Hitting a Series High Opposite “Idol,” ABC’s “Modern Family” is Wednesday’s No. 1 Scripted TV Show for its 11th Straight Original Telecast in Adults 18-49.

Growing Week to Week, “Cougar Town” Ranks as the No. 1 Scripted Show Against its Network Rivals in Adults 18-34 for its 6th Straight First-Run Airing.

Surging over its lead-in by 1.8 million viewers and by 50% with young adults at 8:30 p.m., self-starter “The Middle” was the No. 1 show its half-hour for its 4th straight original telecast in Total Viewers (7.5 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.4/7-tie). In fact among Adults 18-49, it finished as the highest-rated scripted show in its half-hour for the 6th time in its last 7 first-run airings. The ABC freshman comedy also delivered the No. 1 position in the half-hour with Adults 25-54, Men 18-49 and Men 25-54.

“The Middle” drew its biggest overall audience in 3 months and equaled its top Adult 18-49 number since March – since 2/10 and 3/24/10, respectively.

Source: RBR

ABC’s The Middle is about to wrap up its season, and they will have acting icon Betty White in their season finale. The cast and creators of the show say they were thrilled to work with such a legend.

The Middle follows the Heck family as they struggle with life in the Midwest. Brick is the youngest, and then there is Sue the middle child played by Eden Sher and their sibling Axl played by Charlie McDermott. These crazy kids cause all types of problems and who better to solve them than their parents? Patricia Heaton plays supermom Frankie Heck and Neil Flynn plays her husband Mike Heck.

Patricia told On The Red Carpet that she loves working with the cast but pointed out Eden as the one to watch.

“I predict that she will be the first Emmy winner of our show,” said Patricia.

Source: On the red carpet

Growing Over its Most-Recent Original, ABC’s “The Middle” Finishes No. 1 at 8:30pm in Adults 18-49, Beating Fox’s Finale of “Human Target”

“The Middle” (8:30-9:00 p.m.)

Surging from its lead-in by 38% at 8:30 p.m., ABC’s “The Middle” won its half-hour among Adults 18-49 (2.2/7), beating competition including the second half-hour of Fox’s season finale of “Human Target” (2.1/7). ABC freshman “The Middle” also beat out its comedy competition in the slot, defeating CBS’ freshman “Accidentally On Purpose” by 16% (1.9/6). In fact among young Adults, the ABC freshman comedy has been the highest-rated scripted show in its half-hour on 3 of its last 4 original telecasts.

· “The Middle” was up from its most recent original telecast by 8% in Total Viewers (6.7 million vs. 6.2 million) and by 10% in Adults 18-49 (2.2/7 vs. 2.0/6).

Source: The Futon Critic

Source: AOL TV.

The TV legend, Betty White, has signed on to guest star in the season finale of ABC’s The Middle.

White will play a school librarian who confronts Brick (Atticus Shaffer) about his failure to return numerous overdue books.

Source: EW.

“The Middle” (8:30-9:00 p.m.)
Returning to original for the first time in 3 weeks, ABC’s “The Middle” ranked as the No. 1 scripted show at 8:30 p.m. in Adults 18-49 (2.1/6), defeating the second half-hour of NBC’s “Mercy” by 24% (1.7/5) and CBS’ “Gary Unmarried” by 5% (2.0/5).

Source: RBR

They’re not precocious. They’re not the brightest kids in class. They’re not smart alecks. And they’re sort of shockingly real, in a somewhat exaggerated sort of way.

“We really set out to … not make them cliches,” said executive producer DeAnn Heline. “And I honestly think part of being a parent is you would do anything for your children. You love them so much. Of course, you think they are perfect.

“Yet there’s always something where you are going, ‘Really? Did you have to do that?’ They also sometimes have quirks that can drive a parent crazy.”
…
Having been Axl’s age just a couple of years ago, McDermott said he can relate to his character.

“I think we try to keep it as grounded and realistic in as humorous a way as possible,” said McDermott, 19. “There’s some stuff that is exaggerated, but like they said, there’s a lot of stuff that is taken from … people that you’ve met.”

Sher said she has no complaints about her character.

“She’s always happy. And even when she’s not happy, it’s always an extreme emotion with Sue, pretty much,” the 18-year-old said. “And to play anything to the extreme all the time … it’s awesome.”

Eleven-year-old Shaffer said he’s not even really acting.

“For me, playing Brick is actually playing me, only with a different family and a different name,” he said in total sincerity. “Because I love almost everything that Brick loves to do — read, talk to myself. So I like thinking of Brick as me, which he is.”

The Oprah special will air March 3. On Feb. 17 and Feb. 24, ABC will try out repeats of “The Middle” — which recently hit a season high in its usual 8:30 p.m. slot — at 9:30 p.m. after “Modern Family.” ABC will air back-to-back “Cougar Town” repeats at 10 p.m. on those dates. The results might convince ABC to shake-up the order of its Wednesday nights, which has seen “The Middle” gathering strength in the ratings and “Cougar Town” fading. This week, “Middle” outperformed “Cougar Town” for the first time.

Source: THR

“Middle” (8.2 million, 3.0 preliminary adults 18-49 rating) was up 11%, aided by a stronger-than-usual lead-in from one of ABC’s ubiquitous Charlie Brown specials — “A Charlie Brown Valentine” (7.5 million, 2.5).

Source: THR