Ricki Lake as a superheroine in unaired pilot of 'The Middle' (ABC, 2007)

[shevek]

I just randomly found this out:

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.

ricki lake as superheroine.jpg (63.88 KiB) Viewed 3961 times

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!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NqyYuFSV4k

[IMSancho]

That was really funny.

Rikki looked very nice in the costume as well.

[shevek]

That was really funny.

Rikki looked very nice in the costume as well.

Yes she did.

I was quite amazed by the quick response I got from Atticus Shaffer. He must be quite a meticulous nerd to answer his Youtube comments within hours! And I was disappointed to find out that Ricki's superheroine persona never received a name. Unfortunately, the point of the plot was "Here I am, a busy working mom in Indiana, and at any given time you might find me walking around in a random superheroine costume because of my dedication to my son's education." She could have just as easily been dressed up as Joan of Arc or Betsy Ross if her son had done a book report on one of those instead. I guess there wasn't time in the midst of that broader comedy message to actually think of a name for the superheroine character she was portraying.

The pilot also unfortunately didn't have a superheroine transformation. Since the character didn't have a name (or a mask or gloves, for that matter), it probably wasn't important enough to add a scene where she zips up the costume, adjusts her cape and puts on the boots. Instead, we get a scene where she struggles mightily to put on Spanks in her bedroom (like the way some women struggle putting on their tight jeans). It was funny but it definitely wasn't sexy. Oh well!

You still get nearly five minutes of Ricki Lake in spandex.

[HeroineFantasies]

We have been going crazy over this on Deviantart recently thanks to the great uploads of the user CaptP3.
I even made a GIF of it too.
Seeing Rikki in that spandex bodysuit tugging at her tight yellow underpants is one of the hottest things I have seen in a long time.

[shevek]

We have been going crazy over this on Deviantart recently thanks to the great uploads of the user CaptP3.
I even made a GIF of it too.
Seeing Rikki in that spandex bodysuit tugging at her tight yellow underpants is one of the hottest things I have seen in a long time.

Yes over on DA Capt3 is the shizzle!

What I didn't realize, however, is that the actual first episode of The Middle has pretty much the *same* plot with the superheroine costumes except that Patricia Heaton is wearing it. So you get TWO versions for the price of one, although I didn't think that Heaton was quite as hot in the outfit.

[HeroineFantasies]

We have been going crazy over this on Deviantart recently thanks to the great uploads of the user CaptP3.
I even made a GIF of it too.
Seeing Rikki in that spandex bodysuit tugging at her tight yellow underpants is one of the hottest things I have seen in a long time.

Yes over on DA Capt3 is the shizzle!

What I didn't realize, however, is that the actual first episode of The Middle has pretty much the *same* plot with the superheroine costumes except that Patricia Heaton is wearing it. So you get TWO versions for the price of one, although I didn't think that Heaton was quite as hot in the outfit.

I agree 100% she is no way near as hot as Rikki was.
What I liked about Rikki was how she seemed to be trying to cover up the pants with her cape or agitating and tugging at them like she was embarassed about wearing them. I wonder if thats why she pulled out of the series and didnt want us to see her in pants.
Anyway, I can't afford to be picky and we get two for the price of one on this occasion. They would have made a hot double act.