508 - The Kiss

Middling with Eden and Brock

Eden and Brock recap The Middle episode 508,

Key takeaways

• The hosts explain that
• was shot as episode 506 but aired as 508, with the script noting it shoots out of order.
• They discuss how shared readers were a real on-set habit among Eileen, Patty, and Neil, making the Janet's-house TV gag feel authentic.
• Brock explains that nighttime car scenes use
• where people flash lights to simulate passing streetlights instead of using green screen.
• The diner scene was filmed in a repurposed Ellert's set rather than Stucky's, and the silent husband is noted as a featured extra used to save money.

Main topics

• The Kiss episode recap
• Behind-the-scenes production details
• Deleted scenes and rewrites

Notable quotes

Way to go, Fonzie.

Conclusion

The episode offers a detailed fan-level breakdown of The Middle's product

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:00) Okay, Brock. Team Darren or Team Sean, do you actually need to see the car to call shotgun? Speaker 2 (0:06) No. Speaker 4 (0:08) Wow, I'm glad this was the question. Yes, you do! No, Speaker 2 (0:11) you don't. Or you Speaker 4 (0:12) can just say it whenever. You can say it an hour ahead of time knowing that you're going to get in the car. Speaker 2 (0:16) Yeah. Speaker 4 (0:17) What? Speaker 2 (0:17) Honey, plan ahead. Speaker 4 (0:20) That takes the game away from it. Then it's like, there's no competition. It's just, I guess the competition is the mental game of like, who thinks of it first. Speaker 2 (0:27) Eden, we're recapping. Speaker 3 (0:32) And that is all we need. Moving Speaker 4 (0:34) on. Speaker 2 (0:35) No, I think to me, see, my brother would agree with you that you need to see the car. And then, but I, again, I like to plan ahead. I know. But also, I know I'm never getting shotgun because I'm the shortest one of my friends. So I'm always in the middle seat in the back. Speaker 4 (0:51) Oh, sure. So I Speaker 2 (0:52) never even try. You know, Speaker 4 (0:53) the truth is, me either. Like, I'm so small. Like, I'm 5'2". I'm never getting it. I'm always handing it to my six-foot husband. Yeah, of Speaker 2 (1:01) course. Do Speaker 4 (1:02) it. Go, go. So we Speaker 2 (1:04) can call shotgun all we need, but we don't need shotgun. You know what I mean? We Speaker 4 (1:07) really don't. Especially also the times I've been pregnant. Speaker 4 (1:11) Then it switches to me. I automatically get shot. Yes, Speaker 2 (1:13) of Speaker 4 (1:13) course. Speaker 2 (1:13) So Speaker 4 (1:14) who cares? Speaker 2 (1:14) Eden, we're recapping episode 508. The kiss. And it's just us today. And just to be clear, we're not kissing. At least not on camera. No, Speaker 4 (1:24) not on camera. When the cameras Speaker 2 (1:25) go off, then you and I kiss. Yeah, exactly. Speaker 4 (1:28) Or if we had a little, we've had some jello shots. Oh, all that and so much more. So let's get to middling. Speaker 2 (1:52) Welcome to middling with Eden and Brock where Eden and I break down an episode of ABC's the middle each and every week Oh Speaker 4 (1:58) my god, if Speaker 2 (1:59) you haven't listened to for our alerts bonus Subscribers if you haven't listened to the Nathan Varney interview for this month's bonus episode that released on Sunday Go listen to it. It's fascinating it's Speaker 4 (2:12) really really nice when we have someone when we don't have like an actor or some perspective that we already know yes when it's one that's like you know what i really even after how old am i sort of after 25 years in the industry i really don't know the ins and outs of what goes on behind the scenes in that way so it is it's a really interesting it's a good conversation i Speaker 2 (2:32) also like it too i feel less It's probably not the smart thing to do, but I feel less stressed in terms of prep because I know that when we have someone that's not an actor, they say something, it's going to spark a kind of a new question. I want to go down that rabbit hole in terms of conversation. Yeah. And he's just the sweetest. Yeah. The absolute sweetest. Okay. Also, do you listen to Caleb Heron? Do you like Caleb Heron? I love him. You know who's on Caleb Heron? Who? Aaron Branch. Speaker 4 (3:02) I have to listen to it. I Speaker 