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 & 111 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
Frankie Muniz	...	Malcolm / ... 151 episodes, 2000-2006
Jane Kaczmarek	...	Lois / ... 147 episodes, 2000-2006
Christopher Masterson	...	Francis / ... 118 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:

father son relationship | exploitation of friendship | three sons | male protagonist | monkey | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the opening credits, the couple kissing that is being attacked by a monster is actually a scene from Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961).

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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

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 TV Nerds (2015)

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Soundtracks

Spybreak!
Propellerheads

User Reviews

Truly the best show ever!

This must be one of the best shows in existence!

I have been watching this program since this came on the air back in 2000 and never once have I been disappointed about it! It has its occasional not as funny episode but has kept me laughing all this time as I have just finished watching the last ever episode!

I thought that the last episode was a perfect way to end the 7 season run of the show!

I think one of the things that make this show so popular is that is more like a real life family than anything else on the air. Its a show thats not afraid to show that families do have bad days with each other!

Thanks for reading this comment!

10/10 Show!

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, New Regency Productions, 20th Century Fox Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1