When The Middle originally came to life, the character of Frankie Heck was played by Ricki Lake. In fact, the entire cast was played by different actors except for Brick, who was still played by Atticus Shaffer. By the time the show made it to production, of course, Patricia Heaton had the role of Frankie Heck. In an interesting twist, Charlie McDermott, who plays Axel on the show, had been originally rejected from the first Ricki Lake pilot for the same character. (Who was named Elvis back then.)