2 (3:04) know. And Caleb does this thing where he goes, I don't have anyone on my podcast that I don't know. He goes, so I'm never like meeting someone for the first time on mic. And so I love that one, that they're friends. Cause I think that both of them are very funny in their own right. You also know how cool Aaron branches. I haven't listened to it yet, but I saw clips of it where the mark of someone who's really cool because they don't give up. is when he had one of those star pimple patches on and baby he did the whole he did the whole podcast with that star pimple patch on and i said that you are so cool i could never you are so cool he Speaker 4 (3:35) what he is he has turned into he has so come into his own i can i should should i am entitled to zero credit and i feel so proud like a mom i feel like my baby i knew it I knew it from Speaker 2 (3:50) the start. I knew Speaker 4 (3:50) it from the moment I met you. I did is the thing. No, Speaker 2 (3:52) the thing. Because if you don't know, we've had him on the podcast way, way when we first started. But he was in the Sue spinoff with us. And Speaker 4 (3:58) I literally, the second he came into the room, I was like, if we do not cast this person, they flew him in from Chicago. Yep. Because I was like, everyone we've seen, they're good. They're just not like it. Like, is there anyone else? And then brought him in and I was like. this kid yeah what is this kid yeah what is happening here and then they did the thing that they did to you of like like uh so don't pack don't go home yet don't Speaker 3 (4:22) go Speaker 4 (4:22) home don't leave don't get like don't Speaker 3 (4:24) get Speaker 4 (4:24) on a plane and then he was all right okay okay and then he just came on set and i was like you my friend are going to be a big big star and Speaker 2 (4:31) he is Speaker 4 (4:33) What does he have? Like a million followers on Instagram? Yes. And he's no, he deserves every. He's so funny. Yeah. He's so weird. Speaker 2 (4:39) Yes. I Speaker 4 (4:40) love it. It's Speaker 2 (4:41) part of his funny. It Speaker 4 (4:42) is. That's it. Because he has not. He never. He just never tries to be anyone that he's not. He has his own. Speaker 2 (4:48) Oh, Speaker 4 (4:49) I'm so proud of that kid. I got to listen to it. What's so true? I want to know what is so true. Me Speaker 2 (4:52) too. Me too. Me too. But I would like that Caleb does. He goes, I don't. bring anyone that I don't know onto the podcast. It's this, when I went to Naomi Perrigan's wedding, they had a rule. They were like, we're not meeting anyone at the wedding. And I'd only met Naomi. I hadn't met Andy, her husband. And so we had a dinner date. We had to schedule a dinner date a month before their wedding because I couldn't meet Andy at the wedding. Speaker 4 (5:12) That's so smart. I thought Speaker 2 (5:13) that was smart too. I love that. I Speaker 4 (5:15) like that. And can't you Speaker 2 (5:15) just hear Naomi going, I'm not meeting anyone at the wedding. I'm Speaker 4 (5:18) not meeting anyone. Absolutely not. I'm Speaker 2 (5:20) going to a standup show on Thursday. Oh, you Speaker 4 (5:21) are? Where? Speaker 2 (5:22) With the... Oh, I'm going to get it wrong. Elysian. Speaker 4 (5:26) The Elysian. Speaker 2 (5:26) The Elysian. Yeah. She's doing it with. Oh, someone else. Aparna. Is that her name? Speaker 4 (5:32) Yeah. Aparna and Anjala. Yes, Speaker 2 (5:33) yes, yes, yes. Oh my Speaker 4 (5:34) God. I love her. Oh my God. What a duo. And Speaker 2 (5:35) the name, the reason I was like, Cameron, we have to go is they said in bed by eight, it starts at six 30, 30 minutes each. And then they said, you're going to be in bed by eight. I love Speaker 4 (5:44) them. I love them. I'm not shocked by this at all. And I love them so much. Speaker 2 (5:49) Um, so yeah, we're going to their standup show on Thursday. Oh my Speaker 4 (5:51) God. I want to go. These are two, they're two of my favorite comedians. Yeah. Speaker 2 (5:55) I don't know much about Aparna. Speaker 4 (5:56) Oh, she's so funny. I can't wait. I don't even know if I've Speaker 2 (5:59) seen. I've probably seen clips of her, but I've never seen her Speaker 4 (6:01) in full action. She's so good. Okay, I'll keep you abreast. Oh my God. Speaker 2 (6:06) Eden. Anyway. Speaker 4 (6:07) Should we do middle minutes? Let's do them. Okay. Speaker 4 (6:13) Okay. Episode 508, The Kiss. When... I hate that sound. I think that's my least favorite sound in the world. Oh, that Speaker 2 (6:22) one? Love Island. Speaker 4 (6:23) Yeah. Love Island. I literally have to like, I plug my ears and close my eyes when they do that. Like, I can't even do it. It's like I suddenly develop misophonia. Of course. For that one. Uh Speaker 3 (6:32) -huh. Speaker 4 (6:32) So, episode 508, The Kiss. When Frankie's sister asks her to house sit, Frankie and Mike jump at... Speaker 2 (6:41) Because you knew I was going to do it, too. Of course. You know me so well, you beat me to it. Speaker 4 (6:46) When Frankie's sister asks her to house it, Frankie and Mike jump at the opportunity to have a romantic, kid-free weekend in Janet's upscale house. Meanwhile, Sue and Brick deal with a home invasion of the Glossners, and Axel takes a road trip with Darren and Sean so he can reconnect with Cassidy. Speaker 2 (7:01) Written by Janet and Mitch Hunter. Directed by Elliot Egati. Speaker 4 (7:05) Elliot Egati. The guest cast this week consists of Bo Weirich as Sean Donahue, John Gammon as Darren, Tommy Bechtold as Kenny, Marcy Lynn Ross as a woman, Ross McKenzie as waiter, David Chandler as Derek Glossner, Parker Bullock as Wade Glossner, Gibson Bobby Jobeck, I think that's how we've decided. Yep. As Diaper Glossner and Talitha Eliana Bateman as Girl Glossner. Speaker 2 (7:32) This aired Wednesday, December 4th, 2013 at 8, 7 Central. Mom's birthday is December 4th? Yeah. Happy birthday, Ivy. She Speaker 4 (7:41) turned 54? 2013? Speaker 2 (7:44) Back in then? Okay, cool. I Speaker 4 (7:45) don't know, actually. What, 1959? You know what? I don't care. Go on. How Speaker 2 (7:48) did she spend her birthday? Watching the middle? Speaker 4 (7:50) Yes. Let's go with that. We Speaker 2 (7:52) were off last week for Thanksgiving. They'd played a repeat of the drop-offs the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. They just did repeats on ABC. Okay. I looked up to see. I was like, what's the lineup? Has it changed at all recently? And it hasn't. So we were at eight. Modern Family was at 830. No, sorry. Back in the Game was at 8.30. Modern Family was at 9.00. Super Fun Night, which is Rebel Wilson's one season show, was on at 9.30 and then Nashville was at 10.00. Get this. So this night, it was their eighth episode, but it was their pilot for Super Fun Night, the Rebel Wilson show. What? Because, did you ever watch it? I watched a couple episodes. Was it a Speaker 4 (8:31) sketch show or was it a? No, it was scripted. Oh, oh. Speaker 2 (8:33) And so some of our directors directed on it. Now I'm blanking on who. Speaker 4 (8:38) Maybe Elliot Speaker 2 (8:39) and A.L. maybe. Speaker 4 (8:41) Oh, uh-huh. I Speaker 2 (8:42) think he did it. But they originally sold it to CBS or they developed it for CBS as a multi. CBS passed and then ABC said, okay, wait, Warner Brothers will take it. But instead of a multi, we want it to be a single cam. And so they just. as opposed to rewriting the pilot right then and there, they wrote a new episode, episode two, as a single-camera comedy, and that's what they did as their first episode, and finally they restructured the narrative of the pilot episode and put it at episode eight as a single-camera comedy. Speaker 4 (9:14) I could do a whole podcast just on what you just said. That's insane. I have so many questions. Yeah. Not our podcast. So we'll either talk about it off mic or I'll do Googling or actually, no, Google's not going to answer it. I want to interview a lot of people about that. Speaker 2 (9:30) Yeah. Speaker 4 (9:30) But interesting. Speaker 2 (9:31) Interesting, right? I don't know if anyone watched Super Fun Night. If you did, fun piece of trivia. And tonight's episode, The Kiss, on December 4th, we had 7.41 million viewers. Speaker 4 (9:40) Nice. Wow. Oh my God. My kids would be thrilled by this top movie and top song of the week. Top movie of the week. Frozen. Heard of it. Let it go. Let it go. The Speaker 2 (9:54) wickedly talent Adele Tazeem. Speaker 2 (9:59) He has a new beret. John Travolta. He's got a new beret. I'll show you a photo. Speaker 4 (10:05) Can't