Throng

8:00pm Sunday, August 29 on TV2

Frankie (Patricia Heaton) has to help Axl (Charlie McDermott) deal with a broken heart, in tonight's episode of The Middle.

Frankie and Mike (Neil Flynn) are excited to discover that Axl has found the perfect girlfriend, Morgan (Alexa Vega, Spy Kids), and that he's in love. But just as they start to get used to his new, sunny outlook on life, Morgan does the unthinkable and breaks up with him - leaving Axl completely heartbroken.

Meanwhile, Sue (Eden Sher) learns that she's not the greatest of babysitters when she's put in charge of watching Brick (Atticus Shaffer) and freaks him out (as well as herself) by letting him watch a scary movie.

8:00pm Sunday, July 25 on TV2

Brooke Shields (Lipstick Jungle) makes an appearance in tonight's special episode of The Middle, but her less than glamourous guise may surprise some fans.

Frankie (Patricia Heaton) fears that a confrontation with trashy neighbour Rita Glossner (Shields) is brewing when Sue (Eden Sher) has a run-in with her out-of-control sons. Terrified of the tough single mother of four, Frankie tries to appease her with an act of kindness - but when the peace offering fails, the gloves come off, and Frankie makes a stand on behalf of the whole neighbourhood.

Heaton was excited when she heard Shields was going to be appearing on the comedy series, as she tells Entertainment Tonight.

Flashforward to be revived?

Positive news for fans of axed drama series Flashforward with news that US network Starz is “aggressively seeking” the licence for the show which was cancelled by ABC after its first season. The network is reportedly interested in producing new episodes after ongoing public protests regarding its demise.

MasterChef bumps election debate

The popularity of MasterChef Australia across the ditch has forced new Prime Minister Julia Gillard and opposition rival Tony Abbott to reschedule their live election debate this Sunday night. The finale of the current season of the cooking show takes place in the primetime slot and due to its overwhelming popularity the debate will be cut down and rushed through earlier in the night.

8:00pm Sunday, June 27 on TV2

Frankie's (Patricia Heaton) perfect Thanksgiving turns into a nightmare, tonight on The Middle.

Frankie's dream of an idyllic family Thanksgiving is thwarted when her boss, Mr Ehlert (Brian Doyle-Murray, The Bill Engvall Show) forces the staff to work on the holiday.

Meanwhile, Frankie and Mike (Neil Flynn) approve of a clueless Sue's (Eden Sher) first boyfriend - who turns out to be a safe choice - and a panicked Axl (Charlie McDermott) loses Brick (Atticus Shaffer) in a corn maze.

8:00pm Sunday, May 30 on TV2

Frankie (Patricia Heaton) urges Sue (Eden Sher) to stand up for herself at school, and Brick (Atticus Shaffer) discovers love isn't easy, tonight on The Middle.

Meek daughter Sue finally succeeds in doing something right by selling thousands of dollars' worth of sausage and cheese samples for the school, which makes her eligible to travel to the state capitol. But when the school fails to recognise her achievement, Frankie urges her daughter to fight for her right to collect her well-deserved prize.

Meanwhile, Brick discovers that love isn't all it's cracked up to be when his first girlfriend proves to be a bit on the bossy side.

Last week we discussed the decision by TVNZ programming to put The Middle up against Modern Family.  Everyone expected The Middle to do better just because it was on TV2 but the results were better than expected.

The Middle replaced The Amazing Race which ended last week and combined with the Big Bang Theory, improved the audience numbers for TV2.

Not only that, but the numbers for Modern Family dropped.  In the end, The Middle drew an audience of 475,170 compared to 202,260 for Modern Family.  Considering the effort that appears to have gone into marketing Modern Family with billboards plastered up and down the country, this must be disappointing for TV3.

The demographic data paints an even worse picture. In the 18-39, Modern Family dropped to a 14.7% share while The Middle took 34.7%.

8:00pm Sunday, May 9 on TV2

Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) stars as Frankie Heck in the brand new TV2 show, The Middle, a warm and witty single-camera comedy about raising a family and lowering your expectations.

Middle aged, middle class and living in the middle of the country, Frankie, a harried wife and working mother of three, uses her wry wit and sense of humour to try to get her family through each day intact.

As Heaton explains, her character comes from a place she knows well: "I grew up in Ohio, and since I didn't really get a regular start in this industry until much later in life, I feel the Ohio Midwestern roots are still really within me, and I feel that's where I'm most comfortable. So this is a very comfortable character for me to be in."

Now here's a dilema for you:  8pm on a Sunday night. Will you watch disfunctional Family A on TV2 or disfunctional Family B on TV3?

TV2 have decided to put their new show The Middle up against TV3's Modern Family.

Both shows air on ABC in the US but Modern Family has the numbers.  12.61 million tuned in for the pilot of Modern Family while 8.71 tuned in for The Middle.  Since then, Modern Family has pulled in an average of 9.1 million viewers while The Middle has pulled in 6.8 million.

Both shows run back-to-back from 8:30pm on Wednesdays in the US but there are 25% more viewers who tune in for Modern Family.

Time will tell how the ratings will compare here.  In any case, two shows that work well together in the US for ABC are now going head to head here.

Which one will you watch?