ABC has renewed the half-hour comedy series The Middle for a ninth season. Season eight is currently airing on Tuesday nights at 8pm ET/PT and has been drawing in 22% more viewers than the Tuesday timeslot did during the 2015-2016 primetime season. According to ABC, The Middle is the most watched comedy in the Tuesday at 8pm timeslot in the last five years. Created by executive producers Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline, The Middle stars Patricia Heaton as Frankie, Neil Flynn as Mike, Charlie McDermott as Axl, Eden Sher as Sue, and Atticus Shaffer as Brick.
“The Middle has been one of the network’s most consistent performers and helped us to launch a whole new night of comedy when it moved to Tuesdays this season,” said Channing Dungey, president, ABC Entertainment. “The Indiana Hecks have found America’s sweet spot with their authentic, acerbic and always loving take on parenting, work, kids, marriage and life.”
The Plot: Two-time Emmy-winner Patricia Heaton stars in this warm and witty single-camera comedy about raising a family and lowering your expectations. Middle-aged, middle class and living in the middle of the country in Orson, Indiana, Frankie Heck is a harried wife and mother of three who uses her wry wit and sense of humor to get her family through each day intact. Frankie works as a dental assistant, and her unflappable husband, Mike, is manager at the local quarry and her sardonic partner in the daily grind that is raising their average – yes, most definitely average – family.
