History YMMV / TheMiddle

* SpecialEffectsFailure: When Sue accidentally burns her hair off in "Not Your Brother's Drop Off", it's obvious that Eden Sher is wearing a wig prior to that scene because Eden Sher had already cut her hair before filming the episode.

** The final episode ends with Sue marrying Sean while Lexi is pregnant with Axl's child at their wedding. In real life, Beau Wirick, who played Sean, married Daniela Bobadilla, who played Lexi, the same year that the show ended.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Lexi's family financially cuts her off. Axl is delighted to show her how to live poor only for the plot to never be mentioned again.

* HilariousInHindsight: In "The Neighbor", Sue and Carly try to beat the Glossners in a fight after the latter challenges by a dance off, not knowing what a fight really entails. In ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' the titular Star Butterfly (voiced by Eden Sher, who plays Sue) has no such problems in knowing how to fight and can be excessive at times. In fact, the episode "School Spirit", Star had... [[KnightTemplar the exact opposite problem when it came to football]], donning battle armor, thinking a trophy case is a memorial, and ''mining and laying traps in a football field''.

* CriticalResearchFailure:
* CrossesTheLineTwice: In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YckdzD92A48 Brad's big musical number]], he mentions Tina Fey as a high school outcast who ended up getting the last laugh. Except Tina Fey's been very open about actually being one of the [[AlphaBitch mean girls]] [[https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/tina-fey-admits-girl-high-school/story?id=35861388 during her school days]].

* CrossesTheLineTwice:

* JustEatGilligan:
** It's hardly suggested that Frankie would be a little less stressed out if Mike would offer to take up some of her duties or if she would call him out for just staying out of the way.
*** BothSidesHaveAPoint have a point in this issue as Mike has called Frankie out on both taking everything so seriously as well as expect everything to be fixed in an instant. The Wind Chimes reveals that a lot of problems that she just thought went away was actually solved by him confronting the people who she gets into fights with.
*** In "Not So Silent Night" when all the family pictures were accidentally deleted from the computer, he called her out over the fact that she makes such a big deal over every little thing when they couldn’t find the originals. He ended up finding them the very next day.
** It's also never suggested that the problems with the Glossners would be solved if someone would just call the police or social services and report them. The closest is Rita herself threatening to do so to Frankie after the latter notices a bunch of stolen stuff in the family's garage.
*** In'Heck vs. Glossners: The Final Battle' after Frankie's car is stolen this is how the Glossner problem is solved. Once a few of the older kids are arrested, Rita actually gets a chance to rest and properly parent the younger kids. She takes up gardening.
** If someone had just forced Sue and Sean to talk to each other about their feelings by now (or was the go-between), they both would have learned about the secret behind the snow globe by now and be together.

** If someone had just forced Sue and Sean to talk to each other about their feelings by now, they both would have learned about the secret behind the snow globe by now and be together.
** "Please Don't Feed the Hecks": If Sue had just swallowed her pride and let Lexie call her dad, the Professor refusing to leave the apartment would have been resolved instantly without so much strife and hardship involved. The fact that Sue and Lexie probably didn't have the authority to sublet it to Derek and Andy in the first place and that Bennett being the one paying for it likely DID have the authority to void Professor Beckett's contract only makes it even more aggravating.

** "Please Don't Feed the Hecks": If Sue had just swallowed her pride and let Lexie call her dad, the Professor refusing to leave the apartment would have been resolved instantly without so much strife and hardship involved.

** Even ''if'' Brick started a fire because he used the oven, as he points out it was still incredibly stupid of Frankie to use it to store ''quilts''. As of the ninth season , [[RunningGag the oven is still being used to store quilts]].

*** In'Heck vs. Glossners: The Final Battle' after Frankie's car is stolen this is how the Glossner problem is solved. Once a few of the older kids are arrested, Rita actually gets a chance to rest and parent properly the younger kids. She takes up gardening.

* {{Padding}}: Quite a bit of it, especially in the later seasons. The whole Disneyworld fiasco could easily have been narrowed down to one episode rather than two, given that not much happens in the first.

