Dec

The Top Ten List You Won’t See Anywhere Else: 2009 Edition

The Middle was chosen as part of the Huffington Post second annual Alternative Ten Best list, featuring noteworthy shows that likely won’t land on many (if any) Top 10 line-ups but still deserve special recognition:

The Middle (ABC) – Forgive me if I’m forgetting one, but I don’t think there has been a genuinely funny, down-to-earth, timely broadcast sitcom that dared to focus on a cash-strapped working class American family since Roseanne at its peak. (No, I haven’t spaced on Malcolm in the Middle, a personal favorite of mine. Malcolm was a bit “out there” and made no claim to realism.) So here’s three cheers for the harried Hecks of small-town Indiana: Car-salesperson mom Frankie (Patricia Heaton), quarry manager dad Mike (Neil Flynn), dim teen jock and horn dog Axl (Charlie McDermott), socially awkward outcast Sue (Eden Sher) and bizarre little Brick (Atticus Shaffer, an instant scene-stealer). I hope they stay with us for years.