TV tonight: 'Animal Practice,' 'The Middle'

• Mercifully, 'Animal Practice' is about to lose its license
• 'The Middle' celebrates Halloween
• 'The Neighbors' shows signs of life

Animal Practice
NBC, 8 ET/PT

Never mind AMC: Broadcast TV is and always has been the true home of the walking dead. The latest example is this insipid monkey-in-the-middle sitcom, which NBC is killing off — but not before it dumps a few more episodes onto the air. Catch it while you can if you're curious or if you're the kind who collects really egregious failures, and then hope someone finds a more suitable job for Justin Kirk as soon as possible. The monkey can be allowed to rest.

The Middle
ABC, 8 ET/PT

Once again the Hecks celebrate Halloween, and once again this under-appreciated gem of a family comedy demonstrates its unmatched ability to gently address real-life parental and economic issues while still providing a bountiful supply of genuine laughs. Watch tonight as Sue (Eden Sher) gets her learner's permit and Axl (Charlie McDermott) gets the right to vote, and try to figure out how it is possible that no one in the cast has been nominated for an Emmy for their work in this show. Let's see if we can't correct that omission this season.

The Neighbors
ABC, 8:30 ET/PT

It's unlikely anyone is going to use "Emmy" and "The Neighbors" in the same sentence any time soon, at least not as a compliment. Still, tonight's amusing Halloween-themed episode does represent a marked improvement over the show's pilot, one that allows this fantasy comedy to make some funny, if deeply silly, jokes without forcing the human characters to appear annoyingly irrational. It still seems to be an awkward fit with the better shows in this line-up, but at least it's no longer an insult to them.