Published: Friday, 24th July, 2009 12:47am

Saying goodbye to The Middleman

by Geek Chic

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It's probably the funniest TV show you've never seen. And for one day only today the cast of The Middleman were reunited after the show's untimely demise to show what might have been.

From apes obsessed with Mafia movies to lucha libre wrestles, trout-eating zombies and even the legendary Sensei Ping, the Middleman could outwit every enemy except the TV execs of ABC, which cancelled the show before the final episode was shot.

But at Comic Con this morning fans of the show were given an opportunity to see the episode in its (nearly) full glory, with the cast reunited with creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach for a read through of the end of the arc relating to the sinister Manservant Neville (Mark Sheppard).

A Spoiler Zone favourite, The Middleman sees a struggling artist, Wendy Watson (Natalie Morales) recruited by The Middleman (Matt Keesler) into a secret organisation to fight evil. Packed full of quotable lines and geeky in-jokes, the adventures of Dubdub and friends' first season were made into 12 episodes based on the cult comics by Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Les McClaine.

Javier Grillo-Marxuach had whet fans' appetites by putting a few pages from the script of The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse <a href="http://themiddleblog.livejournal.com/40202.html">online</a> earlier in the year, but this was the first chance fans got to find out some of the big mysteries of the series, from The Middleman's real name (Clarence Colton fact fans) through to who his lost love was scuppering the potential of a relationship with Lacey. One character died, one was resurrected, another two got together, and then a pairing broke apart, while the script zinged with references ranging from Star Wars to kung fu movies, along with a Doctor Who reference which Grillo-Marxuach told us later had been put in specially for British fans: "Yeah, I think you are the only ones who'd really get that joke. I hope the BBC won't mind."

The cast and crew, which included Keesler, Morales and Sheppard along with Mary Pat Gleason (Ida), Brit Morgan (Lacey), Brendan Hines (Dubdub's boyfriend Tyler), Jake Smollett (Noser) along with show writers Margaret Dunlap and Andy Reaser, then met fans in a meet and greet to sign copies of the DVD box set.

* The Middleman DVD is out on Region One now. Plans are being made for the full table read (which was videoed) to be put online somehow shortly.