Malcolm in the
Middle is an American
comedy television
series created by Linwood Boomer
for the Fox Network.
The series
was first broadcast on January
9, 2000, and ended its six-and-a-half-year run on May 14, 2006,
after seven seasons and 155 episodes. The series received critical
acclaim and won a
Peabody Award, nine
Emmy Awards, one
Grammy and was nominated for seven
Golden Globes.
The series follows a family of six (later seven), and stars
Frankie Muniz in the lead role of
Malcolm, a more-or-less normal boy who tests at genius level; he
enjoys being smart but despises having to take classes for gifted
children, who are mocked by the other students as "Krelboynes."
Jane Kaczmarek is Malcolm's
overbearing, authoritarian mother Lois and
Bryan Cranston plays his disengaged but
loving father Hal.
Christopher
Masterson plays eldest brother Francis: a former rebel who, in
earlier episodes, was in military school, but eventually marries
and settles into a steady job.
Justin
Berfield is Malcolm's dimwitted older brother Reese, a
schoolyard bully who tortures Malcolm at home even while he defends
him at school. Younger brother Dewey is portrayed by
Erik Per Sullivan. For the first couple of
seasons, the show's focus was on Malcolm. As the series progressed,
however, it began to explore the other members of the family,
eventually the six cast members becoming an ensemble cast.
The series is popular worldwide and is syndicated in 57 countries.
In the United States, it is currently syndicated in the daytime on
FX and at nightime on
Nick at Nite.
In Britain
, it airs in
high definition on
Sky1 and BBC
Two.
Premise
The show is about a boy named Malcolm and his
dysfunctional family. The show stars
Frankie Muniz as
Malcolm, the third
of four boys, his brothers and their parents,
Lois (
Jane Kaczmarek) and
Hal (
Bryan Cranston). The oldest,
Francis (
Christopher Masterson), was sent away
to
military school, leaving at home
his three younger brothers,
Reese (
Justin Berfield),
Malcolm (
Frankie Muniz) and
Dewey (
Erik Per Sullivan), Malcolm being the
middle child still at home (hence the show's title). In season
four, the character
Jamie (James and
Lukas Rodriguez in the later seasons) was added to the show as the
fifth son. The show's early seasons centered on Malcolm dealing
with the rigors of being an adolescent and enduring the
eccentricities of his life. Later seasons gradually explored the
other members of the family and their friends in more depth.
The series was different from many others in that Malcolm broke the
fourth wall by talking directly to the
viewer, all scenes were shot using a
single camera and the show employed
neither a
laugh track nor a live studio
audience. Emulating the style of hour-long
dramas, this half-hour show was shot on film instead of video.
Another unique aspect of the show is that the
cold open of every episode is unrelated to the
main story. Exceptions were episodes which were the conclusions of
"two-parters"; each part two episode opened with a recap of its
part one episode.
Surname
The surname of the family has been revealed only twice in the show.
First, in the pilot episode, where Francis wears the name tag
"Wilkerson" on his school uniform (it can be seen best in the scene
where he is talking with his family on the phone). Also, although
unaired, the name appears in a joke from the original pilot script.
In that script, Malcolm was walking to school when a neighborhood
kid came running up shouting, "Malcolm, Malcolm, Malcolm. I was
talking to my parents last night - I was listening to them talk,
and what's your last name?" "Wilkerson, why?" Malcolm replied. "Oh.
Who are the Pariahs?" said the other kid. The joke was eventually
cut. The last name, however, was spoken in the series finale when
Malcolm is being introduced for his graduation speech, but it is
not heard due to feedback from the microphone. A special feature on
the season 1 DVD stated also that their surname was Wilkerson. A
trailer on the UK channel Sky One in Early 2006 advised you to
spend time with "The Simpsons" and "The Wilkersons." Another
trailer was released to advertise the last episodes of 24 and
Malcolm in the Middle, calling viewers to "say goodbye to the
Wilkersons." In a certain episode, at Hal's company picnic Hal is
addressed as "Mr. Landon" by his new boss; however, this was just
due to a misunderstanding. On Bryan Cranston's official website,
Cranston says the crew regularly joked amongst themselves that last
name is actually "Nolastname." In fact, just before Malcolm gives
his graduation speech, Francis drops his employee ID on the ground
and it clearly shows his full name as "Francis Nolastname."
