Malcolm in the Middle

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Malcolm in the Middle
Genre	Comedy (sitcom)
Camera setup	Single camera
Running time	22 minutes (without ads)
Creator(s)	Linwood Boomer
Starring	Frankie 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
Original channel	FOX
Original run	January 9, 2000–May 14, 2006
No. of episodes	151
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Malcolm in the Middle is an American situation comedy created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Network.

The show starred Frankie Muniz as Malcolm, the third-oldest of four, later five, children in the family. The oldest child, Francis was shipped off to military school, leaving the three boys; Reese, Malcolm and Dewey living at home, Malcolm being the second oldest of the three (hence the title of the show.) The situation centered on Malcolm and his dysfunctional family's life. In the last episode, Lois came out of her bathroom and was positive on being pregnant with her 6th child.

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. Like most hour-long dramas, this half-hour show was shot on film instead of video. As a midseason replacement, 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^{[citation needed]}.

Contents 1 Broadcast history 2 Characters 2.1 Francis 2.2 Reese 2.3 Malcolm 2.4 Dewey 2.5 Lois 2.6 Hal 2.7 Victor and Ida 2.8 Character age information 3 Mysteries 3.1 The family's last name 3.2 Jamie's Gender 3.3 Other mysteries 4 Setting 5 Cast 6 Opening titles and music 7 Awards 8 DVD Releases 9 Trivia 10 References 11 See also 12 External links

[edit] Broadcast history

The series first aired on January 9, 2000, and ended its six-and-a-half-year run on May 14, 2006. Recent rumors that a reunion is in effect have not received full confirmation yet. The show has entered syndication, with YTV having begun broadcasting it in September 2006.

FOX shuffled the show's air time repeatedly to make room for other shows.

• January 9, 2000 - July 2002 - Sundays, 8:30 p.m.
• August, 2002 - October 2004 - Sundays, 9:00 p.m.
• November, 2004 - September 11, 2005 - Sundays, 7:30 p.m.
• September 30, 2005 - January 13, 2006 - Fridays, 8:30 p.m.
• January 29, 2006 - April 23, 2006 - Sundays, 7:00 p.m.
• May 14, 2006 - Sunday, 8:30 p.m. (series finale).

It aired in Canada on Global and is airing on YTV, September 4, 2006 Monday (12:05am) through Thursday at Midnight & 8:00pm E/P, same episode twice a day, and 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 (German title: Malcolm Mittendrin), 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 4 (earlier 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 the Netherlands it is aired on Veronica. In Belgium it is aired on Kanaal 2. 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. In Poland the show (Polish title: Zwariowany świat Malcolma) is aired on Polsat.

After successfully selling the show into syndication, FOX essentially gave the show a free pass during its seventh and final 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 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 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. The final episode aired in the United Kingdom on July 2, 2006.

[edit] Characters

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 to coincide with Jane Kaczmarek's pregnancy. 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.

[edit] Francis

(Christopher Masterson) The oldest of the brothers and the biggest trouble-maker, Francis is a regular character on the show, though he has lived outside of the house since before season 1 began. Lois was in labour with Francis in the middle of her and Hal's wedding, Lois apparently resented Francis for being born a footling breech and exiled him to a military academy. The full extent of his evil deeds were not fully explained, but it was later revealed that he disobeyed Lois' rules and got his nose pierced and crashed her car, which proceeded to burn up and resulted in him leaving the house. After the second season, at only 16 years old, he legally (for those who ignore the fact that he had forged his parents' signatures) 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, Piama, whom he had dated for three weeks. By season 4 he and Piama have left Alaska and Francis has begun working as a farmhand at a New Mexican 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.

In the final episode, it is revealed that he has actually had a job with a large corporation titled Amerisys for two months, which he is enjoying immensely (although he equally enjoys telling his mother that he's unemployed.) Piama also seems to be pregnant in their final scene, illustrating Francis and his father as having extremely similar personalities and fates. (Both married young to ethnic women whom their mothers hate and both seem to be intensely in love with their wives despite the fact that they often fight.)

