; Sue and Brick watch a scary movie.Less

22mins 2010-03-10

18. The Fun House

Frankie fears for her job when a motivational consultant comes to get the sale team into shape. While ...More

Frankie fears for her job when a motivational consultant comes to get the sale team into shape. While Frankie is putting in many extra hours, Mike has to deal with the children and their issues, including making the house more fun for Axl and his friends, giving advice to Sue's ex-boyfriend and helping Brick with a school project.Less

22mins 2010-03-24

19. The Final Four

Mike's dream comes to fruition when Frankie's boss, Mr. Ehlert, offers him two tickets to the Final Fo...More

Mike's dream comes to fruition when Frankie's boss, Mr. Ehlert, offers him two tickets to the Final Four. Unfortunately, Frankie's uncle dies and the funeral is set for the same day, leaving the two in a battle and Frankie making Mike chose what life event is more important to him. Meanwhile, Sue gets Brick out of going to a birthday party by impersonating Frankie over the phone, but the plan hits a bump when Frankie needs to call and tell them that Brick cannot attend because of the funeral.Less

22mins 2010-03-31

20. TV or Not TV

After failing to pay the electric bill on time, the electric company shuts off the Heck's power. This ...More

After failing to pay the electric bill on time, the electric company shuts off the Heck's power. This leads Frankie and Mike to cut down on their unnecessary expenses, including their cable TV. The kids take up other activities to fill the void, but Frankie and Mike have a hard time figuring out what to do. Meanwhile, Brick and his other socially-challenged friends have to go outside for recess when the school library shuts down.Less

22mins 2010-04-14

21. Worry Duty

Frankie is worried that Axl's going to get his heart crushed again when his on-again/off-again girlfri...More

Frankie is worried that Axl's going to get his heart crushed again when his on-again/off-again girlfriend, Morgan (Alexa Vega, "Spy Kids," "Ruby & the Rockits"), re-enters his life and tries to mold him into the man she wants him to be. Meanwhile Brick learns what it means to be a mother hen when he has to watch over a baby chick for a school science project.Less

22mins 2010-04-28

22. Mother's Day

Mother's Day for Frankie is anything but serene when she finds herself doing more for Mike and the kid...More

Mother's Day for Frankie is anything but serene when she finds herself doing more for Mike and the kids and less for herself. But she learns that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when she escapes the family for a few hours to go to her mom's (Marsha Mason, "The Goodbye Girl," "Chapter Two") and ends up acting like a child by making her mom wait on her hand-and-foot. Meanwhile, Sue feels guilty when she steals a motivational magnet from a store whose message actually enticed her to shoplift it.Less

22mins 2010-05-05

23. Signals

Frankie points out to Mike that his social ineptness has been passed on to Brick, leading Mike to deci...More

Frankie points out to Mike that his social ineptness has been passed on to Brick, leading Mike to decide that both he and Brick need to be more social, and the Heck family BBQ is the perfect time to try. Meanwhile, Axl volunteers to clean the family pool in an attempt to get girls to stop by and swim and Sue tries to raise money for a local parish because her new friend, Reverend TimTom might be leaving in order to keep costs downLess

22mins 2010-05-12

24. Average Rules

Parent-Teacher conferences cause Frankie to worry about the kids. In them she's told Axl is gifted but...More

Parent-Teacher conferences cause Frankie to worry about the kids. In them she's told Axl is gifted but not applying himself, that her teachers still do not know who Sue is, and Brick may have to repeat the second-grade due to failure to return over 30 library books. Guest star Betty White as the school librarian.Less