Characters
The Family
- Malcolm (Frankie Muniz) is the titular character of the
series. Malcolm is of above-average intelligence and, because of
this, is placed in a class for gifted students (or Krelboynes as
they are known at the school). His intelligence, as well as
feelings of not fitting in because of it, are the primary causes of
most problems he faces throughout the series. As the title
suggests, Malcolm is the middle child of the
family, third-born of four at the start of the series, later of
five after the birth of Jamie and apparently six after the last
episode. His best friend is Stevie, a wheelchair-bound fellow
Krelboyne with a severe breathing problem. Malcolm is shown to be
in Harvard
in the last
episode, earning his way by mopping the halls.
- Lois (Jane Kaczmarek) is the hot-headed and
stubborn mother of Francis, Reese, Malcolm, Dewey, and Jamie, and
wife of Hal. She struggles throughout the series to keep her badly
behaved boys in check while maintaining a job at the supermarket,
Lucky Aide. She is seen by her sons as a
somewhat tyrannical figure, a crazed control freak, but her
behavior comes from her love for them and a desire to see them
succeed.
- Hal
(Bryan Cranston) is the somewhat
childish but caring father of Francis, Reese, Malcolm, Dewey, and
Jamie and husband to Lois. He is a lighter touch with the boys than
Lois, but can still hand out discipline when necessary. Hal seems
constantly on the edge of some kind of breakdown; when things get
to be too much, he often goes into a howling, wailing state of
panic and frustration.
- Reese (Justin Berfield) is the most impulsive
member of the family and has remarkably little common sense. He is
the older brother of Malcolm, Dewey, and Jamie and younger brother
to Francis. Throughout the series, he is shown to be a bully,
getting much enjoyment from the misfortune of others and handing
out beatings to students at school and to his younger brothers at
home. Despite being remarkably unwilling to think, he is gifted at
cooking and baking - which he is shown to be very talented at on
many occasions - and a natural born soldier.
- Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan) is the younger brother
of Malcolm, Reese, and Francis and older brother of Jamie. His role
is usually that of the victim to his brothers. Dewey is very
intelligent, even being able to fool and manipulate Malcolm in
later episodes. However, his real talent lies in music. Among other
accomplishments, he has composed his own opera for his classmates
to perform. Despite his intelligence, he is placed in a remedial
class for slower students (or Buseys) due to a misunderstanding.
This does little to affect his performance, though, and he actually
makes the best of the situation by acting as their self-appointed
teacher. By the seventh and final season of the show, it seemed to
be implied that he was no longer in the Busey class. He was the
youngest for several seasons, until Jamie was born.
- Francis (Christopher Masterson) is the eldest
brother. Due to his extremely bad behavior, he is sent to a
military school run by the strict Commandant Spangler. He is there
when the series begins. Francis remains at the school until partway
through the third season, when he has himself legally emancipated
and travels to Alaska
to work at a
logging camp. Here he meets and marries Piama, a woman of
Inuit heritage. When the camp closes, he later moves to a Wild
West-themed hotel and ranch in the western U.S. called the Grotto,
run by kindly but eccentric German Otto Mannkusser and his wife
Gretchen.
- Jamie (James and Lukas Rodriguez) is the
youngest brother until the very last episode. Despite his infancy,
he is already shown to have some of his brothers' habits such as
stealing, as well as rudeness to his mother (his first words are
"shut up", directed at Lois).
Episodes
| Season |
Ep # |
First Airdate |
Last Airdate |
| Season
1 |
16 |
January 9, 2000 |
May 21, 2000 |
| Season
2 |
25 |
November 5, 2000 |
May 20, 2001 |
| Season
3 |
22 |
November 11, 2001 |
May 12, 2002 |
| Season
4 |
22 |
November 3, 2002 |
May 18, 2003 |
| Season
5 |
22 |
November 2, 2003 |
May 23, 2004 |
| Season
6 |
22 |
November 7, 2004 |
May 15, 2005 |
| Season
7 |
22 |
September 30, 2005 |
May 14, 2006 |
Production
Opening titles
The opening titles feature short clips from cult films or
television shows, edited together with clips from the early seasons
of the TV series. The Opening Title has changed in the 2 episode -
Season 1 (Red Dress)in the DVD Show and changes back to the
original in the episode 3 - Season 1 (Home Alone 4). The Original
Open Title includes, in order of appearance:
Act Breaks
The end of each act break is signified with the sound of a door
slamming and then a cut to darkness; the same effect is sometimes
used to mark the end of the episode as well. Scene changes are
indicated with a quick "whoosh" sound and a fast
panning motion of the camera.