[edit] Reese

(Justin Berfield) Reese, the second oldest, is also the least intelligent and most destructive. While in labor with Reese, he was kicking her so hard, that Lois forcefully gave 'pre-mature' birth to Reese. His (Psychotic) obsession with violence horrifies the family and leaves him with few friends, partly as he is a bully at school. He bullies the "Krelboynes" in Malcolms class, and his younger brothers, especially Dewey. He is unintelligent 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 (Season 4, Episode "Stupid Girl," Original air date 11/24/2002). 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. As a baby he called Hal "Phone". He finds success in meat packing, but is fired after setting all the cows free to impress a girl. He once got married to a girl that Ida had introduced him to. She dominated the marriage and constantly shouted at him. Later in the same episode, Reese and Lois enter the garage and find her cheating on Reese with a man she had told Reese was her brother. Reese blindly believes that he is her brother when he and Lois find her. After graduating high school, Reese moves in with Craig and finally finds success – as an assistant janitor in his former high school.

[edit] Malcolm

(Frankie Muniz) Malcolm is the middle child of the family (Thus the title Malcolm in the Middle) and is the central character in the show. 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" (the name "Krelboyne" comes from the surname of one of the characters in the movie The Little Shop of Horrors, Seymour Krelboyne). Many episodes revolve around Malcolm's attempts to reconcile his genius-level IQ (165) with his desire to lead a "normal" social life. In the final episode it is revealed that his parents did not plan for him to be happy in life. They found that every time they set a goal for Malcolm, he would exceed their expectations due to his personality and abilities. Instead of letting him take an easy six figure job out of high school, they force him to go to Harvard. They explained that since he grew up poor, he would have to work for everything. With his resentment for not being liked, and his skills, he would be a natural politician. He would start off as a District Attorney but graduate to mayor, then governor of a midsize state before becoming President of the United States. Lois and Hal envision that he would then become one of the greatest Presidents ever.

Malcom has had three jobs in the series. His first was as a babysitter for a rich family to earn money to buy an electronic telescope, but he quit after learning the parents were spying on him. Later in the middle of the series, Lois forced Malcom to take a job with her at the Lucky Aide to have him under her control. He hated the job and had tried to quit many times but Lois refused him to do so, but he quit around when he graduated. In the final episode he gets a job as a janitor at Harvard to help with his tuition.

[edit] Dewey

(Erik Per Sullivan) Dewey is portrayed as quieter and more inclined to the arts than his brothers. He hides his intellect from Malcolm and Reese, in many cases cleverly taking advantage of them. In one episode he fools Reese into believing he is forwarding instructions from their mother when in fact he is making them up while talking to a telemarketer, Francis, a time and temperature lady, or even no one on the phone ("Hal's Friend"). In the fourth season, 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. Malcolm has Reese complete Dewey's test, 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, or perhaps a reference to the New York special education program BOCES). Dewey has since organized the class to want to be all they can be, and is teaching them standard lessons. 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. Unlike Malcolm, his parents intend for Dewey to be rich and happy later in life. He spends much effort making sure his brother Jamie doesn't feel neglected like he did. On Sky One, there are many advertisements which feature Dewey in a talking session.

[edit] Lois

(Jane Kaczmarek) Lois is Malcolm's ever tempestuous, tough mother and is a huge control freak. She works as a clerk at Lucky Aide, a local drugstore (Lucky Aide's slogan: "The 'L' Stands for Value"). She has many unconventional ways of disciplining her children, such as having them stand on their heads next to a wall or making them spin in circles with their foreheads on baseball bats. She also has an unhealthy obsession of winning every conceivable argument that may or may not arise. Her mother is still alive, much to the family's dismay. Lois also has a sister called Susan (played in an episode by Laurie Metcalf) with whom she is on uneven ground (Hal was her sister's boyfriend, but he and Lois had sex on top of her car, on her prom night). The sister is now a middle-aged single lady with counseling, who had kidney failure and was going to leave Malcolm and Reese her car in her will, though Lois donated one of her kidneys and had it transplanted into her sister. Her co-worker, the domineering but socially inept Craig Feldspar, has romantic feelings for her, which he makes known in several episodes. Lois is thought to be of Polish or Eastern European decent. This is implied by her love of Polish baseball players and her mother's culture. Lois and Hal continue to be sexually attracted to one another; according to Hal in the season three episode Poker II he and Lois have sex twice a day. In the final episode, it is revealed that Lois has once again gotten pregnant, but it is implied that this is really a joke set up by Dewey and Jamie.

