I don't know how, but I've completely missed this show originally. Been binging for two weeks now (at s7e8 currently) and I love it (whispers love it)! I guess it never aired in Finland? Anyway, new fan!

I really want to watch The Middle, it is a show that I adore so much. I am not able to find it on any streaming platform. If anyone from India is currently watching it, please tell me how😭😭

I swear Elhert and the sheriff in S8 E5 "Roadkill" are the same person!

Did anyone else grow up being a beard to any of their gay friends like Sue was for Brad?

My friend since elementary school and I were recently talking about this, and I was Sue for a suspicious number of guys that ended up coming out as gay. Some of them, in hindsight, were completely obvious, even to my other friends, that were lost on me, that I didn't go, "Ohhhh" about until they came out. One of my friends about one of the gay men I dated: "TheMishaMercury, he wore leather pants to a football game!"

LMAO good times.

Conversely, are there any Brads here?

Why do pat and Sean call Sue Suzy Q? - is it just a random nickname or is there a reason behind it?

okay this is random but somehow i just realized recently how many tv’s the heck’s have. obviously they have one in the living room and Frankie and Mikes bedroom but i never realized they also have one in the kitchen AND the dining room. is this normal? 😭

"Do you really want to go down this road of things we used to do before marriage that we don't do after?" 🤣🤣

I've never lived in the Midwest but have always been drawn to the heartland, maybe via family that once lived there. America is very vast in culture, but Midwest has deeply embedded roots and culture in American history, food, music, beer, etc. I know Midwest has lots of German Heritage, and the Hecks having a German surname. Is there anything that stands out in The Middle for German-Americanised culture? I know Sue does learn a bit of German in the later seasons.

I just came to a hilarious epiphany about my life through rewatching the show. This might sound a bit weird, but growing up watching The Middle, I had a crush on Mike Heck for a hot second. I grew out of it and forgot about it when my family stopped watching the show about halfway through.

I started rewatching along with the podcast and I finally made the connection between my childhood crush on Mike and my teenage + adult dating/crush history with 4 Michaels. I have truly never understood why I continue to date guys with the same name until this moment, and now it’s clicked. I’ve literally just been chasing my own Mike Heck lol (can you blame me though the guy’s a catch).

My boyfriend is named, you guessed it, Michael, but he goes by Mike. He is over 6ft tall, quiet, struggles with vulnerability but is secretly a softy, and has a cat and adores cats even though he’s terribly allergic. Of course they’re not exactly the same but oh my god the similarities are hilarious. I’m also 5’2” and LOVE to talk all the time, but that’s the length of my similarities to Frankie.

This realization though is KILLING ME. I’m honestly not upset about it though because Mike is a great character and I think I’ve just been seeking out the attributes I liked best about him in partners, and that’s not a bad thing. I mean, he is a man written by women and created through the female gaze, so it makes sense. It’s so funny how TV can influence someone at a formative age. Now I’m going to be trying to figure out how the other shows I loved as a kid have influenced who I am now. Hope this brought a laugh to the group.

So sue sue doesn't marry Darrin? She never had much In common with Sean! It feels like the Hecks were just playing "keeping up with the jones" Like they felt she HAD to marry up! Or was it Thanksgiving? The Hecks do hold grudges!

Located in Canada, but can only find the first four seasons for purchase. Can anyone help me?

I never knew this existed, watching it was very strange but cool. Imagine how different it would be if they stuck with those actors

Watching Law & Order SVU with my family- looking down at my phone and I heard his voice and immediately knew 😂

Ok so this is out of nowhere, but I was in The Middle of binging The Middle. (Ha Ha Hilarious.) And on episode 4 when they talk about how Mike drove Sue around Indiana, and I'm gonna say it I live in Indiana and I am surprised to see my hometown of Warsaw at the bottom of the map. And I'm gonna day it. That's completely wrong...I don't know of it was a mistake or intentional but it made me confused, even though it was nice to see my home town in the show. But I just wanted to see what Reddit thought 🤔

I was just watching season 6 episode 14 . Darren proposes to Sue and she says sure but spends the rest of the episode trying to tell him she can't marry him. When she finally tells him, she says she wants to go to college and have a weird roommate and then meet someone from her floor who she really likes and live with her. I think that's exactly what happens.