Setting
The setting of the show has never been revealed, though their
street address – 12334 Maple Blvd. Millbrook – was identified
in episode 81 ("Reese's Party").
The house which is
used for external shots is privately owned, and is situated in the
Studio City
district of Los Angeles, California
, at 12334 Cantura Street, and it can be seen
on Google Street View. Filming also took place at 20th Century Fox Studio -
10201-Pico Boulevard in the Century City
district of Los Angeles
; at Walter
Reed Middle School in Los Angeles and in Santa Clarita, California
. There are several instances where
California license plates are visible, including the family vehicle
in "(Traffic Jam)".
In "Stock Car Races," when Hal and the boys
are entering a race track, the billboard behind the entrance
displays the place as Irwindale Speedway
, a real race track in
Southern California. In seasons six and seven, however, the
license plates on the cars are from Oklahoma ("Hal's Christmas
Gift" and "Malcolm Defends Reese"). The last episode in the first
season ("Waterpark") was filmed at a waterpark called "Wild Rivers"
located in Irvine, California, but in the episode the waterpark was
called "Wavetown USA." Also in the episode "Waterpark," the slide
they are at when Malcolm pushes Lois is called the Abyss (they
enter the Abyss, yet they come out of a ride called the Bombay
Blasters). The Liquidator is actually up the stairs behind them. In
the episode "Monkey" when Reese gets an honor from the police, the
hat he is seen wearing has the letters MPD on it, suggesting the
name of the city begins with the letter "M" and in episode 107
Reese Joins the Army (2)Hal says that he is from the Millbrook bomb
squad when he is trying to hide a backpack and his identity.
The
baseball and softball episodes were filmed in a city park in the
Sherman Oaks
district of Los Angeles, California. During the first year of the show, Francis
reveals that the military academy is in Alabama and is 300 miles
from home.
Music
The show's
theme song, "
Boss of Me", was written and recorded by the
alternative rock group
They Might
Be Giants. The song won the "Best Song Written for a Motion
Picture, Television or Other Visual Media" award at the 2002
Grammy Awards. The band also performed
nearly all of the
incidental music
for the show in its first two seasons.
Mood setting music is sprinkled throughout the series, in
replacement of the laugh track, in a way that resembles feature
film more than other TV sitcoms. Some examples of this highly
varied music include
ABBA,
Basement Jaxx,
Sum 41,
Kenny Rogers,
Lords Of Acid,
The Getaway People,
En Vogue,
Phil Collins,
Quiet Riot,
Queen,
Titán and
Citizen King whose song "Better Days"
is played at the end of both the pilot episode and the series
finale. The Southern California pop-punk band
Lit have many of their songs featured in several
episodes. Lit songs that were never released as singles were also
used.
A soundtrack,
Music
from Malcolm in the Middle, was released on November 21,
2000.
Main crew
- Linwood Boomer - Creator,
Executive Producer (seasons 1-6), Creative Consultant (season
7)
- Todd Holland - Co-Executive
Producer (season 1, subsequent episodes he directs)
- David Richardson - Co-Executive
Producer (season 1)
- Alan J. Higgins - Co-Executive Producer (seasons
1-3), Consultant (season 7)
- Michael Glouberman -
Supervising Producer (season 1), Co-Executive Producer (seasons
1-7)
- Andrew Orenstein - Supervising
Producer (season 1), Co-Executive Producer (seasons 1-5)
- Alex Reid - Creative
Consultant (season 1), Producer (seasons 1 and 2), Supervising
Producer (season 3), Co-Executive Producer (seasons 4-7), Executive
Producer (season 7)
- Don Voorhees - Associate Producer
(seasons 1 and 2), Co-Producer (seasons 3-7)
- Bob Stevens - Co-Executive Producer
(seasons 1-3)
- Gary Murphy - Co-Executive Producer
(seasons 2-7)
- Neil Thompson - Co-Executive Producer (seasons 2-5), Consulting
Producer (seasons 6 and 7)
- Michael Borkow - Co-Executive
Producer (seasons 3 and 4)
- Maggie Bandur - Executive Story
Editor (seasons 2 and 3), Co-Producer (season 3), Producer (season
4), Supervising Producer (season 5)
- Pang-Ni Landrum - Executive
Story Editor (seasons 2 and 3), Co-Producer (season 3)
- Dan Kopelman - Executive Story
Editor (seasons 2 and 3), Co-Producer (season 3), Producer (season
4), Supervising Producer (season 5)
- Matthew Carlson - Co-Executive
Producer (seasons 4-6), Executive Producer (season 7)
- Rob Hanning - Co-Executive Producer
(season 4)
- Bob Kushell - Consulting Producer
(season 4)
- Janice Carr - Associate Producer
(seasons 4 and 5), Co-Producer (seasons 6 and 7)
- Rob Ulin - Co-Executive Producer
(seasons 5-7)
- Eric Kaplan - Supervising Producer
(season 5), Co-Executive Producer (seasons 5-7)
- Jennifer Celotta - Supervising
Producer (season 6), Co-Executive Producer (season 6)
- Jay Kogen - Consulting Producer
(season 6), Co-Executive Producer (season 7)
- David Sacks - Consulting Producer
(season 6)
- Steve Welch - Supervising Producer
(season 7)
DVD Release
Only the first season of
Malcolm in the Middle has been
released on DVD. Season 2 was going to be released in Autumn 2003,
but was cancelled due to high costs of music clearances.
