Malcolm in the Middle (2000–2006)

A gifted young teen tries to survive with his dimwitted, dysfunctional family.

Creator:

Linwood Boomer

Stars:

Bryan Cranston, Justin Berfield, Erik Per Sullivan

Nominated for 7 Golden Globes. Another 39 wins & 82 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Bryan Cranston	...	Hal (151 episodes, 2000-2006)
Justin Berfield	...	Reese (151 episodes, 2000-2006)
Erik Per Sullivan	...	Dewey (151 episodes, 2000-2006)
Jane Kaczmarek	...	Lois (150 episodes, 2000-2006)
Christopher Masterson	...	Francis (150 episodes, 2000-2006)
Frankie Muniz	...	Malcolm (150 episodes, 2000-2006)

Storyline

An offbeat, laugh track-lacking sitcom about a bizarrely dysfunctional family, the center of which is Malcolm, the middle of the two brothers who still live at home. His eldest (and favorite) sibling, Francis, boards at military school because his parents believe it will reform him and keep him out of trouble. Malcolm often has a hard time coping with his family life, but he has more troubles to contend with when he starts receiving special treatment at school after being diagnosed as an intellectually advanced genius.

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Plot Keywords:

dysfunctional family | school | ranch | sitcom | military school | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

BBC [uk]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 January 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fighting in Underpants

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Satin City Productions, Regency Television, 20th Century Fox Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The monster seen rising from the water in the opening credits is the monster from Clash of the Titans

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Goofs

In the episode when Francis babysits, they clean the house. They realize it is now *too* clean and start blowing dirt out of a vacuum. As the camera backs up, the ceiling disappears, revealing the top of the set.

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Quotes

Francis: I don't even know how to pronounce your last name.
Piama: TA-NA-NA-HA-AK-NA.

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Crazy Credits

For the first 3 minutes of the Episode "Living Will" (3/6/2005), the bottom of the screen pages through a long list of fourteen alleged "producers". This was the first episode to air after the Academy Awards controversy over limiting to three, the number of "producers" who could win a best film Oscar.

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Connections

Referenced in Conan: Death Gets a Paper Cut (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Show and Tell"
by Al Wilson

User Reviews

Must see TV.

This is the only show that I cannot miss - even in re-runs. It is right up there along-side The Simpsons, 3rd Rock, and Married with Children for style, uniqueness and down-right hilariousness. The writing is amazing, the acting incredible and the characters have been mined from pure gold. I agree and disagree with the comparisons to the Simpsons. The shows are definitely on a par in terms of smarts and humor and the way the plots develop from seemingly random happenings are definitely similar. But to my mind the difference is in the way the jokes are presented: the Simpsons writers pummel you in the gut with punch after hilarious punch while the Malcolm writers hold your head and force you to watch while they cringe-fully punch each other. Genius pure Genius.