These are poor people livinf pay check to pay check.How could she forget to cash in her paycheck. I don't get it.Being forgetful is something but this idk.

A lot of shows took full advantage of smartphones pretty much dominating the way we communicate in society. Especially families and their group chats.

I find it hilarious that Mike wants no part in it, and he's the only member without a profile pic. And that attention to detail really stuck out to me. Any other sitcom would have even the less internet savy character still have a profile pic perfectly centered and everything. But the writers and editors really knew what they were doing.

From Season 9, Episode 21: "The Royal Flush"

https://preview.redd.it/kuaqvkslwx3e1.png?width=2560&format=png&auto=webp&s=66464d29d131a06f38774b930dde6bfcd9afdff7

I wonder if I'm the only one who hates how Mike and Frankie allow their kids to be unkind and disrespectful to one another--even downright toxic at times. For instance, Axl or Sue blame everything on Brick or call one another names right in front of their parents, who do nothing. I don't hear either parent defending the picked upon child, or telling the one doing the verbal abuse to knock it off.

Maybe I expect too much considering how blunt Mike is, and Frankie isn't much better. But aren't parents supposed to teach their kids how to interact in healthy ways? (But not like the Donahues, which comes across as too nice and a bit creepy.)

Frankie sure had a strong reaction to the guy at the store who didn't accept her apology when she rammed her shopping cart into him. And she hunted down the mother who insulted her while trick or treating so she could confront her, and deliver a mini-sermon about saying I'm sorry. But when it comes to the kids she lets them attack one another and doesn't seem to care as long as they're not drowning out her TV show.

Do y’all know which episode this is from? I don’t remembering this happening lol

We all have seen that Black Friday has gone to crap in 2024. The sales are weak, like only 15% off. I personally think the Hecks would skip out, especially because the kids are older and the sales are weaker than they used to be. Curious what the rest of you think.

In episode 23 of season 5 axl gets all b-s in college.He only used to take three classes and he failed 2 so hr only had onr.Now aparently he was taking english and history and psychology who neither make sense Give me your opinion on this

I think it’s when axl and Cassidy get back together over spring break and she mentions something like “we’ve never done that before” when talking to axl. I don’t know If I made that scene up or not lol. I know they get back together but I’m not sure about that scene.

does anybody know the song brick played at aunt edie’s house after she died? i love it so much but i can’t find it

When you think of all The kids out there in real life and on Tv shows and in movies, we’d all be real lucky to have a sweet and innocent and caring understanding daughter like Sue. It’s a Tv show so at times they have to throw them under the bus as the bad guy, but overall Sue would be a really easy and wonderful daughter to have. Really outside Axl’s hygien and habits around the house they are all pretty good kids, and they aren’t even the Donahue’s!

I'm not sure about this. In a season one episode...maybe 2...Mike's dad says the last time they were together at Thanksgiving was when his wife died. But doesn't Mike speak in later episodes of his mom dying when he was a boy. It's still plausible if they never celebrated Thanksgiving after that at all. That's a sad childhood.

Which would you pick?!

I think inviting Axl and Frankie would create a lot of entertainment

I recently started watching the series again for about the 17th time (I've literally lost count).

The show, while still good, was a little lackluster in the first 3-5 episodes. By mid season of season 1, it really started hitting it's stride. By the end of season 1 it was a solidly written, filmed, acted and produced show.

I get the impression at the end of the final season 1 episode, the creators weren't sure if it would be picked up for season 2. In fact, if memory serves, the show being picked up for the next season was a yearly decision by the network.

Anyway, by the end of season 1 it really firing on all cylinders and I'm thankful that it carried forward for the next 8 seasons!

Did anyone notice how Mike went from drinking beer to sodas after season 3? Season 4 and 5 they make it apparent he’s drinking a soda or coffee.

How would Frankie have handled that damn elf on the shelf?

I see it coming in hot, then not moving for two weeks, then her doing something insane for it and forgetting it until February.