Patricia Heaton says 'The Middle,' 'Everybody Loves Raymond' were TV 'perfection' and don't need reboots

Patricia Heaton was a mainstay on television for two decades, thanks to the sitcoms Everybody Loves Raymond and The Middle. Now, the actress has a question for Hollywood: "Where's my reboot?"

Heaton, star of the new film The Unbreakable Boy, discussed with Yahoo Entertainment about all the shows getting the reboot or revival treatment these days on television. "Why didn't I ever get on a show that could be rebooted?" she joked. "Because it seems like everybody [else is]."

In all seriousness, Heaton agreed with her former co-star Ray Romano, who recently told Yahoo that Everybody Loves Raymond should be left alone.

"It was just sort of perfection — and you don't wanna mess with perfection. You know, we've lost so many cast members, you couldn't reboot it because it won't be the same show," said Heaton, who starred as Debra Barone opposite Romano on the CBS sitcom from 1996 to 2005. The 66-year-old actress went on to reveal she has "the same" feelings about The Middle. "Perfection."

"The way they wrapped it up, where we got to flash-forward in the lives of the Heck family and see where they all ended up, it was so beautiful, and I think people have such a good feeling about the show," she explained. Heaton played the matriarch, Frankie Heck, from 2009 to 2018.

"The Middle is having such a resurgence on TikTok, of all places, that kids are rediscovering or discovering it for the first time. ... It's a beautiful thing," she said. "It's like a great work of art — you don't need to go in there and touch it up or change it or do anything to it. Just let it be what it is. And the wonderful thing about TV and about streaming [is] you'll be able to enjoy it as much as you want."

Heaton appears next in the inspirational film The Unbreakable Boy alongside Zachary Levi, Meghann Fahy and Jacob Laval. It's based on the true story of how a couple (played by Levi and Fahy) navigate raising their son Austin, who is autistic and has brittle bone disease. However, it's Austin's "unbreakable" spirit that ends up teaching his father how to live.

"I've been a big supporter of [the autism] community for my whole life," Heaton said, in explaining why she chose to make this movie. "I have one son who had learning differences, and just that small thing can really just make you so worried. And I thought to myself, 'What about these parents who have a myriad of these differences in their children, and where did they turn?'" She shares four adult children with her actor husband, David Hunt.

"I always worry about my kids and how they're gonna be in the world without me, and my kids are fine. How about families that have these issues? That's why a movie like this was so important when it came along. I wanted to be a part of it, because it's a story of triumph, and people need to see that," she said.

The Unbreakable Boy is in theaters on Feb. 21.