The Middleman: The Blog Review Necessity

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The pilot for the TV adaptation of The Middleman aired last night, and if you missed it… well, that’s your own darn fault.

I mean really: ABC Family aired it twice back-to-back at 8 and 9, and as Kevin pointed out, you could even get the whole episode for free on iTunes last weekend. Fortunately for all you Johnnies-Come-Lately, you can still catch it on the ABC Family website. And you should catch it, because it’s totally awesome.

 

 

Long-time ISB readers might recall that I’m a big fan of the comic book series–and really, if you haven’t read it, then do yourself a favor and get the upcoming omnibus and prepare to have your mind blown–and with good reason. Not only is it sharply written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach and beautifully drawn by Les McClaine, it has virtually everything I want in a comic book.

For starters, it’s got characters that could easily become clichés, but don’t: The Hot Girl main character is more than just a hot girl, and the Mysterious Tough Guy lead is more than just a mysterious tough guy, and the supporting characters are a hoot. And then there’s the fun stuff, like monkey-related super-crime, kung-fu luchadores, and of course, Lacey’s Iguana Suit. It’s like it was made for me, and in fact, there’s a review of the third volume where the claim is made that The Middleman is not actually a comic book, but “a psychiatric thesis on the id of Chris Sims.”

So yeah. I’m kind of a fan.

And as a fan, I’m glad to report that for its first episode, at least, The Middleman has made the transition from incredibly enjoyable comic to incredibly enjoyable TV show pretty handily.

For that, I imagine the credit can be laid at the feet of Grillo-Marxuach, who’s an executive producer on the show and wrote the first episode, which is virtually a page-for-page, shot-for-shot adaptation of the first mini-series. And since that means that we get scenes like this directly translated to film…

 

 

…I’d say that’s a very good thing.

As for the changes, well, they’re mostly in the way the characters look. Foxy redhead Wendy Watson is now a foxy brunette played by Natalie Morales…

 

 

…with which I have absolutely no problem.

Slightly more jarring–for me at least–was the Middleman himself, as played by Matt Keeslar:

 

 

At first glance, he just didn’t quite look the part. There’s a note on Les McClaine’s concept sketches in the first trade where Grillo-Marxuach writes that the first design had “too much Steve McQueen, not enough Jonny Quest,” but with Keeslar, he struck me as the opposite. Rather than the rugged, stubble-sporting Man Of Action that towers over Wendy in the comics, he’s much more of a clean-cut everyman.

But like I said, that’s just at first glance. As the episode went on, Keeslar’s delivery just nailed the character in scene after scene–especially when he’s roughing up mobsters over a cool glass of milk–and by the time he’s rolling his eyes at a mad scientist’s plot to take over the Mafia with super-intelligent gorillas obsessed with Scarface, he totally won me over.

Acting-wise, they work well together. My biggest problem with the show–and this is a pretty minor quibble on my part–is that they talk fast. Really fast. Gilmore Girls fast. It’s a staccato pattern of one-liners that you see in a lot of places and while it’s not always my thing, there are definitely spots where it works here. I’d forgotten the “It’s bad apples like you…” joke and the way it comes off in the show just blindsided me with how funny it is. And even better is the scene where the Middleman lectures Wendy about her language: It’s one of my favorite bits from the comic, and it plays out on the screen almost exactly like I’d read it in the comic.

As for the production values, I’ve heard opinions on both sides of the fence, but I think it looks awesome. It’s certainly a lot better-looking than the first season of, say, Buffy (which, admittedly, was over ten years ago), and for a basic cable network like ABC Family, it looks a lot better than I thought it would.

Also, it has a gorilla in a tracksuit.

 

 

It’s good, fun stuff so far, and since they managed to knock out four issues of the comic in the span of an hour, I’m looking forward to seeing new adventures for some of my favorite characters mixed in with the ones we’ve already got in comics form.

Because seriously, if they show Sensei Ping and the Wu-Han Thumb of Death, this will be the greatest television show ever made.

 

 

As it stands, it’s definitely a 4.5 out of a possible 5 Sonny Hoopers.

31 thoughts on “The Middleman: The Blog Review Necessity”

  2. Right on the money, including the minor quibble about dialogue.

    Hopefully this isn’t a one-way media transfer and more Middleman comics are planned.

  3. You know, if there was justice in this world, all television shows would be like this.

  4. I haven’t read the comics (yet! I just added the omnibus to my wishlist) but I downloaded the pilot from itunes and I pretty much loved it. I do agree with you on the fast talking thing though, but it wasn’t enough to stop me from setting up a series recording for this on my DVR.

    “You kiss your mother with that mouth? Huh, garbage mouth? Yes, you.” was one of the funniest lines in the episode, IMO. The delivery was perfect.

  5. “You know, if there was justice in this world, all television shows would be like this.”

    If all television shows were like this, wouldn’t it be a grave injustice to print since these kinds of faithful adaptations leave no reason at all to go read?

  6. I come from Chicagoland, in an area where we’re known not so much for accent as for the speed we talk (much to the chagrin of our neighbors to the south, who have a drawl). A lot of television just leaves me bored, people talk so slowly. Rapid speech is a definite bonus.

    Incidentally, I like Gilmore Girls for its quick and witty dialog too.

  7. A while ago I suggested that Chris should be writing professionally… but now I’m beginning to see the full extent of his grand plan.

    A-ha, Mr. Sims! A-HA!

