The Middle: End Date Set for ABC Comedy Series!

The Hecks are ready to say goodbye and move over to the TV show afterlife.

Executive producer Eileen Heisler confirmed the news in a statement to Entertainment Weekly that Season 9 of the ABC laugher will be its last.

“We sat down with the cast at the end of last year [to tell them],” Heisler said.

“It was important to have a year to say goodbye. We want to be able to tell all the stories.”

“It’s a family show. We could keep going for 10 more years with new relationships,” added fellow EP DeAnn Heline.

The Hecks have been such fun characters to watch every week over the last nine years on ABC. While most comedies have a shelf life, The Middle has remained addictive throughout much of its run.

The show has always been a solid performer in the ratings for the network, with Season 8 averaging 6 million viewers and a 1.5 rating. Those figures are down over 20 percent vs. the Season 7 average.

However, the show was moved to Tuesday nights to establish a second night of comedy on the alphabet network, so ABC was happy enough with the performance to keep the comedy night going into next season.

Series star, Patricia Heaton hinted that big news was coming about the show earlier this week via Twitter.

"So there's going to be a bit of an announcement tomorrow Tweatons! Stay tuned," she tweeted.

When the news broke that the series was coming to a close, she interacted with fans, promising "It's gonna be a great final season of this wonderful show!"