{| class="wikitable"
!DVD Name!!Release date!!Ep #!!Additional information
|-
|The Complete First Season||October 29, 2002||align="center" |16|| Extended pilot episode, A Stroke of Genius featurette, Commentary on select episodes, Gag reel, Deleted scenes, Alternate show openings, bloopers, Dewey's Day Job featurette.
Reception
Ratings
As a
midseason replacement for
Futurama, the show quickly gained
a large viewer base, starting off with ratings of 23 million for
the debut episode and 26 million for the second episode.
Fox shuffled the show's air time repeatedly to make room for other
shows, eventually giving it a free pass in its seventh and last
season. After moving to Fridays at 8:30 p.m. next to
The Bernie Mac Show,
Malcolm in
the Middle averaged fewer than 3.5 million viewers a week,
making it Fox's lowest-rated show. On January 13, 2006, Fox
announced that the show would be moving to 7:00 p.m. on Sundays
effective January 29, 2006. On January 17, 2006, Fox announced the
cancellation of the series, with the 151st and
final episode airing at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT (the
show's original timeslot) on May 14, 2006. The finale was watched
by 7.4 million.
| Season |
Premiere |
Final |
U.S. ratings |
| 1 |
2000 |
January 9, 2000 |
May 21, 2000 |
20.0 million |
| 2 |
2000-2001 |
November 5, 2000 |
May 20, 2001 |
18.0 million |
| 3 |
2001-2002 |
November 11, 2001 |
May 12, 2002 |
15.0 million |
| 4 |
2002-2003 |
November 3, 2002 |
May 18, 2003 |
9.1 million |
| 5 |
2003-2004 |
November 2, 2003 |
May 23, 2004 |
8.7 million |
| 6 |
2004-2005 |
November 7, 2004 |
May 15, 2005 |
5.8 million |
| 7 |
2005-2006 |
September 30, 2005 |
May 14, 2006 |
3.5 million |
|
In
Australia, in 2002
Malcolm in the
Middle premiered on
Channel Nine,
Monday nights at 8:00 p.m. It rated strongly, with the help from
its lead in
Friends, which at the
time rated 2,279,000, 2,031,000 and 2,410,000 as the night's most
watched show, and year's 2nd most watched TV program.
Malcolm
in the Middle's ratings included 1,952,000,1,925,000,
1,712,000, 1,644,000, and sometimes rating over the 2 million mark:
2,002,000, 2,008,000.
In
France
, the show
first aired daily at 8 p.m. in December 2001, on M6, but didn't find its public and
was quickly off schedule. Then, when the show made its
comeback in the summer of 2003 at noon, it had a big success. The
last seasons had over 1.5 million viewers and a share sometimes
over 30 %. Nowadays, the channel is still programming reruns of the
show because of its good performances.
Awards and nominations
Jane Kaczmarek and
Cloris Leachman gained the highest honors in
the cast for being nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award every year
they appeared on
Malcolm in the Middle. Cloris Leachman
succeeded in winning 2002 and 2006. The show won a total of 7 Emmys
during its seven year run.
Syndication
The show entered syndication one month before the 6th season
premiere on
Fox. The show
was launched on
Nick at Nite on July 5,
2009 at 8:00pm with an all night marathon. However, Nick at Nite
changed the TV-14 ratings to TV-PG removing adult content from
episodes.
