After reading the New York Times’ excellent review of ABC Family’s newest quirky, squeaky-clean series, “The Middleman,” by Susan Stewart–it’s basically an ode–I quickly DVR’d the pilot I missed from last week and set up the cable to catch epsiode two.
Well, heck! It was such a good decision! Title character Matt Keeslar who plays The Middleman (he fights crime but he doesn’t know exactly on who’s behalf–maybe God’s?–he quips at one point) is constantly letting out old-fashioned exclamations like “Gosh-darnnit!” and “Lickety split” with such deadpan that you’ll be in stitches. And Natalie Morales as Wendy Watson, his newly hired sidekick adds just the right amount of salty sarcasm to Middleman’s super-goodguy sweet. Overall, the show is fantastic–highly stylized, fast-paced, clever dialogue, witty banter, enough camp to satisfy the most committed Buffy fans (now that’s high praise–all packed into a show that oozes comic book flair (with a wink, wink).
Impossible not to love. Don’t forget to set the DVR to catch episode three, which airs on Monday at 10pm, and repeats of one and two. You won’t be sorry.