[edit] Hal

(Bryan Cranston) Hal, Malcolm's father, is more relaxed in his parenting than Lois, mainly because he is afraid to make the wrong choice. Several episodes refer to him as a former rebel and troublemaker, much like his sons. His indecisiveness supposedly stems from a childhood incident in which he accidentally caused a clown to get attacked by a snake (both of which he is now afraid of). He knows better than to cross Lois. When Lois is away, he quickly loses self-control and indulges in his baser enjoyments, such as smoking, loud music, and building "killer robots" (as explored in one episode). He has fits of rage over petty annoyances, frequently engaging in self-destructive vendettas against those who cross him, such as a co-worker he believes stole an idea from him, or a garbage man who wouldn't take a certain piece of large trash, or a mini-golf manager who wouldn't give Dewey a free game, or the recurrence of a speeding motorist, or a bothersome bee (whom he ended up in a car chase with and crashed into a wall), or even his own sons. Once Francis asked Lois "Where's Dad?" She replies "He's fighting his worst enemy again" Francis askes "What? The squirrel's back?" Hal keeps encyclopedias with certain letters filled in with pencil, a sort of secret self-therapy, which has occupied many years and many books. This is possibly a harbinger of obsessive-compulsive disorder. He is arguably the biggest dreamer of the family, usually fantasizing about enjoyable situations. He is quite passionate about a range of activities, such as roller-skating, pirate radio and race walking. He comes from a large and rich family, all members of which have some (repressed) problem or another. They rarely visit because of the intense friction between Hal's relatives and Lois. Hal's family believes that Hal deserved a high class woman, instead of Lois, who has a lower-class background. His Father (Christopher Lloyd) never listens to Hal, and so he always makes jokes or tickles Hal before they both can speak about Lois. Hal works as a low level, cubicle bound, white collar worker in a large but scandal ridden corporation. He stated in one episode that he works in systems-management.

[edit] Victor and Ida

Lois's parents, Victor (Robert Loggia) and mother, Ida (Cloris Leachman), are the most dysfunctional. They were introduced in the episode "The Grandparents." Victor got off to a bad start by giving Reese an old grenade, which he accidentally set off. Malcolm prevented the house from blowing up by shoving the grenade in the new steel-reinforced refrigerator. Victor and Ida's exact origins are unknown, but it has been referred to as "The Old Country," which has been hinted to be somewhere in Eastern Europe. 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. Both characters speak with noticeably Slavic accents. Their country of origin is never specified, and may be intended to be fictional. Some details are suggestive of the Ukraine, for example some episodes mentioned the grandparents had lived in Manitoba, which has a large Ukrainian-Canadian community. One episode centers on a fictitious "St. Grotus Day" celebration, which featured embroidered costumes similar to traditional Ukrainian dress. St. Grotus was said to burn down "enemy churches", suggestive of countries with competing Catholic and Orthodox churches. However, in the same episode Lois says "Noroc" (Romanian for "cheers") to her mother, before they both down their drinks. However, in another episode, Lois becomes extremely excited over the prospect of meeting a famous Polish-American baseball player, possibly giving some hints as to her family's ethnic origins, though it might just as well be a reference to actress Jane Kaczmarek's own ethnicity. Victor later runs off and marries a Canadian woman (Betty White). In the episode "Victor's Other Family", it is also revealed that Victor is not Lois' biological father. This is the episode where he is revealed to have died.

