# The Middle season 7

The seventh season of the television comedy series The Middle began airing on September 23, 2015, on ABC in the United States. It is produced by Blackie and Blondie Productions and Warner Bros. Television with series creators DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler as executive producers.
The show is about Frances "Frankie" Heck (Patricia Heaton), a middle-class, middle-aged Midwestern woman married to Michael "Mike" Heck (Neil Flynn) who resides in the small fictional town of Orson, Indiana. They are the parents of three children, Axl (Charlie McDermott), Sue (Eden Sher), and Brick (Atticus Shaffer).

## Cast
### Main cast

* Patricia Heaton as Frankie Heck
* Neil Flynn as Mike Heck
* Charlie McDermott as Axl Heck
* Eden Sher as Sue Heck
* Atticus Shaffer as Brick Heck

### Recurring

* Alphonso McAuley as Charles "Hutch" Hutchinson, Axl's football teammate and best friend at college. His full name is revealed this season.
* Tommy Bechtold as Kenny, Axl and Hutch's weird roommate, a hardcore gamer. He speaks for the first time in "Halloween VI: Tick Tock Death".
* Casey Burke as Cindy Hornberger, Brick's classmate, with whom he is in the early stages of a relationship.
* Daniela Bobadilla as Lexie Brooks, Sue's closest friend at college who becomes her second roommate and is an incredibly kind rich little girl.
* Jen Ray as Nancy Donahue, the Hecks' neighbor and friend.
* Pat Finn as Bill Norwood, the Hecks' neighbor and friend.
* Julie Brown as Paula Norwood, the Hecks' neighbor and friend.
* Beau Wirick as Sean Donahue, one of Axl's friends who is away at college. He shows up this season with a hipster look and claims he is now a vegan.
* Gia Mantegna as Devin Levin, Frankie's hairdresser's relative and Axl's college classmate/ex-girlfriend. They break up when Devin thinks they should see others.
* Brittany Ross and Natalie Lander as Courtney and Debbie, airheaded cheerleaders who dated Axl as one in high school.
* Paul Hipp as Reverend Timothy "TimTom" Thomas, a youth pastor at the Hecks' church.
* Jack McBrayer as Dr. Ted Goodwin, Frankie's boss at the dental office.
* Jovan Armand as Troy, Brick's tall, heavyset classmate who initially protects him at school, then becomes his friend.

### Guest

* Norm Macdonald as Rusty Heck, Mike's brother.
* Brooke Shields as Rita Glossner, the Hecks' uncouth and troubled neighbor.
* Marsha Mason as Pat Spence, Frankie's mother.
* Faith Ford as Sheila, Frankie's co-worker at Heritage Village.
* John Cullum as "Big Mike" Heck, Mike's father.
* Cheryl Hines as Dr. Sommer Samuelson, head of the company that takes over Frankie's dental office.
* Alan Ruck as Jack Kershaw, Axl's boss at Little Betty.
* Brian Stepanek as Merv, Cindy's father.
* Lauren Drasler as LuEllen, Cindy's mother.
* Emily Rutherfurd as Dierdre Peterson, the Hecks' new neighbor.