wait. Yep. What color? Speaker 2 (10:08) Black. Speaker 4 (10:09) Okay, classy. Yeah, Speaker 2 (10:10) classy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As Speaker 4 (10:11) classy as a beret on John Travolta can be. And the top song of the week, Royals by Lorde. Yes. Speaker 2 (10:16) And now, Eden, let's break down the episode. Let's Speaker 4 (10:20) do it. Speaker 2 (10:24) Okay, major beats, but before we break down, say it. Speaker 4 (10:28) Well, this was originally episode 506. Speaker 2 (10:32) Yeah, it was supposed to be before Thanksgiving. What Speaker 4 (10:34) happened? Do you know? Speaker 2 (10:35) I don't know, actually, and I'm wondering if, because by the time we got this script, that was... It said this shoots out of order. Oh, so Speaker 4 (10:45) they knew. Speaker 2 (10:46) They knew. At the top of this script, it says that this shoots out of order. This will air 508, even though we're shooting it at 506. I Speaker 4 (10:51) wonder, because it was after Thanksgiving. Was it a scheduling thing with Jack? Speaker 2 (10:57) Maybe. Well, because the Thanksgiving was always Thanksgiving was locked. It's the jump, which is the Brooke Dillman episode versus this one, which is with the Glossners. And there wasn't a really like. Giant guest star in this one. I don't know why. But the funny thing is, is though that 507, which was Thanksgiving, is always locked because I'm sure ABC is like, this is the night. This is the episode. Everything on the every lineup on this week is going to be a Thanksgiving episode. Right. Speaker 4 (11:25) But that doesn't mean that sometimes we shoot it way ahead of time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because Norm, who knows? Because his availability is usually so. Well, every special guest star like that, we have to go around their availability. Lord knows, John Colum in his Broadway shows. Of Speaker 2 (11:42) course, flying from New York. But I don't know. I'm not quite sure why. But fun fact, we shot this, like I was in it, we shot this as 506, even though it aired as 508. Speaker 4 (11:55) Interesting. Yeah. Okay. Speaker 2 (11:57) I don't know. Let's break down this. Let's get into it. Yeah, let's Speaker 4 (11:59) get Speaker 2 (11:59) into it. Speaker 4 (12:00) All right. When Frankie gets a call from Janet, she convinces Mike to house sit for the weekend. Frankie tells him it's a chance to get away. Just the two of them in a house that's actually nice. So they leave Sue in charge of break. She's got an American Girl babysitting manual after all. And when Frankie and Mike arrive, they're in heaven. Frankie's even going to use the jacuzzi that doesn't require pliers to turn on the hot water. But when Mike tries using the TV, he can't even figure out how to turn it on. Even with Janet's instructions, Frankie's assistance, and a shared pair of readers, they're getting nowhere. Speaker 2 (12:35) The readers. The readers. I love the readers. Yeah. Speaker 4 (12:37) I loved the readers. I loved Mike saying, like, I don't need them. And that also, fun fact, that happened on set all the time. Speaker 2 (12:47) What? Speaker 4 (12:47) Between. Everyone shared readers. Really? Between Eileen, Patty, and Neil, they were always like, Eileen would come over and be like, okay, so we're going to, she'd hold up her sides and be like, we're going to hold, or we're going to switch these two things. She'd be wearing her readers and Neil would hold up his sides and go, all right. And he'd go, but I want to be like, and she's like, of course. Uh-huh. You look and be like, all right. Okay. You give them back. Patty and Neil in their chairs next to each other. She'd be like, did you see this article on? Patty loved showing an article. She loves it. That is her. I think when I picture Patty sitting at Village, I picture her on her phone going, and then be like, did you see this? Did you see this? She loves a photo. She loves an Speaker 2 (13:30) article. Speaker 4 (13:30) She loves a did you see this? And then be like, all right. And take her readers and put them on. So I think it's very funny they put her in. How Speaker 1 (13:39) do you slide a button anyway? You must have misread it. No. Speaker 4 (13:43) It says right here, slide button Speaker 3 (13:45) to AV2. I think