chaodai's new show The Middleman (mondays on ABC Family) last night and it was really great. I'm generally wary of superhero parodies, because they're often made by people that don't get the source material, but this show had me laughing out loud. It's fast, fun, and crammed full of comic book-y goodness, just in the first episode, we've already had mad scientists, a hideous monster, a robot, and a super intelligent gorilla. The plot follows Wendy (played by Natalie Morales), a sassy but blasé temp worker, who loses her job because of the superheroics of The Middleman, a low key, high tech hero that dresses more like a UPS delivery guy than a Justice Leaguer. Of course, before too long Wendy has been recruited as his sidekick and is off to adventuring.
The Middleman himself is played in great deadpan by Matt Kesslar (Last Days of Disco and Psycho Beach Party). The witty, fast-paced dialogue is reminiscent of Pushing Daisies and old Kevin Smith films. Setup-wise, it's clearly got some similarities to Men In Black. And the zaniness is somewhere between The Tick and Hercules.
If they can keep up the mojo they showed in the first episode, I'll be sticking around for sure.
