The Middleman

[primitiveskin]

Ah, The Middleman...a TV show that aired on ABC Family during the Summer of 2008 at a time when the network was still trying to find its signature show. And through all the experimentation, with the lifting of spirits and dashing of hopes, that signature show would be...The Secret Life of the American Teenager!?! But, just as I apparently wasn't in ABC Family's target demographic of teenage girls, neither was The Middleman, which is probably why it did so poorly in the ratings, and has been put on something of a permanent hiatus.

So, what is The Middleman? To put it simply, it's a geeky, action/adventure, sci-fi comedy that plays well to the Comic-Con crowd. Originally created, by Javier Grillo-Marxuach (Lost, Medium, next year's Day One on NBC), as a spec script that failed to become a TV pilot, it became a Viper Comics series at the suggestion of Paul Dini, where it attracted the attention of the ABC Family folks, who produced and aired a truncated twelve- (out of thirteen scripts) episode season. The show's got a square-jawed hero, known only as The Middleman (Matt Keeslar), that recruits Wendy Watson (Natalie Morales), an art school graduate who's stuck in an endless loop of temp jobs, as his sidekick. It turns out that comic book-evil, in the form of supervillains, mad scientists, monsters, robots, aliens, et al, really does exist in the world, and The Middleman is ever vigilant, "Fighting evil, so that you don't have to," as a member of a ridiculously secretive organization, O2STK. The Middleman is assisted by the ever-cranky (and highly antagonistic to Wendy), Ida (Mary Pat Gleason), a shape-shifting, combat android from space, who's stuck in school librarian mode.

Smart, funny, sexy, and loaded with pop culture reference in-jokes, touchstones for the show would include the '60s Batman TV series, Ghostbusters, Men In Black, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, Big Trouble in Little China, Get Smart, and other '60s spy-fi shows. But, The Middleman is more than just a goofy show about superheroics, cheesy special effects (which is part of the show's charm), and dialogue that ranges from rapid-fire Gilmore Girls-style to hilariously arch and stilted. The show has compelling B-stories because of the way that the supporting characters have been developed. You really do care about these young adults, Wendy and her roommate, Lacey Thornfield (Brit Morgan), a confrontational spoken-word performance artist, as they try to make it on their own in the world. Plus, the Middleman did pretty well for itself guest star-wise, with folks such as, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Mark Dacascos, Kevin Sorbo, and Mark Sheppard.

One of the things which I really appreciated about the show last year was the sense of intimacy that developed between the writers and the fans. Yes, I'm the same primitiveskin, who was lucky enough to have had so many questions answered on the Javi-Casts, which have been included on the DVDs (available from Shout! Factory) as an extra feature. At this year's San Diego Comic-Con, a live table reading of The Middleman's unproduced 13th episode, "The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse," (which is now available as a graphic novel from Viper Comics) went over really well for an audience of about a thousand people. While I love the sense of intimacy, I do realize that The Middleman has to find a wider audience on home video, like Family Guy and Firefly did, in order for the show to be brought back in any other incarnation, whether on another network, or maybe as an animated series.

While it has been said that DVD sales will determine if The Middleman ever returns in any other shape or form, at the very least, maybe the DVD will sell enough copies to warrant it being reissued on Blu-ray Disc. And obviously, the table read from Comic-Con would be a ready-made extra feature for the BD set.