ShareThisGift-giving is a Christmas and holiday tradition, but TV viewers received presents early in the form of three strong comedy series that debuted this year.
"The Middle"
There's no question that "Modern Family" is quickly becoming the best comedy on TV, but "The Middle" (8:30 p.m. EST Wednesday, ABC) needs more support.
"The Middle" is a loopy, single-camera comedy about a family in Middle America that's scraping by on luck and love. What makes the show unique among prime-time series is not its style of humor, which bears some resemblance to "Malcolm in the Middle" told from a mom's point of view. It's the emphasis on the children in the family. Other than the half-man on CBS's "Two and a Half Men," kids have been largely AWOL from prime-time broadcast network comedies for about a decade, and they haven't been a focus since "Malcolm."
As relatable as the travails of mom Frankie Heck (Patricia Heaton) may be, it's the stories and characterizations of the Heck kids that make "The Middle" so much fun to watch. Has there ever been as wildly accurate a depiction of teen-age boys as Axl (Charlie McDermott), who moves with the leisurely speed of an unmotivated turtle and complains with a mix of whine and gusto? And upbeat Sue (Eden Sher) has a wild-eyed optimism no matter how many times she's failed before. Oddball Brick (Atticus Shaffer), who looks a lot like Dewey from "Malcolm," takes weirdness to a new level with repeated, under-his-breath whispers of single words he just said aloud.
So far, ABC seems supportive of "The Middle" despite its low ratings, largely the result of having horrible "Hank" (now-canceled) as a lead-in. But more people need to find this hidden gem and help it escape middle-of-the-pack obscurity. "The Middle" deserves to be nearer the top of the ratings heap.
"Parks and Recreation"
There's no better example of the need for patience with some shows than this NBC survivor. "Parks" (8:30 p.m. Thursday) began in April as a showcase for star Amy Poehler, but her Leslie Knope, a bureaucrat in the Pawnee, Ind., Parks and Recreation department, was too often played as a loser with no redeeming qualities and the supporting cast was largely a roster of ciphers.
Now in season two, "Parks" has blossomed as Leslie is portrayed as less of a dope. She's allowed to have some victories and her co-workers no longer seem quite so superior now that they've been better developed. Aziz Ansari's Tom remains the most memorable of the bunch, but even boss Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) has come into his own, adding more laughs to a once-ignorable comedy that's now a weekly must-see.
"Modern Family"
No new fall comedy was as competently fully formed from the start as "Modern Family" (9 p.m. Wednesday, ABC), and even better, the show has held up in episodes beyond the pilot.
This story of three related families works so well because viewers can recognize a bit of themselves in at least one of the family units -- and, at times, maybe even in all of them.
Ed' O'Neill ("Married... With Children") shows that his comedic chops extend far beyond Al Bundy as the patriarch of the clan. He's the father to Claire (Julie Bowen), who has kids and a trying-too-hard husband (Ty Burr), and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), who recently adopted a baby with occasionally flamboyant partner Cam (Eric Stonestreet), a former football player and clown.
"Modern Family" has a little bit of the feel of "Arrested Development," the story of another zany TV family, but with one important difference: Heart. At the end of the day (and the end of each episode), these people love one another despite their differences and comedic foibles.
(Contact TV editor Rob Owen at rowen(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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