Scott Renshaw overlooked one fine DVD release on this otherwise slow Tuesday: The Middleman: The Complete Series from Shout Factory, purveyors of cool (and unjustly canceled) TV shows. ---

Since ABC "Family" is now home to such CW-lite fare as The Secret Life of the American Teenager and 10 Things I Hate About You, the cable net had no room for a cleverly-written series like The Middleman, a geek-winking riff on Men In Black loaded with sly references to comics, sci-fi and pop culture. Square-jawed title hero The Middleman (square-jawed Matt Keeslar) and his new sidekick/protege Wendy Watson (too-hot-for-kiddie-cable Natalie Morales) battle “exotic problems” like Terra Cotta Warriors, evil lucha-libre wrestlers, aliens, trout-eating zombies and more, trading quips and dropping some of the oddest one-liners ever committed on basic cable. Since you never saw The Middleman on TV (c'mon, you probably have ABC Family blocked), check out the DVD.

A sampling of The Middleman's greatest exclamations: