Great Mother of Preston Tucker! Seems like fans of last summer’s cult hit The Middleman are getting what they’ve been wishing for. According to show creator Javier Grillo Marxuach, Shout! Factory will be producing the DVDs with the goal of a Summer 2009 release.
The Middleman, a tongue-in-cheek sci-fi adventure that tossed more in-jokes per episode than your entire high school theatre department, debuted last summer to glowing reviews and gained a small but loyal cadre of diehard viewers. Unfortunately, the show’s future is in jeopardy; there has been no official word from ABC Family that a second season will be forthcoming (though tantalizing hints have been dropped by Grillo Marxuach). Good news for fans just joining us, though: Season One ended on a nice clean note, so you can pick up the DVDs without worrying about any nail-biting cliffhangers.
I’m really hoping that the show gets a chance to return. It’s rare to find a science fiction TV show that isn’t dour, and even rarer to find one that revels in its dollar-budget, self-referential geekery. As far as I’m concerned, they could make a second season that’s nothing but Wendy Watson, the Middleman, and Ida hanging around at Jolly Fats, and I’d still tune in every week. (Peter piping weirdo, that’s me.)
I think, after this much time, it’s dead.
But a DVD release is great news! Not as great as a second season order, of course, but great naetheless!
Now all I need is a link on Amazon.com to pre-order it.
This makes me very happy.
A second season would make me even happier.
Do you think those DVDs will come to Europe, too? Sometimes I feel very unprivileged, not being in the US and not having a Region 1 DVD player.
I’ve read [ http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/11/middleman-abc.html ] that it’s not too likely to return. But then again that piece is from November, so let’s hope that things don’t look that bleak anymore!
“they could make a second season that’s nothing but Wendy Watson, the Middleman, and Ida hanging around at Jolly Fats, and I’d still tune in every week.”
Seconded, definitely seconded.
I’m very, very happy the DVDs are coming out, but I will sorely miss the show if it doesn’t return.
I will buy this DVD! I agree, I love the characters, dialogue, humor, etc. I don’t know if the show’s constant pop culture references might become stale eventually, but there’s really enough else going on with the show that I think at *least* a second season is deserved.
I never heard of this, but I’ll look for it now. Thanks for the write up.
Speaking of the shortage of sci-fi comedy, I wonder if anyone else around here is a fan of Hyperdrive? I bought it almost purely on my faith in the cast (yay Nick Frost!), despite it being seemingly pretty widely reviled, and I love it. It’s not really gag-a-minute style; most of the humor is in the characterization, but it really works for me.
Unfortunately, being a comedy set in space seemed to cause everyone to compare it unfavorably to Red Dwarf, even though they’re not remotely the same style. I gather there’s no third series on the way, which is a shame.
Ditto FCoppersmith’s comment above:
>>This makes me very happy.
A second season would make me even happier.
What grabbed me from the beginning is something very simple: the show is gleefully unpretensious. Not very common, and utterly refreshing. However, most of the episode’s plots are not that good, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they cancelled it permanently.