Airing on Wednesday nights, The Middle doesn’t get a lot of recognition but it’s been a ratings success for ABC for five seasons. How will it perform in season six? Will it be renewed for a seventh season? Could it be cancelled if the ratings fall? Stay tuned.
Taking place in Orson, Indiana, The Middle revolves around the Heck family. It’s headed by Mike (Neil Flynn), who manages a local quarry, and Frankie (Patricia Heaton), a dental assistant. Together, they do their best to make ends meet and raise their three very different kids (Charlie McDermott, Eden Sher, and Atticus Shaffer).
The ratings are typically the best indication of a show’s likelihood of staying on the air. The higher the ratings (particularly the 18-49 demo), the better the chances for survival. This chart will be updated as new ratings data becomes available — usually the next day, around 11:30am EST/8:30am PST. Refresh to see the latest.
5/8 update: ABC has renewed The Middle for a seventh season.
Final season averages: 2.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 7.62 million total viewers.
Note: If you’re not seeing the updated chart, please try reloading the page or view it here.
Due to a Nielsen glitch, some of the early ratings of the 2014-15 season were revised a few weeks later.
For comparisons: The fifth season of The Middle averaged a 2.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 7.82 million total viewers.
Note: Note: These are the Live + Same Day Ratings which include “live” viewing plus delayed DVR viewing, up until 3am local time that same night. Ratings marked with an “*” are the fast affiliate ratings and will be updated with the Live+SD numbers when they are made available. Typically, networks get paid for C+3 ratings which includes DVR viewing within three days of the original airing when commercials are watched. Those numbers are rarely released to the press.
What do you think? Do you still like The Middle TV series? Do you think it should be cancelled or be renewed for a seventh season?
I personally love this show and if you look at them now it is unbelievable how they’ve changed
I cannot believe this show would be concealed… I look forward to 2 shows each week…. In the Middle and one other on Sunday night! In the Middle is spectacular…. Renew! Renew! Renew!
RE New it!!!!!!!
please dont take them off the air.i love this crazy disfuntinal family.they are so much like many families around the globe, they make me laugh and cry.i cant wait for the show every wednesday night,please think of the people that love them.im very upset.
This show is so funny, it’s exactly how I picture small town Americans!!
The Middle is a delightful, contemporary show that all ages can watch. The writing is clever and witty. The only caveat is that it lacks ethnic diversity and relies on the mid-west, heartland stereotypes sometimes too heavily. It deserves a place on the midweek line up, considering the lack of alternative quality family programming on other cable networks.
The characters are entertaining and the dialogue is always funny and full of innuendo.
On school weeknights it’s nice to take a break between dinner and sports, club meetings or homework to watch this show.
My family loves this show..Frankie does and thinks the way most mothers do, only difference is Frankie acts it out..All Cast members are very funny.
Hope this show goes on and on….
Never missed an episode…
This is the best family comedy on television. It is something that can be seen and enjoyed by the whole family. I am a grandmother and see it with my son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons. We often joke that the script writers must have been listening to my older grandson when they write for Axel. It is just about the only show on television where the children act like real children. They are not super wise, nor are they constantly able to get away with mocking their parents. That is something that is a feature of many so-called family shows… Read more »
Really went out of your way to cast the strangest most undeserving people to star in this and earn a primetime paycheck, didn’t you ABC? I thank my lucky stars my kid is nothing like these kids and this show is so bad i can’t believe it’s still on. I am no fan of your sit-coms. While I am primarilay an ABC viewer I have to say there hasn’t been a good sit-com since NBC’s Friends. And that was 11 years ago so sad
Thank You smart lady Raina……Thank You Greg, and a bright Black lady Monique also agree the show is terrible. What person with a brain writes, “Should a show be called WHITE-ISH.??
We, that are White, Yellow, Red, or Tan are happy with the sitcoms that make us laugh. What is Black-ish and its viewers that like it proving??? They are the racist…
It’s not a bad show at all……I accidentally discovered it last year when my dvr messed up and recorded it instead of another show….usually this would prompt me to automatically delete the episode, up until the year before last,when I did the same and accidentally dvr’d the Walking Dean season 1 marathon and I absolutely loved it, so I did the same for the Middle and am glad I gave it a chance. It can be bland at times, over-exaggerated, and many times simply moronic…..but that’s what makes real life easier to live with. I don’t know if it’ll get… Read more »
We love this show. Maybe you need to have a teenage boy to get some of the laughs. Or maybe you really need to be middle class – that’s what I think the name means not mid-west. Comedy exaggerates situations. No one thinks people really do all those things. Having four kids, there are so many shows that have us laughing out loud. I wish it got more recognition.
You are so right! If you have a teenage boy-or raised 2 of them as I did-then you see how ‘for realz’ Axl’s character is! He is my favorite character because he reminds me of my younger son.
As a person from Illinois/ Indiana border I hate to think people from other parts of the U.S. might think that people from “the middle” actually act this stupid, I mean this has got to be one of the most ignorant shows I have ever seen. Unlike a previous peoples comments I have yet to laugh over anything on this show, sorry but if this is suppose to be a funny show it lacks one main ingredient……. humor ! I can not understand why show like this survives and the better shows are taken off. Simple shows for the simple… Read more »
For me, It’s just your personal bias.
Call it what you want Paul, its still a stupid show, a total waste of time and money !
Love this show. Don’t love those who don’t.
I am from Indiana and I LOVE the show and laugh outloud each time it’s on. Do you REALLY care if people from other parts of the USA judge all mid-westerners from this show??? If so, wow…sorry for you.
The comment about The Middle making people look stupid made me laugh. I live in western Ohio and people here are Very Much Middle, in fact The Middle characters are nicer than most. The Brooke Shields character was inspired (I know several like her; they helped their boyfriends/ husbands cook crystal meth, so most are doing time).
The most inauthentic characterization is that Mike does not have a gun collection.
I come from Wisconsin and am a lifelong Midwesterner. I now live in New York City, near my children and grandchildren who have become New Yorkers. Axel is so much like one of my teen grandsons that we often joke that the writers must know him. “The Middle” is the most realistic presentation of American life since “Roseanne.” It shows people who have real financial problems. Many people on sitcoms live mysteriously well for “just ordinary” people. The children seem real as do the parents. Frankie and Mike are not portrayed as being stupid. They are shown as hardworking, loving… Read more »
This program is one of the best comedic programs on television. The writers are so good! One of the few shows for the whole family to enjoy together. Hope it stays on along time.
This is the only show that i have watched that makes me laugh out loud. Being from Indiana, i love hearing the references to places there. I love this show.
I love this one, too!
I watched this in the past, but never found it enough of a comedy to keep watching. I can’t imagine anything has changed this year.
The show is no great shakes. Like Patricia Heaton that is why I will watch every now and then.