Malcolm in the Middle

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{{Infobox Television | show_name = Malcolm in the Middle | image = Image:MitM credits logo.jpg | format = Comedy (sitcom) | camera = Single camera | runtime = 23 minutes (approximate) | creator = Linwood Boomer | starring = Frankie Muniz
Jane Kaczmarek
Bryan Cranston
Christopher Masterson
Justin Berfield
Erik Per Sullivan | country = United States | network = Fox Broadcasting Company | first_aired = January 9, 2000 | last_aired = present (ending May 14, 2006) | num_episodes = 149 as of April 16, 2006 }} Malcolm in the Middle is an American situation comedy on the Fox Network. It first aired in 2000.

It stars Frankie Muniz as Malcolm, the third oldest of five boys, originally the third oldest of four, in the family (hence the title of the show). The situation centers on Malcolm and his dysfunctional family's life.

The series is different from many others, in that Malcolm breaks the fourth wall, and talks directly to the viewer, much like Zack Morris on Saved by the Bell. It is also one of the few American sitcoms that does not have a live studio audience or any other sort of laugh track, and is filmed, like most dramas and unlike most sitcoms, in the single camera style.

The show's theme song, "Boss of Me", was written and recorded by the alternative rock group They Might Be Giants, who also performed nearly all of the incidental music for the show in its first two seasons.

It is aired in Canada on the Global Television Network, but can also be viewed on the FOX network. It is also shown in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland on Sky One and then, a few months later, on BBC2 (UK) and TV3 (ROI). In France it is aired by M6 and Paris Première, in Australia it is aired by Nine network and in New Zealand it is aired by TV3. In Mexico it is aired in Spanish on Channel Five (XHGC) of Televisa. In Israel it is aired on Bip Channel. In Germany it is aired on Pro 7, in Austria on ORF 1. In Italy on Italia 1. In Denmark on TV2 Zulu and [[TV3+]], in Norway on TV2 and in Sweden on TV4. The series is also aired on one of Malaysia's free TV stations, NTV7. In the Middle East, the series is aired on MBC 2 and Showtime Arabia's Paramount Comedy Channel. In Spain it is aired on Antena 3, in Portugal on SIC-Radical, a cable network owned by SIC and on M-Net in South Africa. In Hong Kong it is aired on TVB Pearl and it can be watched on Star World around Asia.

FX Networks plans to carry the show on cable in 2007.

After successfully selling the show into syndication, FOX essentially gave the show a free pass during its seventh and final season. After moving it to Fridays at 8:30 PM next to The Bernie Mac Show, Malcolm in the Middle has averaged fewer than 3.5 million viewers a week, making it FOX's lowest-rated show. On Friday, January 13, 2006, FOX announced that the show would be moving to 7:00 on Sundays effective January 29, 2006. On Tuesday, January 17, 2006, FOX announced the cancellation of the series, with the 151st and final episode airing, ironically, at 8:30pm ET/PT (the show's original timeslot) on May 14, 2006.

Contents

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The family

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Image:Malcolm in the Middle.jpg Image:MITMJamie.jpg Image:MITMStilts.jpg Originally there were only four children (although Malcolm's eldest brother attended a military school away from home, so he was still the middle child left at home). The fifth child, a new baby, was introduced in the show's fourth season to coincide with Jane Kaczmarek's pregnancy. The boys are, from eldest to youngest: Francis, Reese, Malcolm, Dewey, and Jamie.

At the beginning of the series, Malcolm's teacher recognizes him as a gifted student, and places him in an accelerated learning class. Much to his dismay, the move brands him as a "Krelboyne," a member of the gifted class. The name "Krelboyne" comes from the surname of one of the characters in the movie Little Shop of Horrors, formally known as Patrick the Hitman Holt. Many episodes revolve around Malcolm's attempts to reconcile his genius-level IQ with his desire to lead a "normal" social life.

Reese, the second oldest, is also the least intelligent. This is because at an early age he learned how to get rid of his troubles by turning his brain off, or singing the "Minty Mint Song" in his head. He is overall the most destructive of the brothers, and arguably the biggest trouble-maker (the full extent of Francis's deeds has yet to be revealed, but occasional glimpses of the past have shown why Francis was exiled from the house). Reese has a reputation as a bully, but over the show's development has begun to become better behaved. He is an excellent chef and loves to cook, and banning him from the kitchen has become Hal and Lois's only effective punishment against him.

