"sheer elegance in its simplicity"

"The Middleman" is campy, hilarious goodness.

How campy, you ask? Let's just say, Kevin Sorbo guest-starred on a recent episode. How hilarious, you ask? Let's just say, during the course of their requisite "bottle" episode (due to budget constraints, most every cable--especially scifi--TV show, is forced to make an episode that takes place entirely on already standing sets, usually by inventing some hostile threat that takes over the series' main location and forces a lock down): I actually lost count of the number of Die Hard references after the second commercial break. Everything from squealing out "we got Hans Grubered!" to crawling around in the air vents with a lighter and grumbling "come out to the coast, we'll have a few laughs."

It's also one of the very very (very very very) few shows on television that happens to follow the Bechdel Rule, the Deggans Rule and the Morales Rule. (from the NPR piece:)

The Middleman follows the Bechdel Rule so well that it was the reason we began talking about the rule here at NPR. Mind-boggling: It's science fiction — that traditional fortress of geek-maledom — but the character we identify with is a young woman. (And an artist.) She talks to her roommate about art events, vegan protests and their mothers; they're concerned with politics and creativity as well as boyfriends. "I know that the hot show on ABC Family right now is The Secret Life of the American Teenager," says NPR editor Sara Sarasohn, "but if my daughter were a teenager, I'd be making her watch The Middleman every week." Bonus: By default it follows the Morales Rule, because Natalie Morales plays the lead.

Other reasons I enjoy The Middleman:
-Though this is your classic comic book hero tale, it's told from the point of view of the sidekick. This is her story, not the hero's. In fact, we (and she) never even know the hero's real name, let alone what his personal life or backstory is.
-Not since The Tick has there been so humorous a scifi/adventure/comic book style show. And god how I miss The Tick.
-No reference is too obscure, too geeky or too just plain wacky. (From the "Batter of the Bulge" pancake house, to "does usagi yojimbo kick serious ass?" to an entire Titanic [the movie] themed episode revolving around a cursed Tuba that makes its original player immortal--"It's like Highlander with a Tuba")
-In the alternate universe/bizzaro world episode, EVERY man sported a goatee (name that reference!).

It's kind of an acquired taste, but well worth the acquisition. (The pilot episode-- titled "The Pilot Episode Sanction"-- features a mind controlled gorilla that's really into mobster movies. Part of you cringes, maybe, but part of you LOVES it)

And it's on ABC Family!?!? Um... WTF?