There are few things worse than your favorite TV show ending. Luckily, the television industry has recently gone revival and spin-off crazy. From "Will & Grace" to "Better Call Saul," beloved series and characters are being given a second chance.
Fans of the family-friendly ABC sitcom "The Middle" were devastated when the series finale aired on May 22. During its nine-season run, the show consistently performed well in ratings and garnered a substantial base of devoted fans. The series revolved around the quirky Heck family: narrator and mother Frankie (Patricia Heaton), her husband Mike (Neil Flynn) and their three children, Sue (Eden Sher), Axl (Charlie McDermott) and Brick (Atticus Shaffer). This light-hearted sitcom followed the middle-class family living in the fictional town of Orson, Indiana as they dealt with the ups and downs of work, school and family life.
Fret not, fans of the Heck family; there might be room in the schedule since the network decided to cancel "Roseanne" following that social media incident. This has opened up the Tuesday at 8 p.m. slot in ABC’s fall schedule, meaning there is room for "The Middle" to continue after all! According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sue will get top billing in the spinoff.
Eden Sher's portrayal of naive and cheerful Sue made her a fan favorite among viewers and critics alike; in 2013 Sher won a Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
The series finale showed a flash forward to Sue marrying Sean (Beau Wirick). The details of the spinoff are vague, so it is unknown whether it will pick up before or after the wedding. The possibilities for Sue’s storyline are endless, and needless to say, fans are excited to get her back on their TV screens. Even Patricia Heaton, who played Sue’s mother on The Middle, tweeted her support for the spinoff.
ABC had massive success with the "Roseanne" revival and its portrayal of a working-class family in Middle America. A spinoff of "The Middle" may help fulfill the network’s goal of appealing to everyday Americans, and keep an already established fanbase. But like most spinoffs and revivals, there is always anticipation over whether the new series will do the old one justice. In the case of a show like "Will & Grace," the revival has been met with high ratings and consistent viewership. In the cases of a show like "Joey" (the "Friends" spin-off in which Joey moves to Hollywood), it flopped without the other original cast members.
Here’s hoping this potential spinoff captures the essence of what made fans originally fall in love with "The Middle."