Sky1(a UK channel) also has Malcolm
in the Middle is on everyday at 5:30 - 6:00 and 6:30 - 7:00. The
show will begin airing on
TeenNick in
November 2009.
International broadcasts
| Country |
TV network(s) |
Year/Date |
Series Title in Country |
Argentina |
Fox, Canal 13, I-Sat |
2000 |
Fiji |
Fiji tv |
2000 |
| Australia |
Nine Network, Comedy Channel |
2002 |
Belgium |
2BE |
2006 |
Bhutan |
STAR World |
2005 |
Brazil |
Rede Record, SBT, Fox |
2004 |
Bulgaria |
bTV, Fox
Life, BTV Comedy |
2001 |
Mалкълм |
Canada |
YTV,
Global, Télé-Québec |
2000 (Global), 2005 (YTV), 2006/2007 (Télé-Quebec) |
On Télé-Québec: Malcolm |
Chile |
Fox, Televisión Nacional de
Chile, I-Sat |
2000 |
Colombia |
RCN Televisión |
2006 |
Costa
Rica |
Repretel 11 |
2007 |
Croatia |
Nova TV, RTL
Televizija |
2002 |
Malcolm u sredini |
Denmark |
TV 2 Zulu, TV3+ |
2003 |
Malcolm i midten |
Dominican Republic |
Telesistema Canal 11 |
2008 |
Ecuador |
Teleamazonas |
2004 |
Estonia |
TV3, TV6 |
2006 |
Faroe Islands |
Sjónvarp Føroya |
2008 |
Finland |
MTV3 |
2005 |
Veljemme on nero |
| France |
M6, Paris Première |
2001 |
Malcolm |
Greece |
Macedonia TV |
2008 |
Honduras |
Canal 5 de
Televicentro |
2008 |
Hong
Kong |
TVB |
2001 |
Hungary |
Comedy Central |
2009 |
Már megint Malcolm |
Iceland |
SkjárEinn |
2006 |
India |
STAR World |
2005 |
Indonesia |
STAR World |
2005 |
Ireland |
Sky1, TV3,
3e |
2002 |
Israel |
Bip |
2002 |
מלקולם באמצע |
Italy |
Italia 1 |
2004 |
Kenya |
NTV |
2005 |
Lithuania |
TV3 |
2008 |
Malkolmas Vidurinysis |
Malaysia |
ntv7, STAR
World |
2008 |
Mexico |
Televisa |
2004 |
Malcolm el de enmedio |
Nepal |
BBS-Bhutan
Broadcasting Service |
2005 |
| Middle East |
MBC 4, Show
Comedy, Paramount Comedy |
2002 |
Netherlands |
Veronica Network, Comedy Central |
2003 |
New Zealand |
c4 |
2008 |
Norway |
TV2 |
2002 |
Malcolm i midten |
Poland |
Polsat |
2006 |
Zwariowany Świat Malcolma |
Portugal |
SIC Radical and Fox Portugal |
2009 |
A Vida é Injusta |
Serbia |
RTV BK Telecom |
2001 |
|
Singapore |
MediaCorp TV Channel
5 |
2007 |
Slovenia |
Kanal A |
2005 |
| South Africa |
M-Net |
2005 |
Spain |
Antena 3, Fox |
2000 |
Sri
Lanka |
MTV Television |
2008 |
Sweden |
TV6, TV3, TV4 |
2006 |
Malcolm, ett geni i familjen |
Switzerland |
SF zwei, TSR 2,
3+ |
2000 |
Malcolm Mittendrin |
Germany |
ProSieben |
2001 |
Austria |
ORF1 |
2002 |
Thailand |
True Series, STAR World |
2005 |
Turkey |
CNBC-e, TNT |
2003 |
| Uganda |
NTV |
2008 |
Ukraine |
Novyi Kanal |
2004 |
Малкольм у центрі уваги |
| United Kingdom |
BBC Two, Sky 1,
Sky 2 |
2000 |
| United States |
Fox, FX, Nick at
Nite |
2000 |
Venezuela |
Televen |
2002 |
Vietnam |
Vietnam Multimedia
Corporation |
2005 |
References
External links
, Ontario
, Canada
Pedro
Cardenas fighting Canadian Willie
DeWitt but accidentally KOd referee Bert Lowes instead, during
the 1982 North American Championships in Las Vegas.
Wikis
Quiz
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