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.
Episodes
S01E01 Pilot
September 30, 2009 6.5 22 min
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,...
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...
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.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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.
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.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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.
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...