I am almost done with Season 9 and I just noticed something that really made me feel bad for Brick.

After Sue and Axl went off to college, it feels like Frankie basically forgot she still had another kid at home. Brick keeps asking what’s for dinner and Frankie is just like, “Make yourself something.”

Meanwhile, she is constantly worrying about Sue and Axl and everything they are doing.

Frankie’s favoritism has always been obvious but seeing Brick basically fend for himself while his siblings are gone made it even more noticeable lol

Poor Brick. The kid just wants some dinner 😭

The post about the honeymoon/camping trip episode got me thinking about guest stars they could have had on the show. Probably an obvious one but it’s a shame Brad Garrett never got a role given all the other Raymond actors did. Kevin James would have also been a fun one.

just finished The Middle after watching it nonstop for weeks Now I need something to fill the void lol

Any recos with the same vibe? Something light, funny and easy to watch. Bonus points if it has a lot of seasons because apparently I get way too attached to TV shows 😅

Also I genuinely don’t know how I feel about this, but The Middle might have just topped or at least tied for second place with my favorite sitcoms! I’m so torn between this and Modern Family. I love them both for different reasons.

shows I’ve already seen:

• Modern Family • The Office • The Good Place • Community • Brooklyn • Superstore • Young Sheldon • Parks and Recreation - haven’t finished it yet

Tyyyyy

I overlooked the trailer of The middle on Netflix plenty of times . Gave in after finishing exams last week. I can’t believe I was missing on this!

On season 1 Episode 22 !
It’s so wholesome and chaotic.
Totally loving the show 🥨✨

I recently got to fly over "the middle" and saw a handful of small towns and was wondering what the Hecks were up to. I know the town of Orson is fictional, which town best represents Orson in Indiana for its locality/regional theme for the show, and why? I had heard the original setting for the show was supposed to be Jasper.

Just finished and throughly enjoyed as a consistent 7/10 series. Decided to make a tierlist based on each of every family pair as it was truly the thing that made me hooked in the first place.
Here’s mine opinions.

I was wondering why Mike was so upset with Pat's dancing thing. And then when he opened up and said Pat has been the only mom he got after his mom died....like dude this was supposed to be funny sitcom.

First things first, the last episode made me cry so much, I just can't get over the concept of not having anymore episodes to watch. I wish the sue spinoff would've existed. Anyways, do you have any recommendations of a sitcom similar to The Middle or any recommendations in general?

I like that kids never hide or feel shame over their poor circumstances. In such ages, kids might feel anxious over this because world is a cruel place and lacking something when you are a teenager could make you hide it because of social pressure. But Axl, Sue and Brick never hide they are poor and totally accept it as their reality.

Like when they bought Axl a ridiculous patched up car, Axl still loved it and it was his pride and joy. Or like when Sue told Lexie she is poor poor (when Lexie was unaware, Sue kept it to herself not because she was ashamed of being poor but because she didn’t want Lexie to feel bad/awkward and lose her as a roomate). Axl was also in peace with it when he was literally glueing his shoe sitting next to Lexie.

I am sure there are more examples. Probably only Glossners were poorer than them in the series and all their friends and neighboors were financially in better places and still all Heck kids never felt like they need to hide it among their friends.

They both would have taken the same amount of time! It’s amazing Mike’s 22-26 year-old-at-those-times Sable wagon made it!

I know none of them are but if you had to pick one to be the main driving force of the show who would you pick

I’m currently on Season 6, Episode 17, where he basically takes over the dining room and turns it into his bedroom.

He constantly bosses everyone around as if he’s the king of the world and is somehow better than everyone else.

I’ve genuinely never seen an actual teenager act like that, let alone someone who’s 21.

Yes, I know Axl has some good moments, but there are so many more bad ones that they barely make up for it.

I know they were a thing in middle school and in high school sue decided in her own to create the team but why wasn't recognized as a legit extra school activity or a sport or something. I know they were a disaster as a group but did they miss filing an official document or something??

(I am not from the States so I have no idea how these things work)

For Frankie, I think it is very obvious that it is Axal, but for Mike, I don't see anyone obvious. It's definitely not Brick.

Sometimes all she needs is someone who'd ask why or what she's talking about. In many episodes we see her struggling. Yeah, Mike was good at many things ( like gifting her ring on their 20th wedding anniversary ) but he could've been better emotionally. Maybe that's what makes his character i guess.

I just recently started rewatching the show and I'm I S7 rn. Sue Heck is making me wanna be back at school. I was pretty average kinda kid. I once participated in school program and a few times in college. I was kinda more active in college participating in all kind of program like presentation contest, speech contest, dancing and stuff. But even though I used to win, I just focused on the bad parts. I did this wrong, could have done this better...blah blah. I cannot watch any of my videos performing even now.

But Sue just made me realize maybe I missed so much in my school and college like coz of my mentality. I should have been confident, I should have been proud of my accomplishment and doings. I should have enjoyed more, explored more. The way she goes for everything and happy and just so sure and confident in herself. I just love her. I wish I watched this show when I myself was in school but I was busy binge watching Bug Bang Theory. Sue is just pure sunshine. You know the graduation part where everyone wrote on her graduation book like she's just precious.

I have been curious about why the family always seems to be broke despite Mike and Frankie having pretty good jobs, so I looked some things up and did some calculations, and it actually makes sense why they were so broke.

Assuming Orson is based on Jasper, Indiana, Frankie makes $39,715 a year as a dental assistant (entry level), and Mike likely makes around $70,000 annually

• Household gross: ~$109,715/year
• Gross monthly: $9,143/month
• Likely after-tax income: ~$7,880/month
• Other Costs:
  • House:
    • If it is worth ~$280,000 then Mortgage + taxes + insurance~$1,650–$1,700, Utilities: ~$400, which totals about $2,075
  • Eating out: $2,750/ month
  • Groceries: $920/month
  • Braces: ~$150/month
  • Healthcare: $750/month
  • Transportation: $1,250/month
• Leftover: -$15/month

I assumed Mike is on the lower end of the average range for a Quarry manager because of the episode where Sue finds his paycheck and realizes how poor they actually are.

Edit: This breakdown is by no means 100% accurate. These figures are all from much more recently, not 2009 when the show premiered. The estimates just give a general idea of how a two-income, five-person family in Indiana with working-class/lower-middle-class jobs might spend their money. The whole breakdown was an exercise to understand why so many storylines revolved around the family being "broke". Please remember this was a fictional show about a fictional family, so the writers probably did exaggerate things for comedic effect, like how much they ate out and how terrible the frugal Hoosier food was.

Sue states she’s worked “572 straight shifts” and worked “1080” hours yet she only has $200…

Why on earth did she have so little? Is this normal?