Not much is known about Victor, except that he left his home at a young age and that he was in the war. Victor had another family, but kept it a secret from Ida.

[edit] 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 y
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 is still in middle school.	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
405	December 1, 2002	Malcolm celebrates his birthday (Which would make him 15, as he had started High School at the start of the season)	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.	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, about 19.	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: "The arcade? What are you, 12?" Dewey: "Yeah."	Erik Per Sullivan: 14.6 y
721	April 23, 2006	Hal: "Don't you have a prom to go to?" Dewey: "I'm not in high school."	Erik Per Sullivan: 14.7 y
722	May 14, 2006	Malcolm and Reese (after repeating a grade) graduate from high school.	Justin Berfield: 20.2 y Frankie Muniz: 20.4 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. In the episode "Lois's sister", it is revealed that Hal had dated Lois's sister first, and that this had somehow created secrecy and deception about Francis' real age among the characters themselves.

In a flashback, we see that Francis was about one or two in the mid-'80s (Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", which came out in 1985, plays in the background at the beginning of the scene).

[edit] Mysteries

[edit] The family's 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. A special feature on the series 1 DVD stated also that their surname was Wilkerson. A trailer on the UK channel Sky One in Early 2006 advised the viewers to spend time with "The Simpsons" and "The Wilkersons", advertising Sunday night new episodes of both series. Another trailer was released to advertise the last episodes, of 24 and Malcolm in the Middle, it claimed Say Goodbye to the Wilkersons. However, on Bryan Cranston's official website, Mr. Cranston says the crew regularly joked amongst themselves that their last name is actually Nolastname. During the series finale, when Malcolm is being introduced for his graduation speech, his last name is not heard due to a squeak of the microphone. Just before Malcolm gives his graduation speech, Francis drops his employee ID on the ground and it clearly shows his name as "Francis Nolastname". This may be a joke or Francis may be simply embarrassed of his family.

[edit] Jamie's Gender

The show kept viewers in suspense regarding Jamie's gender for several episodes after his birth in season 4. In the 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-," his speech getting cut off by the sound of ambulance sirens. In the following episode, the season finale, "Day Care," whenever Jamie's gender was mentioned, it was either interrupted, the subject changed, or the question, which viewers thought would lead to inquiry about gender, ended in a different and often humorous way. 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. (They called Jamie a "he" lots of times, though.) After numerous opportunities at revealing Jamie's gender were left unfulfilled, the sequence finally ends with Jamie urinating straight up at Hal who responds, "Nice try, mister." Later in this episode, Lois introduces herself, Malcolm and Jamie to some people at a concert, saying, "I'm Lois and these are my sons Malcolm and Jamie." Also in the episode "Ida's Boyfriend" Lois says to her mother Ida, "Mom, Jamie's got your cigarettes," to which Ida replies, "Who the hell is Jamie?" which finally garners Lois's response of, "He's your grandson." Also, in the episode where Chad comes over for a sleepover, Lois was putting fruit in the broken blender for Jamie because he had been a good boy. Additionally, since Lois desires a daughter, the manner in which she downplay's Jamie's birth implies the birth of yet another son.

[edit] Other mysteries

• In season 1 episode "Funeral", Francis keeps asking how his Aunt Helen died. Dewey says twice that, "Cats ate her face." Francis then asks Hal who responds that it was cats eating her face as her cause of death, going on to say that Dewey knew more about it. The true cause is never revealed unless Dewey was telling the truth. Also in the episode was a character named "Egg" that was Dewey's friend. What happened to this character remains a mystery.

• In the Season 2 episode "Hal Quits", Hal spends most of his time in the garage painting his life-long masterpiece after taking a leave of absence from his job. Everyone in the family sees the finished painting, except the viewers. After the painting falls on Hal from being topheavy from too many layers of paint, it is apparently not repaired.

