It’s been one Heck of a ride for ‘The Middle’
After nine seasons, TV viewers get ready to say goodbye to the most comfy, messy house in the USA.
BURBANK, Calif. – Successful TV shows feature characters that viewers feel comfortable inviting into their homes.
ABC’s The Middle, which closes an acclaimed nine-season run with four episodes kicking off Tuesday (8:30 ET/ PT), goes that bromide one better: Many viewers would feel right at home in the Heck family’s worn, messy but comfy abode — hole in the bedroom wall included.
“People constantly write to me about two things: how the show reflects their lives and how every (episode) makes them tear up,” says Patricia Heaton, who plays Frankie Heck, wife and mother of three whose wry, practical narration frames a uniquely ordinary and very amusing small-town Indiana family story.
As the cast filmed the series finale in March, Heaton gathered with her costars — Neil Flynn (husband Mike Heck) and the actors who play their children, Charlie McDermott (Axl), Eden Sher (Sue) and Atticus Shaffer (Brick) — for a family portrait in front of the living
room couch.
Flynn, 57, is fondly reminiscing after filming the show’s final scene in the Heck house set.
“It’s saying goodbye to an old pal. The nice green walls of the Heck house … I don’t know if it was always the same, but it was always messy. I guess that’s it. It’s nothing to cry about, right?” Flynn muses, then adds definitively: “We’re definitely going to cry.”
The end of The Middle, which began as a rare TV take on financially challenged Middle America and grew into a solid Tuesday-opening draw (with a bump since Roseanne arrived as its lead-in), probably will get a similar reaction from fans who connect with the Hecks’ search for simple joys amid the often humdrum demands of school, work and family.
Early on, “we heard from our fans, from the Midwest especially, who said: ‘You have a camera in my house. You have a camera in my laundry room,’ ” says executive producer Eileen Heisler, who created the series with producing partner and fellow heartland native DeAnn Heline. “There are people who live like the Hecks or remember living like the Hecks.”
The day’s shooting takes place in the Heck family car, birthplace of routine yet sublime conversations and some of the show’s beloved running gags, including “the death napkin” (aka the parents’ will), which have been served generously this season.
“We wanted to end with the whole family together and no one else there,” says Lee Shallat Chemel, who has directed 85 of The Middle’s 215 episodes, including the one-hour May 22 finale, “Heck of a Ride.” “The car scenes are classic Middle.”
Heisler and Heline have included many classic Middle things (the blue bag, the quilt) in the valedictory season of a comedy that never received the credit it deserves, premiering a week after Emmy darling Modern Family and leaving just as paycheckto-paycheck progenitor Roseanne (where Heisler and Heline once worked) reclaims the mantle and is network TV’s top series.
Small changes — Axl and Sue going to college, Frankie changing jobs — anchored in stability is key to The Middle’s longevity, Heline says.
“What we sold to ABC is exactly the show we’re doing now,” she says. “Yes, the characters have grown and changed, (but) our show has stayed about the core five family members.”
Sher, 26, says Sue’s evolution from naivete and the “ability to get excited about anything” into “a fierce, independent woman” has made her “less of a one-trick pony and more of a person.”
Shaffer, 19, who embraces Brick’s quirks, senses a different feel in the farewell season.
“There were many more emotional moments that played out” in the episodes, he says.
Heaton, 60, calls the comedy a “love letter to small-town America. In the funniest way, (Eileen and DeAnn) have been able to create these wonderful neighbors and community events.”
Cast and producers say The Middle has more stories it could tell, but there’s no regret about ending the series. “I think it’s time,” says McDermott, 28. “To be able to go out in control is incredibly rare. I don’t think we could have ended it any better.”
The final episodes offer a signature mix of storylines: serious (Axl going to a job interview that could change his life — and affect the family dynamic); the comedic but potentially disastrous (Brick’s behavior at the prom); and the mundane (Mike figuring out a new TV remote).
As the curtain drops on the Hecks, some stories remain to be resolved (Will Sue end up with neighbor Sean Donahue? Sher will only say: “I think fans will be very happy.”)
For the finale,“viewers want to see the same show they love, but you want to bring it to a close and make it fulfilling,” Heline says. “We want to believe the Hecks are continuing to live their lives, even if we’re not seeing them on TV every week.”
“We heard from our fans ... ‘You have a camera in my house. You have a camera in my laundry room.’ ” Eileen Heisler executive producer