** Even ''if'' Brick started a fire because he used the oven, it was ''still'' being used to store ''quilts''. As of the ninth season , [[RunningGag the oven is still being used to store quilts]].

** Season 9's [=SueSean=] arc has been dragged out to the point that fans are clearly irritated with the annoyingly slow pace the story is moving at. It's understandable that the Lexl story arc took as long as it did because Lexie was still a fairly new character who needed to be developed and her dynamic with Axl also needed the proper build-up before they got together. But Sean has been on since Season 1 and his dynamic with Sue (as well as character development) had already been given a fair amount of time since then and been well established. The writers clearly want to keep the conflict going as long as possible because [[StatusQuoIsGod they need for Sue not to be happy and relieved so soon]] and this would resolve all her problems, but even after the two had their FirstKiss that should have sealed the deal, the uncertainty the two still have on their feelings just teeters on the thinnest of plot details and comes off as sloppy and lazy. While RomanticFalseLead April played her part in the Lexl story well, Aiden didn't even have a purpose because his character comes on a few episodes, has no real stock in the story because no else has anything to really say about their relationship and once he and Sue do end things, nothing is resolved! He felt more like a plot device than anything else! The storyline seems to have come to a stand still (with only occasional progression) that has proven to be a fairly botched effort on the writers' part.

** Having Lexie on so little in Season 9 could be deemed one of many others Season 9 has too (especially because she featured so prominently in Season 8). Rather than exploring ideas as to what else could have happened with Lexie and the Hecks or Sue and Sean's relationship after they got together, the season chose to simply set up ideas for the future and then do nothing with them, half the time choosing quick little one-offs in favor of what could have progressed the show forward more thematically. Another big offender of that was "Guess Who's Coming to Frozen Dinner" being about Rusty visiting for dinner and not Lexie's parents Tammy and Bennett (who only got the one episode and didn't get to see the Heck house).

%%* CampGay: Sue's boyfriend Brad is about as close to this as you'll get in a town like Orson, where he got sent to a religious camp to "cure" him[[note]]it was actually for his smoking[[/note]]. Mike and Frankie are at first concerned about Sue having a boyfriend, but after 5 seconds of looking at Brad and listening to him talk, realize his orientation, and are no longer worried.

* CampGay: Sue's boyfriend Brad is about as close to this as you'll get in a town like Orson, where he got sent to a religious camp to "cure" him[[note]]it was actually for his smoking[[/note]]. Mike and Frankie are at first concerned about Sue having a boyfriend, but after 5 seconds of looking at Brad and listening to him talk, realize his orientation, and are no longer worried.

** Having Lexie on so little in Season 9 could be deemed one of many others Season 9 has too. Rather than exploring ideas as to what else could have happened with Lexie and the Hecks or Sue and Sean's relationship after they got together, the season chose to simply set up ideas for the future and then do nothing with them half the time choosing quick little one-offs in favor of what could have progressed the show forward more thematically. Another big offender of that was "Guess Who's Coming to Frozen Dinner" being about Rusty visiting for dinner and not Lexie's parents Tammy and Bennett (who only got the one episode and didn't get to see the Heck house).

* AssPull: The whole [=SueSean=] arc in Season 9 has been one big one most of the time. "The Christmas Miracle" ended with Sue and Sean having their FirstKiss and made fans believe the arc building up their relationship was closed and while not really necessary for almost ten episodes, didn't overstay its welcome. However, "New Year's Revelations" ends with Sue and Sean not talking about how they really felt about the kiss, Sue staying with her current boyfriend Aiden and only a small HopeSpot in which Sean reveals his feelings for Sue to Axl (which implies that it will set up a resolution to the ending between them in "The Confirmation", but it hasn't). On a related note, "The Other Man" ends with Sue deciding not to end things with Aiden because there's the chance he might be the right one for her (he's not, they split three episodes later in "Toasted"). Even then, small teases continue in episodes that follow making it abundantly clear that the writers intend for [=SueSean=]'s union to be a LastMinuteHookup. Fans were needless to say unhappy and grown [[ArcFatigue extremely tired with the continued storyline]] throughout the season.

