Yeah, it's true that the plot was very elementary and predictable, but that didn't preclude it from being quite funny to me.

It's definitely not a realistic or naturalistic show.  The repartee is just way too slick to be believable.  But if you can ignore that, it's all kinds of hilarious.  The super-polished-ness keeps it from rising to a Parks/Community level of greatness, but if we're just talking sheer laughs, Happy Endings does often…

Bonus: it's also funny.

Aw, B-.  Granted the episode might not have had much of an emotional core, but I think it may be the most I've ever laughed at The Middle.  Those kids all together, pure gold.

Those "knee" lines were hilarious.

BEATRICE!!

Shut up, Professor. I met your son on family day; I know all about your gambling.

Ahh, the nightmarish era of not-as-relevant-as-we-would-like AV Club updates is over.  Good on you, NBC.  But also LOL @ you for describing that Betty White show like that.

Can I borrow your time machine?

An evangelical conservative republican!  Well, now I've seen everything!

Hadn't thought of the Jasmine-Frank parallel.  It's too bad,  because I want to like her.  With the rejection by Fiona and the fact that she's generally been cool and helpful to Fiona (albeit kind of a bad influence), I want to feel bad for her… but abandoning her family the way she has, makes it very hard to do that.

That was just a reference to what Kev or a social worker or someone had said earlier, that 85% of foster children run away.  Veronica said something to the effect of, "Do you really think that our situation was good enough to land us in that other 15%?"

Ditto.

You know, having thought about it some more, I'm not entirely ready to buy into the "Lizzie's a manipulative whore" idea yet.  It seems like it'd be inline with Californication's character to have her turn out to actually be everything that she says she is, in spite of the mounting evidence to the contrary, which…

Good list.  Though I think I'd replace Mr. Pants with Timmy.  More honorable mentions: Louis Louis Rap, Crazy Legs, The Birthday Song, Sunset Theme, President King's Theme, Jason's Theme, Victory, Bad Coffee, Duanetastic, Trust Yourself, Septopus, Heart Smashers Theme, The Wizard's Baker Rock Opera, Brendon's Camera. …

And The Birthday Song.

This was a tremendously disappointing episode.  You'd think that, given the whole #500 thing, and the recent trend of actually-kinda-good episodes, that they'd have made this one good, but I think I only laughed once or twice, and I can't remember at what.  Oh, the "watching fox" thing, pat as it may have been, got a…

Fucking Holly.  That rug probably really tied the room together.

Oh, bless you fine folks for keeping this most reasonable of all discussions going.  21,238.   Plus one.  You all keep singing your hearts' song.

(Sssshhhhhhhut up!)