In the fifth season, Malcolm's younger brother Dewey begins to exhibit a high degree of intelligence, seen mainly in his talent of playing the piano. Dewey is about to follow his brother into the gifted class, only to have Malcolm help him stay in normal classes by using Reese to complete Dewey's tests, which accidentally gets Dewey thrown into the "Special" class, full of kids considered lost causes (the class is known as the "Buseys", an apparent reference to actor Gary Busey.) Dewey has since organized the class to want to be all they can be, and is teaching them standard lessons as their teacher/leader. He has been trying to show that they are just as capable as others, and has organized them to do things such as performing an opera he wrote based on his family.

The eldest brother, Francis, is a regular character on the show, though he has not lived at home with his brothers since Hal and Lois sent him to military school (part of the backstory to season 1). After the second season, at only 16 years old he legally emancipates himself with the help of an unscrupulous Alabama lawyer, leaves the academy and heads to Alaska to find work as a logger. While in Alaska, he marries a local woman named Piama. By season 4 he and Piama have left Alaska and Francis has begun working as a farmhand at a Texas ranch/hotel owned by a German couple. (They are Danish in the German-dubbed version of the series). Francis has become a responsible adult; he has even begun to discipline his younger brothers, who used to regard him as a rule-breaking role model. Unfortunately, a little over two years after he begins working at the ranch, he is fired because the ATM he used to deposit funds isn't actually an ATM. For the remainder of seasons six and seven, Francis makes only occasional appearances, yet he is still credited in each episode. Later, we find that for some time he has been living in a cheap apartment and has failed at getting a job. He briefly took a job as the agent for his friend's band and recently started his own business.

Lois works as a clerk at Lucky Aide, a local drugstore (Lucky Aide's slogan: "The "L" Stands for Value"). She has unconventional ways of disciplining her children. She also has an unhealthy obsession of winning every conceiveable argument that may or may not arise. Her mother is still alive, much to the family's dismay. Lois also has a sister, with whom she is on uneven ground. Her co-worker, the domineering but socially inept Craig Feldspar, has romantic feelings for her, which he makes known in several episodes. Lois is of undetermined Eastern European descent, an aspect explored in a single episode in the fifth season. Lois and Hal continue to be sexually attracted to one another, as evident in several episodes; according to Hal in the season three episode Poker II he and Lois have sex twice a day.

Hal is a bit squeamish and more relaxed in his parenting than Lois, mainly because he is afraid to make the wrong choice. His indecisiveness supposedly stems from a childhood incident in which he caused a clown to get attacked by a snake (both of which he is now afraid of). He's smart enough to know not to cross Lois. When Lois is away, he quickly begins to lose self-control and indulges in his baser enjoyments such as smoking, loud music, and building "killer robots" (as explored in one episode). He goes off in frequent fits of rage over petty annoyances, frequently going off on usually self-destructive vendettas against those who cross him; anyone from a co-worker he believes stole an idea from him, to a mini-golf manager who wouldn't give Dewey a free game, to a bothersome bee, to his own sons. He keeps encyclopedias around with certain letters -a,b,o, p - and other letters with spaces filled in with pencil, a sort of secret self-therapy which has occupied many years and many books. This is quite possibly a harbinger of obsessive-compulsive disorder or severe neurosis. He is arguably the biggest dreamer of the family, usually fantasizing about enjoyable situations. He is quite passionate about a range of activities, from roller-skating to pirate radio to race-walking. He comes from a large rich family, with all of the family members having some (repressed) problem or another. They rarely visit because of the friction between Hal's relatives and Lois.

The most dysfunctional members of the family are Lois's parents, Victor (Robert Loggia) and Ida (Cloris Leachman). They were first introduced in the episode "The Grandparents". Victor got off to a bad start by giving Reese a hand grenade which he accidentally set off. Malcolm's quick thinking prevented the house from blowing up by shoving it in the new steel-reinforced refrigerator. Not much is known about Victor, except that he left his home at a young age and that he was in the war. In the episode "Christmas" we learn that he is now dead. He kept a secret from Lois; he had another family. They were introduced in Season Five. Then it was revealed that Victor was not really Lois's father. Her real father has yet to be revealed.

