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Malcolm in the Middle

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Malcolm in the Middle
Created byLinwood Boomer
StarringFrankie Muniz
Jane Kaczmarek
Bryan Cranston
Christopher Masterson
Justin Berfield
Erik Per Sullivan
Opening theme"Boss of Me" by
They Might Be Giants
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes151
Production
Camera setupSingle camera
Running time22 minutes (without ads)
Original release
NetworkFOX
ReleaseJanuary 9, 2000 –
May 14, 2006

Malcolm in the Middle was a seven-time Emmy,[1] Grammy-winning[1] and seven time-nominated Golden Globe[1] American situation comedy created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Network. The series first aired on January 9, 2000, and ended its six-and-a-half-year run on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons.

The show starred Frankie Muniz as Malcolm, the third-oldest of four, later five, children in the family, parented by Lois (Jane Kaczmarek) and Hal (Bryan Cranston). The oldest child, Francis (Christopher Masterson), was shipped off to military school, leaving the three boys: Reese (Justin Berfield), Malcolm, and Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan) living at home, Malcolm being the third oldest of the five (hence the title of the show). The show's early seasons centered on Malcolm and the rigors of being an adolescent genius and his eccentric, although eerily normal, life; later seasons began to explore the other members of the family and their friends in more depth.

Guest stars on the show have included Andy Richter, Christopher Lloyd, Patrick Warburton, Stephen Root, Jason Alexander, Laurie Metcalf, Kathryn Joosten, Amy Bruckner, Beatrice Arthur, Betty White, Hallee Hirsh, Lauren Storm, Dakota Fanning, Ashlee Simpson, Tom Green, Christina Ricci, Danielle Panabaker, Susan Sarandon, Heidi Klum and Bradley Whitford (Jane Kaczmarek's real life husband).

Characters

Main characters

File:Malcolm3.jpg
Malcolm in the Middle family. From left to right: Francis, Lois, Jamie (infant in Lois's arms), Malcolm, Dewey, Hal, and Reese.
File:MITMStilts.jpg
From the sixth season episode "Stilts", with Malcolm taking on the role of Uncle Sam at the Lucky Aide.

Originally there were only four children (although Malcolm's oldest 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 but his sex was not mentioned until Season 5. The boys are, from eldest to youngest: Francis, Reese, Malcolm, Dewey, and Jamie. On the last episode Lois discovered she was, once again, pregnant with a sixth child. Bryan Cranston (Hal), Justin Berfield (Reese) and Erik Per Sullivan (Dewey) are the only actors to appear in every episode.

