Have you noticed an appreciable difference in the number of people that come up to you on the street this season with THE MIDDLE performing so well for ABC on Wednesday night?
Charlie McDermott: Honestly — because we’ve been working a lot harder this year and I haven’t really been walking down the street too much — I don’t know! But just from the ratings and talking to members of the media it seems kind of apparent that we’ve had an increased amount success.
Last week’s plot that saw the Heck family host a foreign exchange student was reportedly inspired by star Patricia Heaton’s real-life. Have the writers ever borrowed a story from your real life, and if given the chance, what would you like to see in terms of your character’s future?
The writers haven’t really asked me for any story ideas yet, and part of that is when you have Patty [Patricia Heaton], who is a ten year sitcom veteran [EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND] and a mother of four, who would you ask? If I were the writers she’s probably who I’d go to, not two teenagers, Atticus and Neal who is still just hanging out. That said, what I like about Axl is that he’s starting to get more responsibility and he’s been getting to work. The episode at the Quarry was fun and a far cry from when we shot the pilot where Atticus, Eden, Mike, and Patty all had their own plot-lines, while Axl would sort of just come in and deliver a punch-line.