Lois' mother, Ida, is a bigot and an alcoholic. Her husband, Lois' alleged father, ran off to marry a Canadian woman. Lois subsequently went to visit her half-siblings and while in Canada Ida told Lois that Ida's common-law husband wasn't really her father. She has done a lot of nasty things in her life, such as drugging a Chinese man into marrying her. Luckily he snapped out of it before the marriage ceremony ended. She keeps Christmas gifts locked up, thinking that the family doesn't deserve them when they have no idea that they annoyed her. The only good thing Ida has ever done was saving Dewey from getting run over by a truck; in the process she lost a leg.

Victor and Ida come from an unknown place dubbed "The Old Country", which has been hinted to be either in Eastern Europe or inside Russia. Both characters speak with noticeably Slavic accents. Ukraine would be a particularly good guess for their home country. Some episodes mentioned the grandparents had lived in Manitoba, which has a large Ukrainian-Canadian community. Ida said she had been through a "camp", and would have been old enough to have lived through the displaced person experience after World War II, in which many Ukrainian people sought refuge in Canada. One episode centers on a fictitious "St. Grotus Day" celebration which featured embroidered costumes similar to traditional Ukrainian dress. St. Grotus was said to smite "enemy churches", and Ukraine has a history of several competing Catholic and Orthodox churches.

The episode "Christmas" implied that Ida is Catholic, as she once expressed distaste for a relative who'd married a Protestant. Since this particular distaste doesn't extend to Lois, the implication is that Hal is also Catholic. On the other hand, the family is not religious, and only briefly joined a church just for the free daycare offered there. Neither Hal nor Lois attend church services; while in the episode "Shame" Malcolm seeks religious guidance simultaneously from a priest, a rabbi, and a New Age guru.

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Their last name

The last name of the family has been revealed only once in the show, 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, though unaired, it 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. One theory of why their last name has been played down is that the producers did not want them to be typecast as any particular ethnicity, and they likely hoped rerun viewers would miss Francis' name tag. However, a trailer on the UK channel Sky One in Early 2006 advised you to spend time with "The Simpsons" and "The Wilkersons", advertising Sunday night new episodes of both series. And on Bryan Cranston's official website, Mr. Cranston says the crew regularly jokes amongst themselves that their last name is actually Nolastname.

Along with the last name, the creators also leave several other things hanging for the viewers to figure out:

  • In season 1 episode "Funeral", Francis keeps asking how Aunt Helen died. Dewey says twice "Cats ate her face". When he asked Hal, he also responded with cats eating her face as the death, and said Dewey knows more about it (Dewey would go on rambling nonstop with a bizarre story). Earlier, Francis asked the same question and the subject was changed. Also in the episode was a character named "Egg" that was Dewey's friend. Egg was only shown once. The whearabouts & conclusion of him are unknown.
  • In season 4 episode "Baby part 2", after Jamie was born, Hal's friends asked Abe what gender it was. Abe's response was "It's a beautiful [ambulance sirens]". In the following episode, (the season finale, "Day Care"), whenever Jamie's gender was mentioned, it was either interrupted, changed subject, or led to a different ending in the sentence. This led to some speculation that Jamie's gender would be kept a secret. During the cold open for the next episode (season five's opener, "Vegas"), this idea is toyed with when Hal and Lois change Jamie's diaper. After numerous opportunities at revealing Jamie's gender are left unfulfilled, the sequence finally ends with Jamie urinating straight up at Hal. Hal's response was: "Nice try, mister." In other words, we now know that Jamie is a boy. The episode also makes two further references of Jamie's masculine gender.
  • In season 5 episode "Reese's Apartment", Lois states some outlandish thing that Reese did multiple times, but right as she is saying it, the scene changes to the reaction of what he did, without ever revealing what he did. The only references we hear as to what he did were Malcolm's response of "Did they have to evacuate?" and a therapist's response of "Oh, my God. What were the cats for?"
  • In season 6 episode "Living Will", the episode when Hal's fears of making decisions was shown, he had to choose between euthanasia or prolonged life support on someone in a coma who put the entire neighborhood in his will. After a brief bout with paralysis from the waist up, Hal made a "third choice". We'll never know since at the end of that episode he said he would never mention it again.
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The setting

