Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Michael Adam This is the lowest quality show I have seen so far this year. It has the apparent budget of a BBC show but without the good acting and writing that the British generally provide. The writers provide cliché after endless cliché combined with some of the poorest attempts at comedy that I have born witness to in what may have been the longest 45 minutes of my life. The Middleman actually left me feeling depressed. I haven't seen such poor television since the last time I accidentally flicked onto the Living Channel. And the main character looks like a monkey. However I acknowledge that just as some people enjoy watching the living channel, some people may conceivably enjoy this show, but if you are over the age of 12 I do not recommend this show (the fact that The Middleman seems well suited for children is the only reason I do not rate it with a mere one star). With a near endless wealth of far greater quality television available, this 'family' show will most likely drive the majority of any family into a catatonic state and certainly does not come close to it's competition. I noticed that one comment likened The Middleman to Chuck. Chuck is a well written show with a good budget created by Josh Schwartz (The OC). The Middleman is not well written, nor does it appear to have a good budget. Also coincidentally it does not have Josh Schwartz. Be warned.

jmsfan Seeing the previews of this news, I was intrigued by the premise and if they could pull it off. I was pleasantly surprised that they did so in spades! First off, Natalie Morales is gorgeous as Wendy, a lowly temp who, after an encounter with a monster and showing extreme cool under fire, finds herself recruited by the Middleman. Who exactly he is isn't yet known, but he's played by Matt Keeslar as a suit-and-tie wearing, straight-laced, milk-drinking, non-profanity-using (except for one instance) square who still has that twinkle in his eye and is darn good at destroying monstrous baddies and solving mysteries.In the first episode, somebody or something is offing all the Mafia in the city and Middleman (we don't know his real name yet) and Wendy are on the case. It's not hard to figure out the culprit/culprits but that's beside the point on this show. Watch it for the quick dialogue (I mean both quick=fast and quick=clever) and the fast-paced action, all done with loads of humor.The supporting characters are cool: The Middleman secretary who is actually some kind of robot or alien (we don't see the front of her face, only Wendy's bored reaction and joke as it happens); her roomie, who is an animal activist; Wendy's boyfriend, who, in the pilot, breaks up with her while filming it, all as a part of his film-class project; the guitar-playing dude who hangs out in Wendy's hallway and talks to her in mostly lyrics and trivia and loves it that she answers in kind. "She's the only one who gets me," he says.It's a funny, clever, exciting mix of sci-fi and pop culture moments all wrapped up in an over-too-soon hour. If you can't catch the pilot on iTunes somehow, at least watch the next show. Highly recommended.

Thomas Clement (Mr. OpEd) There were a few things to like about the premier episode: music, photography, effects (that cheesy monster at the beginning). And I chuckled several times. I might have even laughed out loud, but I was never given time.While the show nods at several sources, its roots stretch most obviously back to TV's Batman and Howard Hawks' screwball comedies. However, in both of those classic examples, the creators didn't try to quench the viewer's thirst with a firehose.Middleman's script can be a problem. For example: the exchanges between Wendy Watson and her guitar playing roommate take too long to gel, happen too often, and never have a satisfying payoff (no laughs). The philosophy is: "If you didn't like that joke, there will be another one in a nanosecond; and if you DID like that joke, there will still be another one along in a nanosecond stepping on the toes of the one you did just like. The show's pacing needs some breathing room.And how about a little consistency? The Middleman is a knockoff of Rustler's Rhapsody's Rex O'Herlihan and Adam West's Batman, right down to the non-swearing and milk drinking. Yet, in this very first episode he does swear. He also threatens his employee-to-be with death and beats a thug relentlessly against a car fender. These events don't fit! The Middleman won't be on my "must see" list.

Heliograph A friend said I should take advantage of the free iTunes download, and it was great advice: The Middleman is the best show I've seen since Pushing Daisies. Both shows feature smart, rapid-fire dialog, but The Middleman features more action (and more jokes) with a lot less romance.Another reviewer thought the pop-culture references were current and disposable, but I don't think the show has that feel at all: there were far more jokes referencing (and name-checking) comic books and other pop culture from the 20th century. The show even self-references the fact that the "reality" of the show is like a comic book, complete with "monsters, robots... aliens?" Even so, you jokes are plentiful, and if you're not a comics nerd you'll still enjoy it (there were a surprising number of painting jokes, frex). The show should have no trouble holding up years from now.I was surprised the show will be on ABC Family. It doesn't really seem like a family show, but then again many of the more adult jokes may be over the heads of a younger audience. Frex, the heroine's roommate asks her what it is like to be a "beard." If you like The Venture Brothers, Men In Black, Ghostbusters, or the last bunch of Reaper episodes, you'll like The Middleman<. I've seen comments that it is a ripoff of MIB, Special Unit 2, or Reaper, but if the pilot is any guide is totally avoids the drama and angsty-ness that SU2 or Reaper occasionally indulge in: The Middleman sticks to laughs, and is more comic-booky. And I mean that in a good way.I've never entered a comment on IMDb before, but I felt the other poster's comments were so unfair that I was motivated to submit my own views.