Malcolm in the Middle 

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

Creators:

Linwood Boomer, Michael Glouberman, Gary Murphy

Stars:

Frankie Muniz, Bryan Cranston, Justin Berfield

Nominated for 7 Golden Globes. Another 46 wins & 107 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 151 episodes, 2000-2006
Christopher Masterson	...	Francis 151 episodes, 2000-2006
Frankie Muniz	...	Malcolm / ... 151 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 | military school | woman | husband wife relationship | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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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:

12334 Cantura Street, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

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

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bryan Cranston did several of his own stunts. Besides the cartwheel and the headstand, Cranston did his own roller disco skating, spending all the free time he had in the week and a half he had to learn how to skate. After one of the show's writers asked jokingly whether Cranston would be willing to wear a suit of live bees, Cranston said he would, so they wrote a script around the idea (The Bots and the Bees). He ended up covered in ten thousand bees, and only got stung once.

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Goofs

Throughout his appearances in seasons 1-3, Commandant Edwin Spangler wears decorations that absolutely make no sense. While his uniform is clearly that of an USAF general, he nonetheless wears both the Pistol Expert and Rifle Expert badges of the USMC, while also sporting the ribbons for several decorations available solely to personnel of the US Army - the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Soldier's Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the Army Overseas Service Ribbon, and the Army Service Ribbon (the latter two worn in the wrong order of precedence). Also, while claiming to have never served in combat, Spangler is shown sporting several decorations solely available for combat duty - a Bronze Star ribbon (with cluster) and a Purple Heart ribbon. The South Vietnamese Parachutist Badge, Vietnam Service Medal (with three Service Stars), and RVN Campaign Medal with 1960- device also point at a long deployment in Vietnam, while the Southwest Asia Service Medal and Saudi Arabian Kuwait Liberation Medal would make him a Gulf War veteran. Neither deployment, however, is ever mentioned in the series, making his mismatched decorations likely an error of the wardrobe department.

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Quotes

opening theme song: Yes, no, maybe, I don't know, can you repeat the question? You're not the boss of me now, You're not the boss of me now, You're not the boss of me now, and you're not so big. You're not the boss of me now, You're not the boss of me now, You're not the boss of me now, and you're not so big. Life is unfair...

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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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Alternate Versions

An extended version of the pilot episode was released with the 'Complete First Season' DVD boxset.

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Connections

Referenced in The Cleveland Show: Brownsized (2013)

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Soundtracks

Spiralling Shape
They Might Be Giants

User Reviews

One of my favorite shows

As of late, Fox Television has been relying on gimmicky reality series like Joe Millionaire and Married by Amercia to gets its high ratings. But the show I enjoy the most in their weekly lineup has go to be the always funny Malcolm in the Middle. First off, the entire cast is just superb. Frankie Muniz is cute, likeable, and gives the show a solid foundation. Justin Berfield and Erik Sullivan do just as well as the older and younger siblings. Dewey cracks me up sometimes when he has to take care of the father or finds his dark side (my favorite episode that was centered around the little guy has to be when he and the dad built a Lego empire that Dewey ran as dictator). And you can't leave out the parents, who are just as off the wall and hilarious. Francis shows up every now and then, but I tend to enjoy his wife Piama more than anything else about his sub-stories. What surprises me is how young the three main boys looked in the first few episodes. Frankie was just this chubby-cheeked tyke and so was Reese, but now Just Berfield has definitely bulked up (check out his shirtless scenes during the one episode where he feuds with Malcolm; yowza!), and Frankie has developed a very mature, handsome face. I'm kind of eager to see Frankie's latest movie, Agent Cody Banks, if only because he stars in it. Sure, it may not be Shakespeare, but it looks like good fun. As for Malcolm, I hope it keeps going for seasons to come. It somehow manages to be consistantly funny and fresh. 4/4 stars.