The Middle

Meet the Hecks – an ordinary family struggling to survive each other and life in Middle America. PATRICIA HEATON stars as a working mother whose family life is one big happy mess.

Facing financial disaster, Frankie tries to save her job; Sue fails swim team tryouts, then learns she needs glasses; and Brick starts reading his mother's steamy romance novels.

Frankie and Mike's romantic plans for their anniversary are thwarted by a sick Brick, a lovesick Sue, a learner's permit-toting Axl, two crazy aunts and their diaper-wearing dog.

Frankie urges Sue to fight for her right to attend a class trip after making the grade by selling thousands of dollars worth of sausage and cheese; Brick gets his first girlfriend.

After Brick’s teachers tell his parents that he’s “socially challenged,” Mike tries to help Brick make friends; while Frankie needs her son’s coveted football jersey.

Mike insists that only Axl fix the front door after he knocks it down; Frankie must sell a car within a week; and its school picture time for a photographically challenged Sue.

Frankie must create the illusion of a picture-perfect family when an accident causing a small scratch on Brick leads a social worker to visit the Heck household.

Frankie’s dream of the perfect Thanksgiving turns into a nightmare when Mr. Ehlert forces the staff to work on the holiday – and Axl loses Brick in a corn maze.

Frankie encounters two perfect siblings and vows to make her children stop fighting and become a loving family. Meanwhile, Aunt Edie makes a costly mistake at the quarry and Mike considers firing her.

Mike takes over the responsibility of organizing the Heck family Christmas while Frankie practices for a solo that she is singing at midnight mass. However, she gets jealous when Mike seems to be doing a better job than she ever did. Meanwhile, Frankie and Mike help Brick get over a problem so he can get into the Christmas spirit.

A hormonally charged Sue wants a cool pair of jeans in order to fit in with her peers, resulting in Frankie and Mike enduring the unpredictability of teenagers, while Axl wants a car to impress a girl. Meanwhile, attempting to teach Brick about responsibility, Frankie and Mike reluctantly allow him to take care of Aunt Edie and Aunt Ginny's dog Doris for a few days.

When Sue has a run-in with her sons, Frankie fears that a confrontation with the trasy neighbor may be at hand. Meanwhile, Axl attempts to bribe Brick after he's asked to teach his little brother how to kick a ball for a gym requirement. However, Brick is the one turning the tables and it ends up bribing him for another favor.