The setting of the show has never been revealed, though their street address - 12334 Maple Dr. - was identified in episode 418 ("Reese's Party"). The locale doesn't appear to have noticeable seasons, and also appears not to be in a desert environment, so one could conjecture the setting is somewhere in suburban California (the show is filmed in this state and the outdoor setting closely resembles the physical landscape of the state). Also, the schools the teens attend has the look and layout of a common California public school, with classes in many single story buildings, separated by open-air common areas, instead of a single multi-story building.The actual location of the house is in the San Fernando Valley and CBS Studio Center(Studio City) is where the set is.

In various scenes, especially in later seasons, license plates show a "Cherokee State". Despite that, the look of the plates intentionally made like California's, such as the font of the words "Cherokee State", and digits are in the format of "1 XXX 111", where 1 is a digit, and X is a letter. However, in one episode, Hal comes to visit Francis at military school and upon seeing his father, Francis exclaims, "you drove eight hours just to see me!" The school is known to be located in Alabama, so Malcolm's family must live within an eight-hour drive of the state, perhaps in Florida. On the other hand there is also in episode 418 where Reese is sent to Whitehorse on a bus for at least 52 hours. Malcolm: "Reese, think about it. It takes 26 hours to get to Canada, and 26 hours to get back. Your bag is filled with food and nobody called Grandma!" Only Alaska is within a 26 hour drive of Whitehorse, Canada. However, in episode 43, Alaska is stated to be "5000 miles away and in the episode "Krelborne Picnic", Francis says "So I'm still a member of the family even after you sent me away to military school 1,000 miles away".

In episode 112, on a desk in the brother's room, is what appears to be an In-N-Out Burger coffee mug. If this is true, its likely the show is in states such as California, Nevada, or Arizona as the In-N-Out food chain is only present in these three states. Although, because the show is filmed in California, it is likely just added there from a cast member or crew member, since In-N-Out is popular among celebrities.

It is likely that there is no real-world location that is consistent with all the facts about Malcolm's location given in the show. It is known, however, though that the area in which the family live is called Tri-County. This has been references several times; for example, in the "Carnival" episode, the sign to the fairgrounds reads "Tri-County"; and in the "Miss Tri-County" episode, Lois enters a local beauty pagent called Miss Tri-County.

In the episode in which Hal reveals to Dewey the origins of his fear of kites, we see a flashback to Hal's childhood. In the park, he crashes into a sign that shows a municipal code with the abbreviation RAPD. The PD almost certainly refer to "Park District," but the RA is not explained.

Also Oklahoma is a possibility. The license plates state "Cherokee State" which is another name for Oklahoma. Also in one episode Otto Mannkusser was singing the Oklahoma! song. In the Reese Drives episode Oklahoma Highway police can be seen on the Police car doors.

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Cast

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The family

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Other major characters

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Krelboynes

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Episode guide

See the list of Malcolm in the Middle episodes.
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Character age information