* AssPull: The whole [=SueSean=] arc in Season 9 has been one big one most of the time. "The Christmas Miracle" ended with Sue and Sean having their FirstKiss and made fans believe the arc building up their relationship was closed and while not really necessary for almost ten episodes, didn't overstay its welcome. However, "New Year's Revelations" ends with Sue and Sean not talking about how they really felt about the kiss, Sue staying with her current boyfriend Aiden and only a small HopeSpot in which Sean reveals his feelings for Sue to Axl (which implies that it will set up a resolution to the ending between them in "The Confirmation", but it hasn't). On a related note, "The Other Man" ends with Sue deciding not to end things with Aiden because there's the chance he might be the right one for her (he's not, they split three episodes later in "Toasted"). Even then, small teases continue in episodes that follow making it abundantly clear that the writers intend for [=SueSean=]'s union to be a LastMinuteHookup. Fans were needless to say unhappy and grown [[ArcFatigue extremely tired with the continued storyline]] throughout the season.
* CampGay: Sue's boyfriend Brad is about as close to this as you'll get in a town like Orson, where he got sent to a religious camp to "cure" him[[note]]it was actually for his smoking[[/note]]. Mike and Frankie are at first concerned about Sue having a boyfriend, but after 5 seconds of looking at Brad and listening to him talk, realize his orientation, and are no longer worried.

* AssPull: "The Christmas Miracle" ended with Sue and Sean having their FirstKiss and made fans believe the arc building up their relationship was closed and while not really necessary for almost ten episodes, didn't overstay its welcome. However, "New Year's Revelations" ends with Sue and Sean not talking about how they really felt about the kiss, Sue staying with her current boyfriend Aiden and only a small HopeSpot in which Sean reveals his feelings for Sue to Axl (which implies that it will set up a resolution to the ending between them in "The Confirmation", but it hasn't). On a related note, "The Other Man" ends with Sue deciding not to end things with Aiden because there's the chance he might be the right one for her (he's not, they split three episodes later in "Toasted") and even then, small teases continue in episodes that follow making it abundantly clear that the writers intend for [=SueSean=]'s union to be a LastMinuteHookup. Fans were needless to say unhappy and grown [[ArcFatigue extremely tired with the continued storyline]] throughout the season.

* AssPull: "The Christmas Miracle" ended with Sue and Sean having their FirstKiss and made fans believe the arc building up their relationship was closed and while not really necessary for almost ten episodes, didn't overstay its welcome. However, "New Year's Revelations" ends with Sue and Sean not talking about how they really felt about the kiss, Sue staying with her current boyfriend Aiden and only a small HopeSpot in which Sean reveals his feelings for Sue to Axl. On a related note, "The Other Man" ends with Sue deciding not to end things with Aiden because there's the chance he might be the right one for her (he's not, they split three episodes later) and even then, small teases continue in episodes that follow making it abundantly clear that the writers intend for [=SueSean=]'s union to be a LastMinuteHookup. Fans were needless to say unhappy and grown [[ArcFatigue extremely tired with the continued storyline]] throughout the season.

** Season 9's [=SueSean=] arc has been dragged out to the point that fans are clearly irritated with the annoyingly slow pace the story is moving at. It's understandable that the Lexl story arc took as long as it did because Lexie was still a fairly new character who needed to be developed and her dynamic with Axl also needed the proper build-up before they got together. But Sean has been on since Season 1 and his dynamic with Sue (as well as character development) had already been given a fair amount of time since then and been well established. The writers clearly want to keep the conflict going as long as possible because [[StatusQuoIsGod they need for Sue not to be happy and relieved so soon]] and this would resolve all her problems, but even after the two had their FirstKiss that should have sealed the deal, the uncertainty the two still have on their feelings just teeters on the thinnest of plot details and comes off as sloppy and lazy. While RomanticFalseLead April played her part in the Lexl story well, Aiden didn't even have a purpose because his character comes on a few episodes, has no real stock in the story because no else has anything to really say about their relationship and once he and Sue do end things, nothing is resolved! The storyline seems to have come to a stand still (with only occasional progression) that has proven to be a fairly botched effort on the writers' part.