• In season 3 episode "Health Scare", Lois and Hal are at their breaking points when it is obvious that Hal is at risk of having some fatal condition. But through shots of Hal and Lois saying things like "Negative? That's great" over the phone and Hal being worried for his life, the disease is never revealed.

• Although Sara, Malcolm's girlfriend's face is never shown in the episode "Malcolm's Girlfriend," the same actress, Alessandra Toreson, is seen again in the episode "Thanksgiving".

• In season 5 episode "Reese's Apartment", Lois keeps repeating an outlandish thing that Reese did, but at the moment the outlandish occurrence is to be revealed, the scene changes to the reaction to what he did, leaving the revelation undisclosed. The only mentions the audience gets regarding what Reese did were Malcolm's response of "Did they have to evacuate?", a therapist's response of "What were the cats for?" and Reese's defense, "I can name third world countries where stuff like that happens all the time."

• In season 6 episode "Living Will", an episode when Hal's fears of making decisions was dramatized, he had to choose between euthanasia or prolonged life support for 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." The audience will never know since at the end of the episode he said he would never mention it again, though there were some clues as to what he did. These were mentioned as Hal and Lois were talking in bed. He said that the moment he learned the person was a bird lover, it all "became clear." In response, Lois asked if everything was at Radio Shack. Hal responded "Everything except the hat." This has led many people to believe that he turned the man into a scarecrow who is moved electronically while being kept on life support.

• In the final episode, Francis finds evidence of the time that Reese, Malcolm, and Dewey tricked Lois into believing she had cancer. Francis remarks that he can use this for blackmail, but Dewey replies "mom's friend Jenny". Francis quickly returns the evidence to Dewey leaving what he actually did unanswered, but given Francis' reputation, it was probably an "adult indiscretion".

• "The Stash" is the episode where Francis once hid all of his mother's jewelry and swore no one would ever find it. In one episode Dewey thinks that Jamie has found it, but is disappointed to find out he has been robbing the neighbors. The stash is never found. There are lots of other mysteries in the programme, that are insignificant. Lots of them are merely jokes, leaving the audience to guess what happens. In one episode the family is stuck in a traffic jam. Malcolm meets a girl who pushes him down a hill and helps him with injuries. Malcolm says to her "we used to have a first aid kit once, but my brother ate all the bandaids" It is left to the audience to guess which brother did it, Reese and Dewey are probably just as likely to do so.

[edit] 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 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). As well, throughout the run of the show, there were numerous sightings of vehicles clearly bearing California license plates. Whether this was intentional or not is unknown.

Also, 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. The actual house is privately owned, and is situated in Studio City, at 12334 Cantura Street. The CBS Studio Center in (Studio City) is where the set is.

Oklahoma is a possibility. In later seasons, license plates display "Cherokee State" which is another name for Oklahoma. 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. In episode 313, Oklahoma Highway Police can be seen on the police car doors. 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 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 "Krelboyne 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 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. In multiple episodes, various items with the New York Jets are seen in the family's living room, and Malcolm and his brothers's bedroom.

In episode 5 entitled Malcolm Babysits when Malcolm gets driven back by the father of the rich family to the trailer that the family is living in temporarily the viewers can see that the license plate on the car was from California.

In episode 112, on a desk in the brothers' 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 possible that it was added there from a cast member or crew member. Another explanation is that they simply traveled through one of those states and acquired a mug.

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).

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, 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 "Mrs. Tri-County" episode, Lois enters a local beauty pageant called Miss Tri-County. In an episode, Malcolm also visits Stevie, who was in the Tri-County hospital.

In the episode in which Hal reveals to Dewey the origin 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 refers to "Park District," but the RA is not explained.

Yet in the episode, "Vegas", Reese wears a shirt that says El Paso Longhorns.

In the episode, "Water Park", the waterpark they go to is actually at Wild Rivers, located in Irvine, California, but within the show it was given a different name.