Episode Air date Dialog/Event Actor's age
101 January 9, 2000 Malcolm: "No, you're (Dewey) in the first grade. You're too big for that."
Reese: "He's (Francis) 16." 		Erik Per Sullivan: 8.5 y
Christopher Masterson: 20
102 January 16, 2000 16th anniversary of Lois and Hal, which make Francis 16 years old (Lois went into labor during the wedding). Christopher Masterson: 20 y
301 November 11, 2001 Francis emancipated himself.
(Therefore, must be a minor) 		Christopher Masterson: 21.8 y
302 November 14, 2001 Reese started high school. Malcolm did not. Justin Berfield: 15.7 y
Frankie Muniz: 15.9 y
313 February 10, 2002 Reese got his learner's permit.
(Generally, must be at least 15, although laws vary by state.) 		Justin Berfield: 16 y
316 March 10, 2002 Ed (to Reese): "...it'll be hard to explain to my wife why I'm catering to a 15-year-old." Justin Berfield: 16.1 y
402 November 10, 2002 Malcolm: "I'm officially done with junior high. ... I'm going into high school."
Malcolm: "I've spent 3 years being a Krelboyne. I can spend 4 years being a joke." 		Frankie Muniz: 16.9 y
414 March 16, 2003 Malcolm: "She's (Jessica) in my class, Dad!"
Reese: "She's a year younger than me." 		Justin Berfield: 17.1 y
Frankie Muniz: 17.3 y
421 May 18, 2003 Jamie was born.
505 November 30, 2003 Grove Elementary School sent a letter concerning Dewey. Erik Per Sullivan: 12.4 y
510 January 25, 2004 Malcolm got his learner's permit.
(Generally, must be at least 15, although laws vary by state.) 		Frankie Muniz: 18.1 y
515 March 21, 2004 Hal: "In 17 years with us, you (Reese) have spent more days in juvenile court than you have in school." Justin Berfield: 18.1 y
521 May 16, 2004 Reese, when still a minor, joined the army with false identification. Justin Berfield: 18.2 y
601 November 7, 2004 Lois: "He's (Reese) not even 18 years old yet." Justin Berfield: 18.7 y
607 January 16, 2005 20th anniversary of Lois and Hal, which make Francis' real age roughly less than 20. Christopher Masterson: 25 y
608 January 23, 2005 Reese: "Maybe it's because I'm almost 18 now." Justin Berfield: 18.9 y
613 March 13, 2005 Dewey: "Give him (Jamie) a break. He's not even 2."
616 April 3, 2005 Francis turned 21 Christopher Masterson: 25.2 y
702 October 7, 2005 Reese: "I'm 17." Justin Berfield: 19.6 y
707 November 11, 2005 Lois: "He's (Reese) 18, for God's sake!" Justin Berfield: 19.7 y
712 January 29, 2006 Dewey: "I'm 12." Erik Per Sullivan: 14.5 y
715 March 5, 2006 Reese: "What are you, 12?"
Dewey: "Yeah." 		Erik Per Sullivan: 14.6 y

Note: Francis' age and birthday are unclear. According to several episodes he was born during Lois and Hal's wedding ceremony but his birthday is different from their anniversary and he is described as 16 before either their 16th anniversary or his birthday occur on the show. Some fans have theorized that his birth interrupted the wedding ceremony and that Hal and Lois were not actually married on that day, making them move their legal wedding (and thus anniversary) to Jan 16th.

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Opening titles

The opening titles feature a collection of short, subliminal clips from cult icons or movies, edited together with clips from the early seasons of the TV series. These include:

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Timeslots

Since the show's inception FOX has shuffled Malcolm in the Middle around to make room for other shows.

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Trivia

  • Bryan Cranston (Hal), Justin Berfield (Reese) and Erik Per Sullivan (Dewey) are the only actors to appear in every episode.
  • Even though Frankie Muniz (Malcolm) plays Justin Berfield (Reese)'s younger brother, Muniz is about three months older than Berfield.
  • Jane Kaczmarek has been nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in every year Malcolm in the Middle has been broadcasted. She has lost to actresses of higher-rated shows such as Jennifer Aniston, Felicity Huffman ,Sarah Jessica Parker, and Patricia Heaton.
  • Frankie Muniz and Bryan Cranston also have been honored with Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, respectively.
  • Malcolm in the Middle was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2001.
  • One episode featured an amazing domino sequence set up by Hal but missed it since he closed the door a little bit too hard. The sequence was set up by multiple cameras with no digital editing.
  • The Mannkussers are Danes in the German version.
  • Mannkusser is derived from the German word Mannküsser, which means man-kisser.
  • Malcolm In The Middle won "Best International Comedy" at the 2004 British Comedy Awards, beating out favourites such as Friends, The Simpsons and South Park.
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DVD Releases

Only the first season of Malcolm in the Middle has been released on DVD. The reason for the delay on the other season DVD sets is rumored to be due to music rights; however, there is no official explanation at this time.

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References

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External links

es:Malcolm in the Middle fr:Malcolm it:Malcolm pt:Malcolm

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