When I first heard of this new ABC Family Show "The Middleman," I thought it would be campy and lame and forgettable. About an original unestablished superhero that fights aliens, mad scientists and such like MIB. With those addictive commercials that are played repeatedly, it got to me. Surprisingly, it is fresh and skewers in between harmless family fun to randy adult Buffy-era. Now that I mention Buffy, it is not like. It reminds me more of the pace of those hip movies like Clockstoppers or Hellboy. Our heronie Wendy (Natalie Morales) is a temp, bouncing temp job to temp job who looses her job because of a monster causing arson at her job and her getting blamed for it. She gets dumped by her dumb rich boyfriend and she lives in a warehouse with an artsty liberal granola chic. Wendy herself is an artist, just making money to do her art.
In the monster attack, the Middleman (Matt Keeslar) comes into her life and tests her, must to her chagrin because he is the one who planted her and prevented her from getting a new job. She eventually joins him, he picked her out because she didn't flinch, she knew what to do. The Middleman himself is seemingly goody-good Dudly Do-Right (who is referenced by her) who doesn't curse and say cute sayings from the 50's--which is pointed out by Wendy. And she curses and every time someone curses, it is bleeped out and their mouth is covered with black bar. Even though the villain of the day was a lame gorilla suit, the show has sharp writing and lots and lots of innuendo. For gods sake, there was a strip club in a scene for more than 5 minutes. Also, the word 'lesbian' is mentioned in the first two minutes of the episode. The show to me is a delightful mix of The Rocketeer, MIB, Big Wolf on Campus (a former ABC Family show) and a little Buffy. It has its own style. And Keeslar is delightful, he doesn't come off with super seriousness in his lines nor too tongue-in-cheek, he takes thrill in the role.Favorite Quote: "Quit calling me f****n dubbie."
