What the Heck! Where was Sue's spanking?

The sitcom "The Middle" is a fairly successful sit com, running on ABC.   It revolves around the mis-adventures of the Heck family, each member having their own peculiar quirk to give rise to chuckles in various comedic set-ups.

Sue Heck is the middle daughter of the family and is invariably insanely cheerful no matter what mishap.

Until last night's episode.   The plot had her allow a large gang of rowdy teens hold an impromptu rave in the quarry that her father supervises.   (Not a well-paying job, for they seem to spend their lives in abject poverty to a degree that social services really ought to take a look at them...)

The reason the gaggle got access was that Sue let them misuse the keys temporarily in her possession.  She had not planned such a party, but was instrumental in it taking place.  Sue's cheerful nature completely deserted her, and in one scene writhed on the floor in tearful, wailing shame of what she had done.

Her dad was right royally furious.   Machinery could have been turned on - with all sorts of bad consequences.   The terrain was so fractious that a serious accident could have taken place.  He could have lost his job.   When discussing the matter with her mother, he opined that a six-month grounding was in order.

During the night, Sue continued to push letters of abject apology under her parent's bedroom door - and her sentence slowly reduced to a six week grounding.   On appeal, Sue had it increased back to eight weeks, on the grounds that six was too lenient.   The narrator revealed that after four weeks, everyone forgot about it and things drifted back to normal.

So - it is not my script and I have no jurisdiction in such matters - but, what the hell - where was the spanking?

It had been stated in passing in a prior episode that the Heck parents had never spanked their kids - but if ever an exception was screaming to be excepted, this was it.   A mid teen girl wracked with guilt needing a punishment that would bring instant forgiveness and closure - a perfect set up for the "there is going to be a spanking" segment of a narrative.

And think of the fun that could be had with the negotiating over the actual details of the chastisement.   Number, implement, position, place, and so on and so on.    Even, say, that as a matter of compromise, it was finally agreed that half he spanks were to be delivered on a pair of clothed buttocks and the rest on a bare bottom.    (Not that any of the actual beating would be on screen, mind you - this is a PG sitcom, not a Mood Pictures video).

But our gallant writers, not realizing that spanking has gone mainstream, missed a glorious chance to add another amusing tid-bit to the arsenal of modern tv spankings.

Ah well.   Perhaps next time.