Review: The Middleman, Episode 1.1, "The Pilot Episode Sanction"

This tongue-in-cheek adventure show debuted tonight on the ABC Family network. It was developed by former Lost staff writer/producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach based on his comic book series of the same name.

The story concerns one Wendy Watson (played by a rather spunky Natalie Morales), an artist and temp worker who witnesses something incredible and soon finds herself recruited by the mysterious Middleman (played by the wonderfully deadpan Matt Keeslar) to be his sidekick in clandestinely fighting various menaces.

Creator/showrunner Grillo-Marxuach wrote this episode and it was directed by supervising producer Jeremiah Chechik (director of Benny and Joon and The Avengers). It's a clever and amusing send-up of the conventions of the genre, and the actors (including 24's Mary Lynn Rajskub as a guest star) get right into the spirit of it. It's an enjoyable way to spend an hour.