## Episodes

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
| 145 | 1 | "Not Your Brother's Drop Off" | Lee Shallat Chemel | Tim Hobert | September 23, 2015 (2015-9-23) | 4X7101 | 8.21 |
| The Hecks face obstacles as they prepare to drop off Sue and Axl at college. Axl has an extra week before his classes begin and doesn't want to go with the family, but Sue insists because they all went with Axl two years ago. Frankie can't bring herself to cry like she did when Axl was leaving, while Mike shows his love for Sue by trying to teach her life lessons. Meanwhile, Brick starts eighth grade and is worried when Cindy says they should take their relationship to the "next level", as he has no idea what that is. Frankie finally realizes that she's not upset about Sue leaving; she feels more confident about Sue doing well on her own away from home than she did about Axl being on his own. ||||||||
| 146 | 2 | "Cutting the Cord" | Danny Salles | Rich Dahm | September 30, 2015 (2015-9-30) | 4X7102 | 7.91 |
| Brick learns he has a protector at school, but gets a little creeped out when the boy starts following him around; and Axl and Hutch deal with a rash of ants in their apartment. ||||||||
| 147 | 3 | "The Shirt" | Lee Shallat Chemel | Jana Hunter & Mitch Hunter | October 7, 2015 (2015-10-07) | 4X7103 | 7.30 |
| Mike and Frankie have dinner with the Norwoods, and Mike wears a Hawaiian shirt instead of one of his favored plaids. This causes surprise and shows new sides of Mike's personality, as he also buys a motorcycle. With Axl now in college, Brick realizes he's the only one who must do chores. He thus tries to clean the bathroom following instructions in a YouTube video, but ends up destroying the wall on one side of the bath. Devin and Axl reconcile after a very brief breakup and agree that while in college they should just hang out and have fun. ||||||||
| 148 | 4 | "Risky Business" | Phil Traill | Ilana Wernick | October 14, 2015 (2015-10-14) | 4X7104 | 7.12 |
| Mike helps his brother Rusty with his new business idea: printed "rivalry" disposable diapers, but Frankie fears it will be a failure. Axl is back home and determined to convince his parents that he should be trusted to ride the new motorcycle. He starts doing 'dangerous' things to prove he knows how to be safe. Brick is glad Axl is home so he can help him with chores and asks for his help with his new desire -- being allowed to walk home alone from the library at night. ||||||||
| 149 | 5 | "Land of the Lost" | Lee Shallat Chemel | Roy Brown | October 21, 2015 (2015-10-21) | 4X7105 | 7.08 |
| Mike is mopey and upset but doesn't say why, so Frankie calls Reverend TimTom hoping he'll find out what is worrying Mike. It turns out Mike can't cope with Frankie turning 50, taking it as a sign they are both getting close to death. Meanwhile, Axl and Hutch try to complain to their landlord about the conditions at the rental house, they discover that they've been paying rent to a fake landlord. The real one evicts them, so Axl, Hutch, and Kenny temporarily move into the Hecks' home. Sue is thrilled when she runs into Logan, but then loses Brick when he visits her on campus. ||||||||
| 150 | 6 | "Halloween VI: Tick Tock Death" | Elliot Hegarty | Tim Hobert | October 28, 2015 (2015-10-28) | 4X7106 | 7.43 |
| Scared when someone dressed as Death knocks on the door and keeps standing in the garden staring at the house, Axl and his friends eventually pack up and flee. Brick goes to the Orson Heights part of town with Mike to get better candy and learns that there is a woman named Cindy, married to a man who loves books, looks like Brick, and whose surname is Heck. All these strange coincidences make him think he is a time traveler. "Death" ends up being Cindy in costume, who was waiting in the yard for Brick to get home. ||||||||
| 151 | 7 | "Homecoming II: The Tailgate" | Lee Shallat Chemel | Ilana Wernick | November 11, 2015 (2015-11-11) | 4X7107 | 7.62 |
| Frankie worries that her visiting mom will embarrass her at the tailgate party. Meanwhile, Mike loses his partner in the homecoming cornhole tournament when Axl gets sick, but he soon discovers that Brick is better at the game than his brother...as long as he's not playing in front of a crowd. ||||||||
| 152 | 8 | "Thanksgiving VII" | Elliot Hegarty | Rich Dahm | November 18, 2015 (2015-11-18) | 4X7108 | 7.93 |
| Frankie learns that her dentist office has been taken over by a chain and that it will be closed through the end of the year for renovations. She decides to get holiday work at her old standby, the Heritage Village, where she gets called out by co-worker Sheila (Faith Ford) for not taking her role seriously enough. Axl meets Sean and some old high-school friends at a bar, where he laments his current situation at college and shocks everyone by crying. At home, a power outage ruins Mike's day of football-watching so he decides to teach Brick how to play poker. One by one, they are joined in the game by Axl and Frankie as they return home from their tough days. ||||||||