Recurring characters

  • Stevie Kenarban, played by Craig Lamar Traylor. Malcolm's best friend. Stevie first met Malcolm in the pilot and were in the same accelerated class through middle school and most of high school. Stevie is wheelchair bound and has severe asthma, causing him to have difficulty speaking. Stevie has a sarcastic side and has also outsmarted Malcolm and Reese on numerous occasions.
  • Abraham "Abe" Kenarban, played by Gary Anthony Williams. Abe is the devoted father and husband to Stevie and Kitty. Abe enjoys spending time with Hal by playing poker with with him and his other friends, Trey, Brian, Malik and Steve.
  • Kitty Kenarban, played by Merrin Dungey. Stevie's mother and Abe's wife. Kitty is generally soft spoken and doesn't normally punish her son due to his disability. Kitty disappeared from the series after the third season premier and it is revealed that she became a prostitute and deserted her family. She returned in season six, however hoping to reform herself.
  • Caroline Miller, played Catherine Lloyd Burns, Malcom's teacher who is in most of the first seasons episodes and in the second season appears in two episodes. She disappears from the series after giving birth in the school parking lot.
  • Commandant Edwin Spangler, played by Daniel von Bargen. The strict and hard nosed military veteran in charge of the cadets at Marlin Academy. For the first two seasons and beginning of season three, Francis was Spangler's most rebellious student and often clashed with him on many occasions. Halfway through the thrid season, Francis' desertion from the academy caused Spangler's life to go downhill as Francis stood out as his only failure. Spangler gets dismissed from the academy and tracks Francis to Alaska and attempts to kill him at first. Francis eventually finds Spangler a new job at a retirement home and Spangler is able to boss around the senior citizens.
  • Cadet Eric Hanson, played by Eric Nenninger. Francis' fellow cadet at the academy and best friend for the first three seasons. Eric was Francis' reluctant sidekick and normally suffered the consequences of the antics caused by Francis. At the start of season three, Eric emancipates himself and goes work in an Alaskan lodge. Francis follows soon after but both of them learn that their job isn't as great as they hoped. Eventually, the lodge closes down and they must leave. Francis and Piama leave happily but Eric is left behind to hitchhike on the highway. His fate is unknown.
  • Craig Feldspar, played by David Anthony Higgins, is the neurotic, though well-intentioned, co-worker of Lois at the Lucky Aide. He appears quite frequently in the show, especially during later seasons, as his character became more entwined with Lois and her family. After entrusting his house and cat to Dewey's care while he was away, and the resulting fire that destroyed it, he lived with Malcolm's family for a short time until the boys schemed to get him out (and cover their own tracks).
  • Cynthia, played by Tania Raymonde, is a new Krelboyne girl who joins Malcolm's class in the episode "Krelboyne Girl".
  • Lavernia, played by Brenda Wehle. Francis' cruel and heartless boss at the Alaskan lodge. Lavernia rules over her workers with an iron fist and usually charges her employees instead of paying them. Eventually she closes down the lodge and fires her workers when a mining company buys out the land.
  • Lionel Herkabe, played Chris Eigeman.
  • Victor and Ida, played by Robert Loggia and Cloris Leachman respectively, are Lois' dysfunctional parents, introduced in the episode "The Grandparents". Ida is depicted as greedy, manipulative, and quick to take offense, the only good deed she has ever done is saving Dewey from being run overed by a truck thus losing one of her leg. Not as much is said about Victor, except that he left his home at a young age and that he was in "the war". Ida often refers to a hard life growing up in "The Old Country" and going through "a camp". While they speak with Slavic accents and appear to be from somewhere in Eastern Europe, their exact nationality is never specified, and may be intended to be fictional. However one episode, which centers on a fictitious "St. Grotus Day" feast, appears to take place in a Croatian community center, with a Croatian flag and a poster of Zagreb Cathedral on the wall. Victor apparently had another, second, family, which he kept secret from Ida[2], while later he ran off and married a Canadian woman.
  • Piama Tananahaakna, played by Emy Coligado.
  • Otto Mannkusser, played by Kenneth Mars. Francis' boss and sidekick for the fourth and fifth seasons. Otto is incharge of The Grotto, a dude ranch. Otto is married to Gretchen and has an estranged son. Otto is gullible and a bit of a pushover as he normally hires too many employees and gives them extra vacation days. However, after Francis works on the ranch for a little over two years, Otto fires him when the ATM that Francis was depositing his funds into wasn't really an ATM.
  • Gretchen Mannkusser, played by Meagen Fay.
  • Jessica, played by Hayden Panettiere.
File:MITMJamie.jpg
The youngest member of the family, Jamie.
  • Jamie is the fifth Wilkerson child. After many episodes of intentionally skirting the issue, Jamie's sex was revealed in the cold opener of episode 422 ("Day Care") when Lois said "How does this kid keep getting out of his diaper?". As episodes progressed, and his character came to walking age, it was implied that he might be more genius, and troublesome, than the rest of the children. Even before his birth, he had Dewey under his "command," claims eventually validated by commanding Dewey to tell Lois to "turn around," revealing to her that Hal had been fattening her up behind her back.


Mysteries

Episode listing

Main article: List of Malcolm in the Middle episodes

Production

Broadcasters

Format

The series was different from many others in that Malcolm broke the fourth wall and talked directly to the viewer; it was shot using a single camera; and it used 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.

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. These include, in order of appearance:

Setting

Much like in The Simpsons, the setting of the show has never been revealed, though their street address - 12334 Maple Blvd. - was identified in episode 81 ("Reese's Party").The house which is used for external shots is privately owned, and is situated in Studio City, California, at 12334 Cantura Street. The locale does not 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. As well, throughout the run of the show, there were numerous sightings of vehicles clearly bearing California license plates, and San Diego sport team references. The schools that the children attend have 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; this layout is also common in Southern states such as Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. Also in episode 110, "Stock Car Races", when Hal and the boys are entering the track, the billboard behind the entrance displays the place as Irwindale Speedway, a real race track in Southern California.

