Best Episodes of The Middle

The daily mishaps of a married woman and her semi-dysfunctional family and their attempts to survive life in general in the town of Orson, Indiana.

Payments delayed until 2009 come due just as the dryer breaks, Sue needs glasses and Frankie comes within a jelly bean of losing her job. Sue tries out for the swim team with disastrous consequences but a tornado brings good fortune.

An accident leads to a visit from a social worker; Bob tries to help Mr. Ehlert shoot a commercial.

Frankie observes what she thinks are the perfect siblings, and it becomes her mission in life to make her kids stop fighting with one another and interact as a loving family. Meanwhile, Mike contemplates firing Aunt Edie after she makes a costly mistake at the quarry.

Frankie writes a Christmas letter and comes up with interesting interpretations of the family activities. She gets the lead in the Christmas choir's solo and has to attend more practice sessions. Mike takes over home duties.

Frankie buys Sue an expensive pair of jeans to help build her confidence, Mike buys Axl a car to help him impress a girl, and Brick tries to take care of the Aunts' pet dog.

Frankie summons up the courage to confront the scary mother of the neighborhood bullies after they get in a fight with Sue, while Axl agrees to teach Brick how to play kickball.

Mike is forced to look for a job when the quarry temporarily shuts down, and Frankie is forced to do all the work as Brick runs for class historian.

Frankie vows to stop yelling at and nagging her kids if they agree to follow through on their school work and chores without her intervention. Meanwhile, Mike reluctantly takes a night job as a driver delivering snack cakes with Bob.

Axl has a date, Sue has her first boy-girl party, and Brick is at a sleepover. So will Mike and Frankie have an opportunity to have a romantic Valentine's Day?

The family takes a weekend trip to Chicago so that Brick can take part in a spelling bee, but Sue gets to call the shots because Mike and Frankie forgot her birthday.

Mike and Frankie are shocked to find out that Axl is dating the head cheerleader, but what will happen when she breaks up with him? Meanwhile, Sue and Brick become freaked out after they watch a horror movie about zombies.

Mike's once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to the Final Four is put into jeopardy when Frankie's uncle's funeral is scheduled for the same day.

Mike and Frankie struggle to find an alternative form of entertainment over cable TV after a visit to a financial adviser, but the kids quickly pick up new hobbies and don't miss it at all.

Frankie becomes distressed when Axl gets back together with Morgan one more time and she begins telling him what to do again, while Brick struggles to take care of a baby chick.

After another disappointing Mother's Day, Frankie and Sue leave for the rest of the day to visit Frankie's mom.

As the Hecks prepare for their annual spring barbecue, Mike and Brick work on their social skills together and Sue becomes infatuated with the pastor in charge of her youth group.

The Hecks parents must react to school assessments of their kids. Axl scored high on aptitude, so his slacking and poor grades are no longer acceptable, but cramming all night with Mike still doesn't do the trick. Brick may a librarian's dream, the only school kid who truly enjoys reading, mean old Mrs. Nethercott, who luckily can't prove vandalism, still threatens to prevent him passing to the next grade unless he returns all missing books, now found all over the Heck home. Sue is the only school kid without a yearbook picture, so Frankie steps up the search for some activity she can join. the principal opens up track running without time threshold, but even a passing deer proves too much opposition fro the eternal failure.

Frankie plans to get ahead of the game with her children's school needs, but winds up failing miserably.

Frankie's dream of being Axl's escort for the homecoming football game is shattered when Sue's cross-country meet is scheduled for the same day. Meanwhile, Brick attempts to rake the leaves in the backyard.

Frankie is worried that she is getting old after she throws out her back, Sue has a crush on Axl's friend who is working on a school "project" at the house, and Brick becomes wise to Frankie's lies.

Frustrated with being forced to bribe the kids to get along, Frankie convinces the family to host a foreign exchange student to improve the situation. However, the student shows no interest in anything either.

Mike reluctantly agrees to go to a Halloween party with Frankie, but won't dress up. Meanwhile, Axl has a plan to pick up some girls, Sue parties with Reverend TimTom and the youth group, and Brick has an unusual costume.

Brick finally learns the embarrassing story about how the day he was born, and Axl picks up the slack for his incompetent but beautiful new boss at the movie theater.

Brick asks to stay home instead of running errands with mom on Saturday, Mike gets upset when one of Sue's so-called "friends" doesn't invite her to a sleepover, and Axl tries in vain to grow a beard with the football team.