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BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Family sitcoms aren't plentiful on TV these days but ABC remains the go-to network for programs in the genre.
Among ABC's family comedies, several are about pretty well-off families -- "Modern Family," "black-ish" -- but "The Middle' led the pack of family comedies about a decidedly middle-class family just trying to scrape by.
Others have followed but "The Middle," which debuted a year after the 2008 financial crisis, got there first with its story of the Heck family of Orson, Ind.
Harried mom Frankie (Patricia Heaton), deadpan dad Mike (Neil Flynn) and their kids -- college grad Axl (Charlie McDermott), perpetually sunny Sue (Eden Sher) and off-kilter Brick (Atticus Shaffer) -- will continue to muddle through for one last season that begins at 8 p.m. Oct. 3.
"We don't always have the opportunity to say good-bye to shows in the way that we wish that we could," said ABC Entertainment Group president Channing Dungey, explaining the network's plan to announce the end of "The Middle" going into its final season. Executive producers Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline came to Dungey last fall to talk about the possibility of allowing "The Middle" to have a farewell season.
Heisler said the decision to end the series was a personal decision among the show's producers and cast.
"It felt like it was time and we were wanting to leave when people hopefully want more of it rather than staying so long that people say, why did they stay so long?" she said.
Series star Patricia Heaton said the authenticity of the characters and their dilemmas helped "The Middle" resonate with viewers.
"The great shows are great because [they] comes from real experiences," Heaton said. "Some of the most outrageous episodes actually happened to the writers. I come in and talk about what I'm dealing with with my kids. And it just so happens that my kids have all been the same ages of the kids on the show at that same time. So we've been going through all these things together, all of us." Heline said knowing in advance the upcoming season will be the show's last helps producers prepare the characters and the audience for the show's end.
"The first episode, we talk about the Heck legacy and what is the Heck's legacy," she said. "That's why we wanted to go out on our own terms and have this last season when we bring some of our great characters back, like Reverend Tim Tom and all that. ... It's going to be the show that you love, but I think it will have extra meaning for fans of the show and people who love the show."
She said the 2018 revival of "Roseanne," which socio-economically "The Middle" was seen as a successor to, did not factor into the decision to end "The Middle."
"Well, look, it's great that "Roseanne" is coming back," Heline said, laughing, "because it means that in, like, another eight years, we can all come back again."
'The Mayor' on ABC
Stop me if this sounds familiar: An entertainer runs for political office and then surprises himself and voters when he wins.
That's the premise of ABC's "The Mayor" (9:30 p.m. Oct. 3, WTAE), which features a young wannabe rap star, Courtney Rose (Brandon Michael Hall), who runs for mayor of his Bay Area hometown and unexpectedly wins the election. He gets support from his friends and mother (Yvette Nicole Brown, "Community").
Executive producer Jeremy Bronson, a former producer for MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews," said he pitched the series to ABC last summer during the presidential campaign but before the election of Donald Trump.
"Everybody is a lot more focused on what they can do, what we can all do, to sort of improve the country, improve our situations," Bronson said, "so it gives us a lot of, I would say, inspiration for the show but it's not tackling the issue of the week nor is it a parody or a satire."
Bronson said the show's concept pre-dates the Trump phenomenon and also brings to mind Jerry Springer, who got into politics after gaining fame as a talk show host.
"There are elements of a lot of outsider candidates in the writing of Courtney Rose for sure," Bronson said. "I wanted to do a political show where the idea is to have a character who has some skill set he could tap into and might help him to do this job well but he is a complete novice."
Bronson said while "The Mayor" won't shy away from current events, that's not the driving force as much as the lead character's journey.
"We're using comedy as a device to talk about certain issue," he said. "It's less an issues show than it is the story about the growth of a young man and his tremendous responsibility to the people he loves but we'll touch all sorts of interesting issues not because they're hot buttons but because they're real and out there and they'll affect [Courtney]."
Lea Michele ("Glee") co-stars as a high-strung political operative who helps Courtney navigate the political world. It's a role similar to her "Glee" character.
"I don't know why I'm drawn to very driven, Type-A characters," Michele said.