Oklahoma is another possibility; in later seasons, license plates display "Cherokee State" which is another name for Oklahoma. In episode 313, Oklahoma Highway Police can be seen on the police car doors. In Seasons 6 and 7, the license plates on the cars are from Oklahoma. This is seen more than once, as in the episode "Hal's Christmas Gift", the license plate on the Mustang Lois is in the parking lot demolition derby with is from Oklahoma, as well as her Tempo. And later, in the episode "Malcolm Defends Reese", Hal's Dodge Spirit has Oklahoma plates.

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, in episode 418, Reese is sent to Canada 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!" In the series finale, Malcolm reveals that Harvard is 2,000 miles away. Triangulation using these distances puts the family's location somewhere in West Texas. However it is most likely these distances were arbitrary numbers used to confuse the location of the setting.

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.[1] The band also 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, En Vogue, Phil Collins, Quiet Riot, Queen, Sublime, and Citizen King, whose song "Better Days" is played at the end of both the pilot episode and the series finale.

A soundtrack, Music from Malcolm in the Middle, was released on November 21, 2000.

DVD releases

Only the first season of Malcolm in the Middle has been released on DVD. Season 2 was going to be released in Fall 2003 but was cancelled due to high costs of music clearances,[3] rumours have begun to sprout that season 2 will be released on DVD either by the end of 2007 or early 2008.


DVD Name Cover Art Release Date Ep # Additional Information
The Complete First Season October 29 2002 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[4] and 26 million for the second episode.[citation needed]

Fox shuffled the show's air time repeatedly to make room for other shows. 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 on Sundays effective January 29, 2006. On January 17, 2006, Fox announced the end 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.

Fans of the series also criticized Fox, because during the football season, Fox would finish the scheduled game, but then cut to another game running over schedule, then do the postgame show, frequently eating into Malcolm in the Middle's timeslot in the Eastern United States, resulting in a ratings drop.

Notable Awards

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.[1]

British Comedy Awards

  • 2003
    • Best International Comedy Win

Golden Globe Awards

  • 2001
    • Best Television Series - Musical Or Comedy Nominated
    • Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy - Jane Kaczmarek Nominated
    • Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy - Frankie Muniz Nominated
  • 2002
    • Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy - Jane Kaczmarek Nominated
    • Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy - Frankie Muniz Nominated
  • 2003
    • Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy - Jane Kaczmarek Nominated
    • Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television - Bryan Cranston Nominated

Peabody Award

  • 2001
    • Peabody Award Win

Primetime Emmy Awards

  • 2000
    • Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series - Bea Arthur as Mrs. White Nominated
    • Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series - Jane Kaczmarek as Lois Nominated
  • 2001
    • Outstanding Comedy Series Nominated
    • Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series - Robert Loggia as Grandpa Victor Nominated
    • Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series - Cloris Leachman as Ida Nominated
    • Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series - Frankie Muniz as Malcolm Nominated
    • Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series - Jane Kaczmarek as Lois Nominated
  • 2002
    • Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series - Susan Sarandon as Meg Nominated
    • Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series - Cloris Leachman as Ida Won
    • Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series - Jane Kaczmarek as Lois Nominated
    • Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series - Bryan Cranston as Hal Nominated
  • 2003
    • Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series - Cloris Leachman as Ida Nominated
    • Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series - Jane Kaczmarek as Lois Nominated
    • Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series - Bryan Cranston as Hal Nominated
  • 2004
    • Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series - Cloris Leachman as Ida Nominated
    • Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series - Jane Kaczmarek as Lois Nominated
  • 2005
    • Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series - Cloris Leachman as Ida Nominated
    • Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series - Jane Kaczmarek as Lois Nominated
  • 2006
    • Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series - Cloris Leachman as Ida Won
    • Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series - Jane Kaczmarek as Lois Nominated
    • Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series - Bryan Cranston as Hal Nominated

Screen Actors Guild Awards

  • 2000
    • Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series - Jane Kaczmarek Nominated
  • 2002
    • Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series - Jane Kaczmarek Nominated

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Awards list". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-04-24.
  2. ^ http://www.tv.com/malcolm-in-the-middle/victors-other-family/episode/311670/summary.html?tag=ep_list;title;104
  3. ^ Lambert, David (2003-11-30). "Malcolm in the Middle - Season 2 (plus Other Shows) Hamstrung by Music Clearances". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved 2007-04-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Josef Adalian and Michael Schneider (2000-01-18). "Sitcom savior?". Variety.com. Retrieved 2007-04-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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