| 153 | 9 | "The Convention" | Lee Shallat Chemel | Jana Hunter & Mitch Hunter | December 2, 2015 (2015-12-2) | 4X7109 | 7.64 |
| Frankie is upset when Dr. Goodwin's office goes through the change of being taken over by a dental conglomerate. She is then forced to go to a convention in Des Moines, Iowa and ropes Mike into going with her, given that the trip's expenses are covered. While there, the two are excited to find that the hotel room has more bells and whistles than their house. They begin raiding the room's mini bar, ordering room service, and renting movies...then later learn that "extras" aren't covered in the convention expenses. Grandpa Big Mike is asked to babysit Brick while his parents are out of town, but Brick soon finds their roles reversed. ||||||||
| 154 | 10 | "Not So Silent Night" | Melissa Kosar | DeAnn Heline & Eileen Heisler | December 9, 2015 (2015-12-9) | 4X7110 | 8.06 |
| Christmas Eve starts off well as the Hecks decide to skip church and relax while watching a service on TV as Frankie doesn't want to go through sitting in the church overflow room. ||||||||
| 155 | 11 | "The Rush" | Lee Shallat Chemel | Roy Brown | January 6, 2016 (2016-1-6) | 4X7111 | 7.84 |
| Frankie feels useless when she learns Brick went shopping by himself and bought a new pair of pants. Axl starts interviewing for internships and helps Mike learn how to use social media for his diaper business. ||||||||
| 156 | 12 | "Birds of a Feather" | Victor Nelli | Tim Hobert | January 13, 2016 (2016-1-13) | 4X7112 | 7.46 |
| Axl's first day as an intern at Little Betty isn't exactly what he thought: he gets assigned the "grunt" work. Frankie is no happier as she returns to work at Smile Sensations and doesn't like the changes. Mike later tells her that both she and Axl are natural-born complainers. Meanwhile, Cindy tells Mike that she kissed another boy and insists that Mike tell Brick. ||||||||
| 157 | 13 | "Floating 50" | Lee Shallat Chemel | Rich Dahm | January 20, 2016 (2016-1-20) | 4X7113 | 7.24 |
| Mike asks Axl and Brick to help him organize a belated party for Frankie's 50th birthday, but Brick is detained by Coach Tink who is convinced that she can turn him into an athlete. There's a further hitch in the plan when the party-goers realize Mike never gave Frankie a time to arrive, leaving the guests anxious and hungry for the party to begin. ||||||||
| 158 | 14 | "Film, Friends and Fruit Pies" | Blake T. Evans | Jana Hunter & Mitch Hunter | February 10, 2016 (2016-2-10) | 4X7114 | 6.85 |
| Axl learns a secret from his boss at Little Betty (Alan Ruck) that affects the regular staff, causing him to stress out. At home, Brick must create a short video for a school project and gives Cindy and Troy the lead roles, then turns tyrannical and replaces them with Frankie and Brad. When Frankie steps on a mysterious piece of plastic, she and Mike try to figure out which household appliance it belongs to. ||||||||
| 159 | 15 | "Hecks at a Movie" | Lee Shallat Chemel | Ilana Wernick | February 17, 2016 (2016-2-17) | 4X7115 | 7.29 |
| The Hecks give Brick his first movie-theater experience, but the book-lover becomes outraged during the preview for an upcoming film based on the Planet Nowhere series. Meanwhile, Frankie becomes irritated at Mike after he "shushes" her when she interrupts Bill Norwood's story multiple times. In the theatre, Axl and Sean reminisce about their first kisses and the photos that were accidentally deleted from the computer on Christmas Eve return, giving everyone some perspective. ||||||||
| 160 | 16 | "The Man Hunt" | Danny Salles | Roy Brown | February 24, 2016 (2016-2-24) | 4X7116 | 7.30 |
| - Axl and Hutch move into a motor home they bought at a police auction, but discover few places they may legally park it. Meanwhile, Brick returns from a friend's bar mitzvah and asks Mike about their Protestant family's own rites of passage into manhood. ||||||||
| 161 | 17 | "The Wisdom Teeth" | Lee Shallat Chemel | Stacey Pulwer | March 16, 2016 (2016-3-16) | 4X7117 | 7.15 |
| Mike tries to derail Rusty's ex-wife Marlene from pursuing a lawsuit after Rusty claims that she came up with the idea for their diaper business. ||||||||
| 162 | 18 | "A Very Donahue Vacation" | Jaffar Mahmood | Rich Dahm | March 23, 2016 (2016-3-23) | 4X7118 | 7.24 |
