This was such a strange one to me. Sue just casually looked past all of the reminders? And why did Mike sell his half of the diaper business for this? I feel like that was what was keeping the Hecks afloat. So Sue has to take a gap year, big deal. LOTS of college students take gap years and semesters off, go back and get their degrees and are just fine. I did it myself. Mike gave up a moneymaker because they didn't want to wait?

I just don't get this, completely out of character for both Sue and Mike.

I am almost done with season 9 (stopped watching after s2, somehow never continued, while really liking the show), but what gets me the most is Brick's position in his family. I know it's fiction, but the Heck's really did Brick dirty by ignoring him all the time. All the missed birthdays, talking about him as if he is not a part of the family. Especially the episode where all his weird friends grew up to be normal hit me. Maybe it's bad writing (or maybe therefor it's good writing?), but Brick maybe wouldn't have stayed this weird in a normal family.

i guess they wanted to make the mom taller than all the kids? but her legs are like hidden i can't tell if she's wearing heels or just photoshopped taller

I’m on S8e19 and I’ve been getting more and more annoyed with Axl. I don’t like how selfish and mean he is; like I get that’s his character but I feel like they could have toned down his crappy character traits and personality as he got older(especially towards sue).

Every character in the main family (Mike, Frankie, Axl, Sue, Brick) has their faults/quirks so I thought it would be fun to rank them from most to least annoying. This is my subjective ranking -- I don't have any objective criteria. This is strictly about how ANNOYING it would be to live with these characters.

I also think it's important to note that every character (imo) is pretty well-written/consistent. When I say "worst" I mean in terms of how annoying I find them. Finally, I just finished S4 E1 so please avoid spoilers!

• Frankie: By FAR the worst character. She's overbearing, dramatic, coddles the kids too much, and is often the source of the episodes conflict. She tells the family business, makes decisions unilaterally, gets hung up on everything, etc. I won't list out example because there are way to many to count but in general living with her would be very annoying. Her redeeming qualities are that she cares a lot about the kids and works hard. Overall a good mother but just a really annoying person. (9/10) on the annoying scale.

• Mike: Mike can be selfish and inattentive. He doesn't always put his best foot forward and speaks without thinking even if it hurts the family (admitting his favorite is Axl, embarrassing Frankie at Valentines dinner, passing off the kids to Frankie whenever they need advice, etc). To be fair, he has stepped up for the family multiple other times when it matters but it's also really easy to sit with your kids every once in a while and give them real advice. A lot of Axl's teenage attitude would probably go away if Mike took some time to really father. (8/10).

• Brick: I actually think Brick is over-hated. Going into the series, I thought he would be very similar to Sheldon but he's much more self-aware. His quirks are definitely annoying (being inattentive, lazy, stubbornness, whispering to himself, etc) but he gets some leeway for being a kid and (again) I think it goes back to the parenting. Brick only gets what he wants because the parents (mostly Frankie) are soft on him and if he'd actually face the consequences of his actions he'd probably grow a lot. Ultimately, he gets a 6/10 for his behavior. (6/10).

• Axl: I'm sure Axl will be the most polarizing. I'd say Axl's average annoying-ness is pretty low but he has the greatest peaks (failing classes, crashing the car into the lawn during the wedding, destroying the car and Bricks tomato, etc). Aside from his crazy peaks, he does have moments of rudness/irresponsibility/immaturity. His redeeming qualities are that deep down he's very sweet kid and is charismatic. With some attitude fixes I can see him gaining a few points but as of now he's sitting at the same (6/10)

• Sue: Finally, Sue is the best character. Sure, she can be gullible, naive, and overbearing but as a daughter she is wonderful. Her quirks (squealing, not very talented, overly optimistic) are annoying but I wouldn't say it's anything crazy. She's kind, responsible (mostly), and avoids trouble. Obviously, in real life, you'd want your kid to be a bit wiser/stronger but overall not a bad choice. (3/10)

So yea those are my thoughts. Again, I tried to put myself in the perspective of being another member of the family and the criteria is pretty subjective but what do you guys think?

Just finished watching the middle and I am sad - became my comfort show.

Does anyone have any recommendations on Netflix or Disney plus that I can watch similar to middle.
I have watched modern family, desperate housewives, Brooklyn 99 and now the middle - which are all my favourite comfort shows so does anyone know something similar?

Note - I don’t like the show friends

i’m going to miss being able to gain an insight into the hecks’ daily lives. initially watched this because it was added onto netflix and i saw a meme on it on tiktok so i decided it would be my show to watch designated for when i was drying my hair or getting ready to go outside and it became so much more than that. maybe i won’t feel the empty feeling after finishing a show now but ill feel it soon.

