Ones to Watch Wednesday 5/18 ’ Chilfromd the Middles to Nurse P Jackie, Youngl Ay Actors Are Stealing Scenes All Over TV

Ones to Watch Wednesday 5/18 ’ ChilFromd The Middles to Nurse P Jackie, youngl ay actors are stealing scenes all over TV

BY DAVID HOCHMAN The Middle. The youngest child of hassled parents Atticus Shaffer is having Lego flashbacks. “It was a Star Frankie (Patricia Heaton) and Mike Heck (Neil Flynn), Wars set,” he says with a groan that makes him sound 70, Brick is a student of the geekier arts (Legos over football; not 12. “Something like 1,035 pieces. It took me three days books over girls) and has a thing for military history. to put together.” Shaffer only had a few last bricks to click “I’m not different from Brick at all, in my opinion,” says when…crash! Meowww! “My cat jumped on it and de- Shaffer, whose own fascination with a World War I soldier stroyed everything.” Shaffer scrunches up his shoulders, led to the episode where Brick dresses up as his favorite tosses up his hands. “So you just start rebuilding.” Scottish military hero for Halloween. “I was like, ‘Yeah! I The adorable young star of The Middle is get to be in a kilt,’” Shaffer says. tenacious like that. At a Lego store near Tonight’s gephyrophobia episode (that’s fear where the ABC sitcom shoots in L.A.’s San “I’m not of bridges—Brick’s parents attempt to get him to Fernando Valley, Shaffer is recalling his different cross a covered bridge) only has loose parallels most memorable projects: the tropical- from Brick to Shaffer. “I was afraid of tunnels as a little kid,” island set (“900 pieces”) and the Star Wars at all, in my he says. But other similarities are uncanny. When gunship (“I had to keep Wing”—the dastard- opinion ” asked about the girl tap-dancing troupe that ly feline—“away from that baby.”) But Shaffer —Atticus squealed “We love you!” during his stint as Grand has never seen anything like the 2,000-piece Marshal of the National Cherry Blossom Festival spectacle a Lego store employee just unveiled. Shaffer Parade in Washington, D.C., this spring, he slaps It’s a Lego sculpture of Shaffer himself. The kid his forehead and just says, “Oh, gawwd.” is practically vibrating with excitement. “This is so, so, so The Middle is Shaffer’s biggest role in a career not much awesome,” he says. “Possibly the coolest thing since I older than the Obama administration. He was discovered talked to the guy who does the voice of Obi-Wan in the by his former manager in 2006 and cast in the short-lived Star Wars cartoon.” And that’s coming from a boy who re- CBS sitcom The Class. Movie roles included a bus-stop cently met Betty White, too. scene opposite Will Smith in “Hancock.” “I was so nervous Shaffer is a lot like Brick, the character he plays on because I had to hit Will to get him awake,” Shaffer says.

MAX BURKHOLDER, AGE 13 RUBY JERINS, AGE 13

Where you’ll see him: Parenthood Where you’ll see her: Nurse Jackie (NBC), tugging at heartstrings in the (Mondays, 10/9c, Showtime), delivering role of Max, the youngest son of Adam a poignant performance as Edie Falco’s and Kristina Braverman, who recently oldest daughter, Grace, who may have discovered he has Asperger’s syndrome. obsessive-compulsive disorder. “We have organizer Best part of the job: “I love the challenge,” says Burkholder. Best part of the job: “I love playing Grace because she’s drawers filled to the “It’s fun being able to throw those tantrums.” Burkholder’s not a stereotype. She’s a dark person, but not a bad person,” brim with Legos!” performance even has audiences believing he truly has the says Jerins, who adds that the cast and crew is like family. Shaffer—here with his Lego look-alike— disorder, which isn’t the case. What does he have in common “We hang out with Edie and her kids and her dog Marley.” says of his home with Max? “We both retain a bunch of almost useless facts.” What’s coming up: “There’s more stress at home,” reveals What’s coming up: He’s waiting to hear if NBC will bring Jerins about this week’s episode, which finds Grace dealing Photograph by Maarten De Boer back Parenthood for a third season. with anxiety before her school’s Saint Pageant.

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