| After making a big sale in the diaper business, Mike treats the family to a vacation at Mammoth Cave and Frankie insists that the Donahues come along. Frankie gets a big head when both Nancy and Sean Donahue tell her she's a good mother. Later, the youngest Donahue daughter overhears Frankie calling Nancy "smothering" in a conversation with Mike and uses it to blackmail Frankie. Elsewhere, Axl uses Brick in a game of "jerk/no jerk" to pick up women. ||||||||
| 163 | 19 | "Crushed" | Lee Shallat Chemel | Tim Hobert | April 6, 2016 (2016-4-6) | 4X7119 | 7.04 |
| Frankie, Mike, and Brick go out to dinner with Cindy to meet her parents, who end up asking the Hecks for a substantial loan to save their home. ||||||||
| 164 | 20 | "Survey Says..." | Lee Shallat Chemel | Ilana Wernick | April 13, 2016 (2016-4-13) | 4X7120 | 6.98 |
| Learning that Axl wants to quit football, Mike tries his best to dissuade him. Meanwhile, Brick labors over his answers to a customer-satisfaction survey regarding graph paper he bought online. ||||||||
| 165 | 21 | "The Lanai" | Blake T. Evans | Jana Hunter & Mitch Hunter | April 27, 2016 (2016-4-27) | 4X7121 | 6.72 |
| Frankie is excited when Mike's co-workers build her a lanai, but finds she can't relax on it because new neighbor Dierdre (Emily Rutherfurd) has three noisy, rambunctious children. Brick asks Mike if his "friends" can build him a new bookshelf after they finish the lanai. Mike says that's not fair to his friends, but Brick makes him realize that his co-workers only do nice things for him because he's their boss. Axl and Hutch start a business selling Kenny's grilled cheese sandwiches out of their RV on campus. ||||||||
| 166 | 22 | "Not Mother's Day" | Lee Shallat Chemel | Rich Dahm | May 4, 2016 (2016-5-4) | 4X7122 | 7.02 |
| After a man behind her in line pays for her groceries, Frankie vows to pay the good deed forward. Having previously canceled Mother's Day, Frankie makes each member of the family do something nice for another by drawing names from a hat. Naturally, chaos ensues as the Hecks and visiting Pat (Marsha Mason) try to fulfill their promises. ||||||||
| 167 | 23 | "Find My Hecks" | Phil Traill | Roy Brown | May 11, 2016 (2016-5-11) | 4X7123 | 6.73 |
| As middle-school graduation nears, Brick desperately tries to discover who he's up against for class valedictorian. ||||||||
| 168 | 24 | "The Show Must Go On" | Lee Shallat Chemel | Tim Hobert | May 18, 2016 (2016-5-18) | 4X7124 | 6.73 |
| After almost forgetting that Brick's middle-school graduation is only days away, Frankie goes on a mission to right a wrong when Brick discovers that the song he was supposed to sing at the ceremony has been cut. Axl takes a job as a country-club day-camp counselor and finds himself being mocked by a 10-year-old carbon copy of himself. ||||||||
| No. | Title | Air date | Rating/share (18–49) | Viewers (millions) | DVR (18–49) | Total (18–49) |
| 1 | "Not Your Brother's Drop Off" | September 23, 2015 (2015-09-23) | 2.1/8 | 8.21 | 0.9 | 3.0 |
| 2 | "Cutting the Cord" | September 30, 2015 (2015-09-30) | 2.2/8 | 7.91 | — | — |
| 3 | "The Shirt" | October 7, 2015 (2015-10-7) | 2.0/7 | 7.30 | 0.9 | 2.9 |
| 4 | "Risky Business" | October 14, 2015 (2015-10-14) | 2.0/7 | 7.12 | 0.8 | 2.8 |
| 5 | "Land of the Lost" | October 21, 2015 (2015-10-21) | 1.9/7 | 7.08 | — | — |
| 6 | "Halloween VI: Tic Toc Death" | October 28, 2015 (2015-10-28) | 2.0/7 | 7.43 | 0.8 | 2.8 |
| 7 | "Homecoming II: The Tailgate" | November 11, 2015 (2015-11-11) | 2.0/7 | 7.62 | — | — |
| 8 | "Thanksgiving VII" | November 18, 2015 (2015-11-18) | 2.1/7 | 7.93 | 0.8 | 2.9 |
| 9 | "The Convention" | December 2, 2015 (2015-12-2) | 2.0/7 | 7.64 | 0.7 | 2.7 |
| 10 | "Not So Silent Night" | December 9, 2015 (2015-12-9) | 2.0/7 | 8.06 | — | — |
| 11 | "The Rush" | January 6, 2016 (2016-1-6) | 2.1/7 | 7.84 | 0.8 | 2.9 |
| 12 | "Birds of a Feather" | January 13, 2016 (2016-1-13) | 1.9/7 | 7.46 | 0.7 | 2.6 |
| 13 | "Floating 50" | January 20, 2016 (2016-1-20) | 1.8/6 | 7.24 | 0.7 | 2.5 |
| 14 | "Film, Friends and Fruit Pies" | February 10, 2016 (2016-2-10) | 1.8/7 | 6.85 | 0.8 | 2.6 |
| 15 | "Hecks at a Movie" | February 17, 2016 (2016-2-17) | 1.9/7 | 7.29 | — | — |
| 16 | "The Man Hunt" | February 24, 2016 (2016-2-24) | 1.9/6 | 7.30 | — | — |
| 17 | "The Wisdom Teeth" | March 16, 2016 (2016-3-16) | 1.7/7 | 7.15 | 0.8 | 2.5 |
| 18 | "A Very Donahue Vacation" | March 23, 2016 (2016-3-23) | 1.7/7 | 7.24 | 0.7 | 2.4 |
| 19 | "Crushed" | April 6, 2016 (2016-4-6) | 1.7/6 | 7.04 | 0.7 | 2.4 |
| 20 | "Survey Says..." | April 13, 2016 (2016-4-13) | 1.7/6 | 6.98 | 0.7 | 2.4 |
| 21 | "The Lanai" | April 27, 2016 (2016-4-27) | 1.7/6 | 6.72 | TBA | TBA |
| 22 | "Not Mother's Day" | May 4, 2016 (2016-5-4) | 1.7/6 | 7.02 | TBA | TBA |
| 23 | "Find My Hecks" | May 11, 2016 (2016-5-11) | 1.6/6 | 6.73 | TBA | TBA |
| 24 | "The Show Must Go On" | May 18, 2016 (2016-5-18) | 1.6/6 | 6.73 | TBA | TBA |