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.”

What has been your favorite Valentines Day gift?
Oh God, I don’t know. I never do anything for Valentine’s Day. One of my friends took me out to dinner on Valentine’s Day with her boyfriend, so it wasn’t too romantic for me but it was a wonderful dinner.

What was the audition process like for The Middle?
I auditioned about 3 times. I screen tested twice and finally I booked it. It was quite long and extensive.

Sue tries to find anything she might be good at…what do you think that she is good at?
I don’t know, well have to wait and see! She’ll be good at something, something really weird and obscure, probably.

What would you like to see take place in the second season?
I would like to see Sue get a love interest or maybe succeed at one thing, even have a minor success.

You’ve appeared on many shows including Party Down, and Weeds. Of all of the shows that you have appeared on, what show would you love to go back to if you had the opportunity?
I would love to go back to Weeds if they would ever like to bring that character back for me to play. That was a fun character to play.

Synopsis: Frankie and Mike try to plan a quiet, romantic Valentine’s Day without the kids.

Source: NGE Press

Maybe next year?

Source: The Wrap

PATRICIA Heaton is your everyday knockabout mum. She runs about every morning frantically getting her four boys ready before ferrying them off to school or one of their various sporting commitments.

PATRICIA Heaton is your everyday knockabout mum. She runs about every morning frantically getting her four boys ready before ferrying them off to school or one of their various sporting commitments.

She loves being a mum but don’t for a moment think the money she has made from a healthy television career is being used to raise her children with a silver spoon in their mouth.

“There is a line in our show where the kids ask for something and I say, ‘Wrong family’,” Heaton, 51, says from the Hollywood set of her latest TV offering The Middle, which premieres next Monday.

Heaton has four sons with her husband David Hunt – Sam, 16, John, 14, Joe, 12, and Daniel, 10.

The Middle is a comedy series revolving around a Mid-Western American family. Heaton plays leading character Frankie Heck, who is frantically juggling three children, a job at a car dealership and husband Mike (Scrubs star Neil Flynn).

“There was an episode where Frankie is getting bugged on the phone by someone at her kids’ school and I was at work getting bugged by someone at one of my boys’ schools and I was like, ‘I can’t believe I am actually living it and shooting it at exactly the same time’,” Heaton recalls.

“Raymond had a little bit of edge and this has a little bit too. I felt for a long time since Roseanne isn’t on or Malcolm In The Middle there hasn’t been a show like this for families.”

Like most mothers, Frankie is constantly multi-tasking, something Heaton understands only too well.

“It’s almost become like a sickness,” she says. “I feel like if I am lying down and not doing anything or only focusing on one thing that there is something wrong, like I really should be doing a bunch of things. I am constantly on my iPhone emailing schools and making doctors’ appointments and scheduling while I am working.”

Because Heaton is in nearly every scene of The Middle, her workload is far more hectic than it was on Raymond. Given the 12-hour days, she is grateful her children are old enough to cope.

The actress is also not shy to admit she has hired help to keep everything in order.

“Ever since I had children I’ve been used to getting by on six hours sleep a night, so that’s not a big deal, it’s more about how much time you can get with the kids,” she says.

“I am normally home for dinner, or if I work late I am there for breakfast. We’ve had to staff up a little bit because we were flying solo there for a while and now we’ve had to get people to help us manage the homework and the food, all that kind of stuff.”

Frankie observes what she thinks are the perfect siblings, and it becomes her mission in life to make her kids stop fighting with one another and interact as a loving family. Meanwhile, Mike contemplates firing Aunt Edie after she makes a costly mistake at the quarry.

We had a number of good stories last night on The Middle. The always brilliant Brick was angling to go to his first corn maze, Sue got a boyfriend, and Frankie faced working on Thanksgiving. While the first and third plots were intertwined, Sue and her fancy new friend Brad (Brock Ciarlelli) stood on their own.

Read the rest of the episode’s review at Clique Clack