Patricia Heaton reflects on “The Middle,” and shared love for her castmates. The award-winning actress looked back on the popular, long-running show and talked about her castmates and why she thought of the cast's youngest member as her peer. Watch the short but heartwarming video to hear Patricia discuss “The Middle.”
Patricia is arguably best known for playing Debra Barone on the iconic, beloved sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond.” It’s a show that never gets old, no matter how many times you’ve seen this or that episode. But after that show ended its run, Patricia found another show that was nearly as beloved as “Everybody Loves Raymond:” “The Middle.”
Set in Indiana, “The Middle” follows the Heck family and their many hilarious misadventures as they navigate life together. Patricia played Frankie Heck, the mother who tries to hold everything together when everything falls apart. While it was a very different show than “Everybody Loves Raymond,” they were alike in some ways. The writing was excellent, and the show had a ton of heart.
In a clip posted on social media, Patricia reflects on her time on “The Middle” and the actors, the people who made up the Heck family.
“When you’re on a single-camera show like “The Middle,” they become like your family,” she said. “Fortunately, I was with Neil Flynn, playing my husband, and the kids were Charlie McDermott, Eden Sher and Atticus Shaffer, and they were amazing.”
Later in the clip, she mentions a specific memory involving Atticus Shaffer, who played Brick Heck, the family's youngest member.
“Atticus Shaffer, who was maybe nine when we started the show, something like that, he was so professional,” she said. “He could hit every punchline and knock it out of the park that I started thinking of him as a young adult. And I would kind of goof with him and josh with him. I got a call saying, ‘Could you ease off on Atticus?’ Oh! I forgot he’s nine! I actually went to apologize, ‘I’m sorry, I’m just kind of joking around ‘cause you’re so good and you’re so grown up that even though I’m 50 years older than you, I feel like you’re my peer.’”
Job 8:21 “The time will come when your mouth will be full of laughing, and cries of joy will come from your lips.”