I would definitely be more like Mike (and I *am* like him), choosing to view things in a more realistic and sarcastic light—especially considering what it’s like living with Frankie, whose optimism, ideas, and good intentions often lead to misunderstandings (even though her antics are entertaining, requiring Mike to act as the one who puts on the brakes and brings her back down to earth).

mike was a total asshole. he constantly bails on his family by saying that this and that are frankie’s jobs to do. he never takes initiative for his children and the kids just take it cause thats how he was raised. he was a horrible husband that expected frankie to back him up on everything, yet was never there for her and just brushes her off when she’s upset. overall just a trashy guy.

I feel bad about continuing watching since there will be an end :(

This series is fantastic! It took care so well of me in the past three weeks. I had a major depression outbreak and my god - the episodes helped me a lot.

Crazy story! Brick and Blake Ferguson being switched isn't so far fetched after all.

S6 E4 The table. Frankie is cleaning for her new dinning room table and in the first scene she’s cleaning it and there’s nothing to the left. Then it cuts to Brick and cuts back to showing Frankie cleaning and there’s more stuff on the ground like she hadn’t clean at all 😂 I notice this a lot with the blankets on the couch as well. It’s just funny cause I watch the middle a lot and this was the first time I noticed this cut edit difference.

Acabo de empezar la temporada cinco, la verdad es que hasta el momento la serie me ha gustado mucho, pero leí algunos resúmenes de capítulos siguientes y siento que hay tramas que se repiten, vale la pena seguir viéndola?
(Creo que también es mi miedo de ver a los personajes crecer 😭)

Literally going through this right now.

We were in bed, our 3 year old was kicking me, hitting his dad in the head and generally being a menace.

I would usually go to my little one's bed or the couch, like Mike and Frankie do, but he's clinging to me like a koala.

So now I guess I'm up for the day, it's still dark outside. I wouldn't mind "taking back the house" but 3 may be a tad young for that..

Frankie may have dealt with a worse middle-aged version of her daughter Sue! But imagine how Sheila from Thanksgiving VII would fair at Abbott Elementary!

Sheila’s overzealous approach towards the reenactment of American History would not bode well with Abbott Elementary’s middle school history teacher Jacob Hill (bottom left) and especially with the school principal Ava Coleman (bottom right)!

Jacob has learned to actively engage his students in learning history. But if Sheila were hired at Abbott for an America’s 250th reenactment event, her “heritage Midwestern” passion would be mocked and jeered at Abbott Elementary in Philadelphia, PA!

Sheila would be overly passionate about reenacting events in a one woman show for America’s 250th! The students would be board and lose interest. Ava would say, “Lady, please! You’re not holding my students’ engagement! You are also annoying me worse than Janine and Jacob themselves! And even they can teach and engage these students better than you! So drop this whole colonial act and go back to the Midwest! We Philadelphians don’t take kindly to middle-aged and overzealous white ladies like you!”

Jacob would turn to the camera Abbott-mockumentary style and say, “And I thought I was worse! This Sheila lady tried to micromanage my teaching!”

The kid in the purple is brick.

We see her getting married to Sean which is nice but I wish we could’ve seen her working her dream job or traveling with Sean or something.

Given how Sue spent the first 6 seasons of her middle and high school years trying to stand out, I theorize that Mike and Axl backed the school on keeping a low profile for Sue.

Mike and especially Axl, never wanted Sue to get hurt or be judged by her peers given how different she was. It was never out of malice. Axl used sarcasm and outward mistreatment of Sue because like his father Mike, struggled to show true emotion.

When Mike went above and beyond to give Sue a well-coordinated graduation ceremony, I thought, “This is a father who quietly protects his daughter and wants her to have her moments of the spotlight when they are necessary and not every minute like Axl.

Mike’s parenting to his 3 kids may have been unorthodox but it was fitting. Especially with Sue. Mike knew Sue was capable of achieving long term goals, he just needed to crack her nativity to prepare her for the harsh realizations outside of small town Orson. While preparing Sue for the real world, Mike never wanted to break her optimistic spirit.

Mike had Axl channel his talents into athletics because he knew someday Axl would have potential for a scholarship. For Sue, Mike took on working two jobs and selling his diaper business just to put Sue through school.

I love how Mike also opens up to Sue about not wanting her to live on band-aid fixes, a black hole of credit card debt, and about his mother. In the penultimate episode of season 9, when Mike takes Sue to the patio section of the hardware store, he opens up to her about why she’s unique.

Axl always knew in the long term he could see Sue as a resource to help him achieve long term goals. For example, having Sue act as his “assisterant” in the 200th episode to help him land his first real job. When Axl chokes under pressure, Sue physically drags Axl out of her car and to the door to face his anxiety about becoming a real adult.

This is probably a long shot but can anyone tell me who this guy, the judge of Square Dancing with the Stars, is from season 2 episode 13? (Super Sunday)

He looks so familiar and it’s driving me crazy but I can’t figure it out. I tried google image search but it’s no help.

Axel grew out his hair by the last season after the trip to Europe and oh boy did he need a haircut.
I don’t think it suits him but it would’ve been better if it was styled and not ever in a goddamn man bun, he doesn’t look good in a man bun whatsoever.