"i almost started shaking with fear when i saw mike heck's silhouette walking up to the quarry.."

For a guy who knows anything at all about home plumbing (and Mike would have to be that guy, especially with a father like his) it's a weekend job at most. I know I shouldn't get irked by these blunders in a sitcom, but I do.

The timing, too, of the party developing wasn't at all credible. Was she simply standing in the quarry's entrance watching fifty people stroll in? I noticed it particularly because of how good The Middle usually is at covering these scenes and getting the logistics and editing just right.

Not to rain on your parade but AVClub suffers from grade hyperinflation. A "C" isn't average, it's a bomb.

Agreed. It's always welcome when one The Middle's bit players resurfaces. Too bad, though, that the actress playing Carly (Blaine Saunders) is never more than a foil for Eden Sher. Not that that's a bad gig, but I can't think of anyone who'd managed to stand out with the lines she's been given. Even in the "Kung Fu…

It's definitely a problem. A lot of the motor for family sitcoms is kids and their interactions with parents and schools. There are excellent reasons why both Modern Family and The Middle started out with children of almost identical ages between the series.

"Oh, and you could bring some candy."

Which only speaks to how insane our society has become. A man patting a teen on the shoulder after speaking with her should be a call for exactly nothing to happen.

Hey, Mike's problems were not of his own making. If you go back and look at his scene with Brick's friend he's really quite mild. There was no good reason for him to meet with Piper (although if Mike simply went about his business and refused to let his family members—primarily Frankie—talk him into foolishness, it…

Oh, hell no. I'm beyond sick of watching the character abuse his family. If they return to the absurd nonsense of having an 18 abuse and insult his sister for simply walking down a hallway or at the prospect of going to the same, large university, I won't be able to keep watching.

That's a winningly crazy post.

Sher is miles ahead of anyone else on the show and makes Charlie McDermott in particular look very bad in comparison.

First, simply going up to someone's door is not remotely trespassing, especially when you have reason to approach them. Second, just peacefully taking down chimes and setting them on the ground (as opposed to damaging them) might not be the smartest thing in the world to do, but there’s no way it would be treated in…

I'd love to see Eden Sher doing serious drama. I can't imagine she would be terrific at it.

Oblivious Axl? The only thing that surprised me is that he didn't abuse and mock Sue while taking her photo. If Brick hadn't mentioned her sorrow, would he have even noticed it?

The guest stars plus all the location and set shooting, especially when they clearly rack up 10k in expenses just for a sight gag, is impressive. They definitely don't skimp on the budget. I remember when a lot of sitcoms had one or two indoor sets and that was it. Different times.

Yeah, how dare a sitcom character not be fully self aware. Especially a teen sitcom character. And how dare anyone suggest that fat women just might be more attractive once they lose weight. The nerve!

Yup. I think you posted along these lines wrt Axl a few episodes back (it stood out in part because of how surprised I've been that no one else has objected to Axl the abuser). It had gotten so bad with his character I was losing interest in the show, plus, for that abuse to be a regular feature of plots required Mike…

Interesting. While I agree wrt Eden Sher, I find the plots since the writers no longer feature Axl regularly abusing his siblings and mother far more engaging even when they're not the show's absolute best.

So… where are the handful of lunatics babbling about sexual assault and the "pro-date rape" nature of the episode where the Glossner kid kissed Sue? After all, if there was a difference between that scene and the scene where Darrin kisses Sue it's infintesimal.