    You’ve just been kidding us all the time, haven’t you? Pretending to be a mild-mannered comic-book shop guy… while SECRETLY TAKING OVER THE WORLD’S TELEVISION AND MOVIE PRODUCTION, and WARPING IT INTO YOUR OWN VISION??

    The Middle Man and Machine Girl and Kung Fu Panda, all in the same year… coincidence?

    Well, however you manage to do this, keep doing it…
    ;-)

  8. SECRETLY TAKING OVER THE WORLD’S TELEVISION AND MOVIE PRODUCTION, and WARPING IT INTO YOUR OWN VISION??

    should this come as a surprise? he’s been not-so-secretly doing that to the Internet for the last three years.

  9. Sadly, here in the UK we don’t get ABC Family and the website doesn’t allow folk outside the US to view the vid. Still, I’ll look out for it.

    Also, the “as Kevin pointed out” link seems to just send you back to this post and not to Mr Church’s site. Not sure whether that’s a good or bad thing… ;-)

  10. And Apple finally figured out that loophole in iTunes that allowed the rest of us to buy stuff from different regions, so now we’re pretty much screwed. Looks fun.

  11. I haven’t read the comic but I thought the show was a lot of fun. Definitely tuning in for more…and probably getting the omnibus as well.

  12. I agree on the fast talkin’ – seemed to move to fast to hit the beats that we saw in the comics. My only other complaint was that the acting seemed very Disney Channel – you know, where you can tell they’re acting. I don’t know how to explain that exactly. I chalk it up to this being becasue it was the pilot.

    That said, I loved it to pieces.

  13. Upon your recommendation, I watched it on the ABC Family site. This show is made of exactly 1.5 million different kinds of awesome.

  14. Keeping the inane DVD region coding around in the age of the internet seems at best, silly and wasteful, and more likely ignorant, bull-headed and greedy.

  15. Sadly, here in the UK we don’t get ABC Family and the website doesn’t allow folk outside the US to view the vid. Still, I’ll look out for it.

    That’s seriously lame. But you know, I have heard of certain shady sites where someone like, say, an enterprising young reviewer who wanted to grab a couple of screenshots, could find it for less-than-legal download.

  16. Hey, that Natalie Morales is a good lookin’ drop of skin! But the gorilla in a tracksuit – Hubba Hubba!

  17. Waitaminute! That gorilla looks disturbingly like an ape called Ape from George of the Jungle! Great day in the morning!

  18. Easter egg: The fedora’d, bearded picture hanging in both the mob restaurant and the hidden ape room? That’s a picture of artist Les McClaine.

    And yes, Ping is coming. But the guy playing him…ahhhhh.

  19. I think part of the reason the dialogue seemed rushed to me was that they were flying through an entire 4-issue mini-series in 44 minutes. I’m more excited at this point for the non-adapted episodes.

  20. I have heard of certain shady sites where someone like, say, an enterprising young reviewer who wanted to grab a couple of screenshots, could find it for less-than-legal download.

    I try not to head down those shady paths but, yes, there is that option. The same problem occurred elsewhere (such as with NBC’s Heroes which was available on their website but not outside the US).

    Pushing Daisies also had that speaking-really-fast feature (or perhaps I’m just slow). It’s… annoying.

  21. It’s also available through Netflix’ “watch now” service for the next couple of days for those of you Netflixers out there.

  23. I still think it’s funny that J.G-M originally conceived “The Middleman” as a TV pilot, turned it into a comic book when nobody bit, and then managed to sell the comic as a TV show.

    Also thought the show was the fun kind of cheesy (vs. the stupid kind of cheesy). We jumped in about 40 minutes into the episode, and my wife’s first response was, “What the hell is this and why are you watching it?” However, by the end she was won over enough for us to sit through the repeat.

    It may be low-budget, but no moreso than early Star Trek or even modern-day Doctor Who has sometimes. And if Sensei Ping is coming, then so is teh AWESOME!! I hope they get James Hong (and a really good stuntman) to do the role.

  24. Chris, you disappoint me.

    It has a gorilla in a track suit doing lines from Goodfellas. That turned the awesome up to eleven, my friend.

    *writes “Mrs. Mary Sue Middleman” in her notebook and draws little hearts around it*

  26. I feel a deep sense of shame for not knowing of this beautiful show’s existence sooner. God Bless You, Sims, for spreading the news of it’s existence.

    That is seriously the most promising pilot I’ve seen since Veroni– oops, never mind. I don’t want to jinx it.

  27. KDBryan Says:

    That is seriously the most promising pilot I’ve seen since Veroni- oops, never mind. I don’t want to jinx it.

    Christ, that was close.

  29. Mal “Vermin64” Gardiner Says:

    Waitaminute! That gorilla looks disturbingly like an ape called Ape from George of the Jungle! Great day in the morning!

    It is.

    I saw Matt Keeslar as the Middleman described like this, and I like it: “he looks less like the Middleman from the comics and more like the bizarre love child of the Middleman and Les himself.”

    Ping will be in episode 3. And we may have gotten the coolest guest star ever to play him.

  30. I too am outside of the US, but I managed to acquire it through the shadowy black market of the interweb, and it is indeed a brilliant pilot.

    Kinda of like.. a silly (sillier?) version of Dr. Who., with a spy twist and some brilliant lines.

    It shows it’s budget, though. In terms of TV style, it’s closer to JPod in that sense. Though hopefully longer lived!