‘Accelerated decrepitude.” - Pris, Blade Runner

By Lisa Fary

Recently, Pink Raygun was invited to take part in a conference call with Javier Grillo-Marxuach, creator of ABC Family’s summer series, The Middleman. What Grillo-Marxuach had to say got me excited to see the show, so naturally, I was thrilled to get an advance rough cut of the pilot.

What Worked

–Wendy. Natalie Morales does a great job making Wendy natural and likable. Even when the writing gets awkward, she owns the character.

–Wendy’s Friends. Lacey, Noser and the ex-boyfriend were all well written and well played. There is enough quirkiness about them to make them distinct without being obnoxious. They didn’t have the same dialogue challenges as Wendy and The Middleman, but they were vivid and alive.

–Getting started right away. We’re immediately introduced to Wendy, who we quickly learn is an art school graduate working temp jobs and is unable to please her mother. She’s on screen for only a couple of minutes before she’s attacked by a tentacled butt monster and has her first encounter with The Middleman.

–The concept. The stuff you read about in comics really happens and there is a super secret organization that fights it. It’s a simple concept and there is room to get as crazy or as serious as necessary.

What Didn’t Work

–Matt Keeslar as The Middleman. Grillo-Marxuach said in the Q & A that he had envisioned Keeslar in this role from the beginning, largely based on his performance in The Last Days of Disco. I haven’t seen The Last Days of Disco, but after watching the advance disc of The Middleman, I watched some clips.

Keeslar could act there. He also pulled off some acting in Art School Confidential. There is little indication that he can act in The Middleman.

He’s going for deadpan and is just coming off dead. That deadness then permeates the scene whenever he comes on screen. While Keeslar is playing the role seriously, he comes off as flat, with little inflection and even less personality. Did the super secret agency which recruited The Middleman delete his personality?

If his acting on the show doesn’t improve, there is still something Matt Keeslar can do to save the show: nude scenes. However, since this is ABC Family, I’ll settle for several substitute shirtless scenes (only if unwaxed).

–Mary Lynne Rajskub. Another actor who has previously been seen engaged in acts of decent acting displays no such ability in The Middleman. It’s only a guest part, but she’s nearly as deadened as Keeslar.

–The gags went on too long. It was funny the first time Spanky the Mob Gorilla spouted a line from The Godfather. When it became apparent that all of his lines were from The Godfather, Scarface and The Sopranos and he showed no signs of stopping, it wasn’t so funny.

–The Gilmore Girls beat. Most of the dialogue between Wendy and The Middleman is fast paced and packed with pop culture references. When that kind of dialogue is done well, it’s great. However, in The Middleman, they get off pace easily and carry the conversation on for too long.

–Lots of talky exposition. And repetitive exposition. And talky repetitive exposition. We learned early that Wendy is an art graduate who can’t please her mom. We had to re-learn it a few more times throughout the episode. There were also clever subtitles to tell the viewer the location and time. . . which were vocalized word for word seconds after appearing on the screen. It was like the kind of bad comic writing that spends time and space on written narration describing the picture you’re already looking at.

The pilot had a lot of problems, but I kept reminding myself that it was a pilot and a rough cut. It may very well pick up in the final cut or in episode two. Also, Kyle XY has similar problems, but has been a big hit for ABC Family. The Middleman may fit in perfectly and do well on the network as is.

I don’t like passing judgement on an entire series based on the first episode. There is potential for The Middleman to go the way of The Venture Bros. or The Tick. I just have to wait and see.

Never miss an update. Subscribe to Pink Raygun by Email or subscribe via RSS

Lisa Fary’s early exposure to classic Battlestar Galactica in 1979 is largely responsible for her lifelong interest in science fiction and her childhood ambition of being an intergalactic space cowgirl. She thinks diagramming sentences is a fun alternative to Sudoku.