“People just like Brick because he follows the beat of his own drummer,” Atticus said. “He’s different, and he’s quirky, and people seem to think that’s adorable. Trust me because I know. It’s my life.”

Brick, right down to the whisper, is based on the son of Eileen Heisler, who created “The Middle” with DeAnn Heline. (The two women, whose credits include “Murphy Brown” and “How I Met Your Mother,” have been writing partners since meeting in college.) “The funniest things come from reality,” Ms. Heisler said.

…

“All I know,” Atticus said, “is that I feel extremely blessed to be on TV. It’s a hard job, but real life is harder. Truth be told, playgrounds can be war zones.”

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The hardest role we had to cast on “The Middle” was Sue, the daughter, and that had to do with the fact that “The Middle” was a pilot that had already been shot two years before with a different cast. It didn’t quite come together as ABC had wanted it to, but they really liked the story. It was a situation where the writers kept thinking about the girl they had from the first pilot, and it was hard for them to get her out of their heads. Eden Sher came in and pre-read for me. She was one of the very first girls we saw for the role. Brought her to producers and she went through that process, but at that time, I think the producers still had in their minds the performance from the previous actress, so they kind of dismissed everybody. I ended up bringing Eden back in again at the end. By that time, they had seen so many actresses for the part, they really started to look at her with new eyes. Eden was the only actress who came in and played that character with exuberance and zeal. Everybody else played her more goth, kind of down and mopey. Eden makes you remember and root for a character that nobody ever roots for.

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Eden Sher is the 18-year-old actress who plays her. She put on fake braces and dressed real young to help land the role on the show.
“I don’t know what came over me, but I just decided to wear fake braces to the audition,” Sher said during a phone interview with The Oklahoman. “When I tested for it, they didn’t know I was any different from the 12-year-old girls auditioning.
“It was really funny when I went in for wardrobe fitting after I booked the pilot. I came in normally without braces, and the director started freaking out. He was like, ‘Eden, did you get your braces off?’ No one knew they were fake.”

Sher already has a favorite scene from the show, though, and it has an Oklahoma connection.
“It was the ‘Kung-Fu Fighting’ scene when we challenged some boys to a fight, and we danced,” said Sher, who was born and raised in Los Angeles and has never been to Oklahoma. “That was so fun and funny.
“And Blaine Saunders, the girl who plays Carly, was in the scene. She is from Oklahoma, and she’s in a couple other episodes, too. We’re friends, and that’s my only connection to Oklahoma.”

Read the full interview on The Oklahoman

In the episode, Frankie and Mike (Patricia Heaton, Neil Flynn) are excited to discover that Axl (Charlie McDermott) has found the perfect girlfriend, Morgan (Vega), and that he’s in love. But just as they start to get used to his new, sunny outlook on life, Morgan does the unthinkable and breaks up with him, leaving Axl completely heartbroken.

“The Break Up” premieres on March 10th @ 8:30PM ET/PT on ABC.

Read more: Buzz

However, originally thinking the book was a great idea “because he worries about everything,” Patricia has been left to deal with the aftermath!

“I went to tuck him in one night after Christmas … and he had the book open on his lap and he was saying, ‘Mom, did you read about the Ebola virus?’” she explains. “And I realized, you know what, probably not a good idea to have gotten him that book.”

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Patricia Heaton was chosen as part of TV Squad eight wonderful stars shining in the TV pantheon for 2009:

8. Patricia Heaton. I wasn’t expecting to see Patricia Heaton being anything other than Deborah on Everybody Loves Raymond. Instead, as Francis Heck on The Middle, she’s a completely different person. That, my friends, is why she’s a great actress. Superficially, a housewife, mother of three, would seem to be a stereotype, but not when Patricia’s interpreting the role. She’s been a revelation on The Middle.