Wouldn't it be great if The Middleman DVD, available July 28, sold so well that ABC Family had no choice but to put the show back in production? Of course it would. There wasn't a smarter or more clever show of its type on television at the time (sorry Chuck).

Laura Hudson had a chance to sit down with the series creator in San Diego. In her interview over at Comics Alliance, Javier Grillo-Marxauch says that if DVD sales are great, The Middleman would probably go back into production. I suspect his enthusiasm had more to do with the excitement that comes with being at San Diego than anything ABC Family has indicated.

The fans stopping at the booth are excited about the show and that fever can be infectious. They'll do what they can to spread the word, but I just don't think that fan-base is big enough to change the network's minds. Or that ABC Family is interested enough to care.

Now, if you want to tell me that Grillo-Marxauch has regained the rights to the show and if sales are good he can shop it to another network, then I might be back on board. I think it would fit in quite nicely with Eureka and Warehouse 13 over on Syfy. I really think the biggest problem the show had was that its potential core audience had no idea it was on.

When you think of ABC Family, you don't think of smart steampunk, sci-fi based humor. You think of The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Greek. Even Kyle XY had those strong family elements and youth culture. The Middleman didn't really have any of those trappings, but it was such a brilliantly written show you didn't care where it was on the dial. But only if you found it.

And despite what Grillo-Marxauch says, I don't think ABC Family was ever really as supportive of the series as it deserved. Hell, ABC Family wouldn't even let them film a real last episode, thus The Middleman graphic novel they're hawking to close the series.

At this point, I'd even jump all over an animated The Middleman, if we want to recreate Family Guy and Futurama. if it could keep costs down enough to bring the show back, we could still have fun with it. Of course, you'd have to get the original cast for the voices. It's just hard to imagine anyone capturing the strange charm of the Middleman better than Matt Keeslar. There's a hit show in there somewhere. It's already on its way to cult status with only twelve episodes under its belt.

If they really want to bring it back, they need to do more to spread the word. Put it on Hulu, stream it at ABCFamily.com, put Keeslar's face on milk cartons. See if Syfy would pick up the rerun rights of the short series and put it on over there. They've grabbed shorter series ... and worse.