The Middle Original but UNAIRED Pilot (2007)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NqyYuFSV4k
Ricki Lake As Superheroine
The unaired pilot of the 2000s TV show "The Middle" (about a family in Indiana - it was kind of in the same vein as 'Malcolm in the Middle')
apparently starred TV talk show host Ricki Lake rather than the eventual star of the series, Patricia Heaton.
As I mentioned, this pilot was taped but never aired, yet now it is available on Youtube.
And in this episode, Ricki Lake wears a tight and shiny spandex superheroine costume for a total of over four minutes.
Why? It's never really fully explained, other than to mention that she embarrassingly shows up a week early at her son's school to act as a live visual cosplay aid for her son Brick's book report. But we never find out what book he is reporting on (I'm assuming some kind of superhero story, but he never says) nor do we find out the name of her heroine persona.
[Update: I posted a comment in the Youtube channel of Atticus Shaffer, the currently 25-year-old actor who played 'Brick' in The Middle series. Within three hours I got the following quite cordial response: "This is one of the most detailed, behind the scenes questions anyone has asked me, and I'm so sorry to say they did not specify the book or character in the script. Excellent question though!" How 'bout them apples.]
At :25, there is a nice pan-up of her entire body, ending with her standing forlornly at a payphone in the middle of nowhere in her costume.
These are actually some of the best shots of her in the costume.
(You can skip the rest of the episode if you like.)
And then at 18:00, she wears the costume pretty much continuously until the end of the story, with the drawback being that in many of the
shots, the blue cape drapes over the costume and obscures her figure.
Here's the link. You might enjoy it. If you do (or if you have any more background information on how this story came about), let us know!
credit Post by shevek