The Middleman is an American sci-fi dramedy television series developed for television by Javier Grillo-Marxuach for ABC Family and based on the Viper Comics series, The Middleman, created by Grillo-Marxuach and Les McClaine, in which a struggling female artist is recruited by a secret agency to fight against evil forces.
The series aired in the USA on ABC Family from 16 June to 1 September, 2008. There are 12 hour-long episodes in the series.
The Middleman premiered in South Africa on DStv's M-Net Action channel on Friday 30 January 2009, at 19h00.
Synopsis
There are the strange occurrences that can never be explained - incidents with creatures that couldn't possibly be real, evil forces lurking in the dark, out of the sight of ordinary people.
But there is one man out there who fights such evil every day so you don't have to: The Middleman.
The wild and weird adventures of The Middleman are based on the graphic novels written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach. The series stars Matt Keeslar, Natalie Morales, Mary Pat Gleason, Brit Morgan and Jake Smollett.
Wendy Watson (Morales) is a 22 year-old art school graduate struggling to stay afloat at a series of dead-end temp jobs. Living with her best friend Lacey (Morgan) in an illegal sublet, she bounces from one temp job to another while putting off her mother's daily inquiries to what she is going to do with her life.
Wendy's situation takes a drastic turn during a routine temp assignment at a local laboratory, when she is thrown into the middle of a science experiment gone very wrong.
If that weren't bizarre enough, who should show up to save the day but a mysterious, handsome, gun-wielding stranger who introduces himself only as The Middleman (Keeslar).
A covert hero who neutralises any and all danger humanity isn't prepared to face, the milk-drinking, ruggedly wholesome Middleman is in need of a new colleague in the fight against otherworldly evil and thinks Wendy fits the bill.
After a series of tests that would make grown astronauts weep and Navy Seals beg for mercy, Wendy is quickly recruited into the Middleman ranks.
Now fighting comic book-esque criminals under the guidance of her new boss, Wendy tries to wrap her head around the new and definitely weird situation.
But the Middleman is sure she can do the job, even though his cranky robot assistant Ida (Gleason) questions his choice every step of the way.
Soon Wendy learns that there will always be another unfathomable peril to contain and focusing on her painting will be easier said than done.
Now she leads a secret double life: apprentice monster-smasher for a ridiculously secret organisation by day, struggling bohemian artist by night... teetering between unbridled normalcy and the never-ending conflict between the good, the bad and the repulsive.