The Middleman

I was a little hesitant at first to watch this show, there's just not enough time in my busy life to waste watching a lame show. But I recorded it on the off chance I might get a moment of free time. It just so happens that I did get that moment and I'm glad I did. So much so, that I watched the 2nd episode right after the first, and if there was another, I would have watched it too. I really enjoyed the show.

I don't need to go into details that were already covered, but if you like Eureka or liked Wonderfalls or any other light, entertaining fictional show, then this is the show for you. Besides the great reviews it received from the NY Times and the TV Guide, it's just fun to watch. There is so much going on that I'm going to watch them both again tonight just to see what I missed.

Odd, Weird, Strange and Campy........but the more you watch it the more it grows on you and you begin to love it. An snappy, well written comedy that's unlike anything on TV now. Watch it for that reason alone. It's different and highly entertaining. Don't know if it will carve out an audience sufficient enough to stay on the air long, but it will surely gathered a devoted audience, like other offbeat and short lived shows (The Tick, The Dresden Files and Wonderfalls for example). The comic acting is spot on and the supporting cast is extremely strong. I promise you, if you watch it, you WILL be hooked, if you have any imagination at all.

Unfortunately this got a short run, it was a really good series, very weird sci-fi, strange characters, unusual cases, but above all wonderfully weird, fun and entertaining.

This was really one I had hoped would go on, but maybe it was the time (many shows didn't continue) or maybe it was the weirdness of the series that didn't give it enough viewers, maybe not a typical ABC show in many ways actually :)

I loved it for the weirdness, the strange characters and the insane spectacles and scenery, it was kind of a low budget setting and what you in movie sense would call a b-genre one. But it worked and really incorporated that spirit into the series.

I found The Middleman when a friend suggested it to me, he said "It's your kind of comedy". He was right. The Middleman is the kind of show for fans of The Tick or Mel Brooks movies, lots of quirky jokes some of which take a minute to register because your brain needs time to process them. For those seeking plot info the basic premise is Wendy Watson, struggling artist gets hired by a temp agency and finds out her boss (The Middleman) actually solves problems and protects the citizenry against hostile creature para-, extra-, and juxta-terrestrial. It's kind of a 'men in black' thing without the memory eraser. There are running gags in every episode, sometimes its the fake names, sometimes its about song titles, sometimes its even the info that pops up X-Files style on the screen. All in all, it's my favorite show to come from ABC in many years and I hope it will return for many season to come.

If there is one thing that makes me want to kick a cat it's when I find out a TV show that I've fallen in love with has been cancelled in its first year. Lucky for me and the cat I don't own any pets. Animal cruelty aside, it is very frustrating when a TV network cuts short something as wonderfully odd and brilliant as The Middleman.

Based on the graphic novels by Javier Grillo-Marxuach it's the story of Wendy Watson, played by Natalie Morales, a young attractive artist who finds herself working for The Middleman (Matt Keeslar) a square-jawed all-American hero who saves the world on a daily basis from supernatural forces while not even uttering a curse word.

Taking in elements of Men in Black, The X-Files and a host of other past sci-fi classics, it manages to be a light-hearted entertaining comedy drama. While clearly a low budget show – most of the set pieces are played off camera; it rarely feels cheap and if anything, that's part of the joke.

There is great re-watch value too, with each episode filled with in-jokes, nods to other sci-fi references and the obligatory Wilhelm scream. In the current climate of TV channels that are filled with near identical crime or medical dramas with Brits playing Americans, spending most of their 43 minutes sarcastically mouthing off to a group of near identical supporting cast members, it seems crazy to let something as original as The Middleman join the likes of Firefly, Wonderfalls, Odyssey 5 and American Gothic as one season gems. We should however at least be grateful for the few fine episodes made.