In episode 322, a cop tells Reese that if there were more kids like him in the neighborhood, it would be a safer place. Being proud of that, Reese somehow obtains a hat that says MPD. It is obviously from a place thats starts with an "M", since the hat must belong to the M. Police Department. It is possible this letter was chosen because it was Malcolm's first initial. However, it could also be referring to "Milbrook," a city that is supposedly nearby and perhaps a part of the tri-county area. We first heard about Milbrook at the end of Reese Joins the Army 1, when Hal explained to the police officer that he is from the bomb squad in that city.

Clues leading to the setting of Malcolm In The Middle are delibrately misleading and confusing.

[edit] Cast

• Family (Last Name Possibly "Wilkerson" or "Nolastname")
  • Frankie Muniz as Malcolm
  • Jane Kaczmarek as Lois
  • Bryan Cranston as Hal
  • Christopher Masterson as Francis
  • Justin Berfield as Reese
  • Erik Per Sullivan as Dewey
  • Emy Coligado as Piama Tananahaakna
  • Cloris Leachman as Grandma Ida
  • James and Lukas Rodriguez as Jamie
• Other major characters
  • Craig Lamar Traylor as Steven "Stevie" Kenarban
  • Gary Anthony Williams as Abraham "Abe" Kenarban
  • Merrin Dungey as "Kitty" Kenarban
  • David Anthony Higgins as Craig Feldspar
  • Kenneth Mars as Otto Mannkusser (2002-2004)
  • Meagen Fay as Gretchen Mannkusser (2002-2004)
  • Jonathan Craig Williams as Steve
  • Edward James Gage as Brian
  • Alex Morris as Trey
  • Jake Martin as Malik
  • Hayden Panettiere as Jessica
  • Eric Nenninger as Eric Hansen (2000-2002)
  • Daniel von Bargen as Commandant Edwin Spangler (2000-2002)
  • Catherine Lloyd Burns as Caroline Miller (2000)
  • Chris Eigeman as Lionel Herkabe
• Krelboynes
  • Kyle Sullivan as Dabney Hooper
  • Tania Raymonde as Cynthia
  • Evan Matthew Cohen as Lloyd
  • Will Jennings as Eraserhead
  • Victor Isaac as Kevin

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

[edit] Opening titles and music

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

• Three women fighting a giant turtle: From One Million Years BC (1966)
• Grinning anime boy in rain: Shiogami from anime Nazca
• The monster rising out of the ocean is the Kraken: From Clash of the Titans (1981)
• Woman being held above a nest of hungry pterodactyl: From One Million Years BC (1966)
• Anime guy skateboarding: From the anime Nazca [1]
• Mud-monster grabbing a woman as she kisses a man: From Creature From The Haunted Sea (1961)
• Man ski-jumping while ignited in flames: Thrill Seekers, [2]
• Wrestling match: Bret Hart wrestling Chris Benoit (locking him in his finishing move, The Sharpshooter), during the WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match at WCW Mayhem PPV in Toronto, Ontario.
• Prosthetic face being assembled: unknown origin
• Man attacking giant brain with an axe: From The Brain From Planet Arous (1957)
• Boxer knocking out referee: Cuban Pedro Cardenas fighting Canadian Willie DeWitt but accidentally KOd referee Bert Lowes instead, during the 1982 North American Championships in Las Vegas.

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. 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 ( Their song "Better Days" (Often credited to Sublime) was played at the end of both the pilot episode, and the last episode).

[edit] Awards

• Jane Kaczmarek (as Lois) was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in every year Malcolm in the Middle was broadcast but did not win a single time.
• Frankie Muniz (as Malcolm) and Bryan Cranston (as Hal) have received 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.
• "Boss of Me", theme song for Malcolm in the Middle by They Might Be Giants won "Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media" at the 2002 Grammy Awards.
• Malcolm In The Middle won "Best International Comedy" at the 2003 British Comedy Awards, beating out favorites such as Friends, The Simpsons and South Park.
• Cloris Leachman (as Grandma Ida) was nominated for six Emmys for outstanding guest actress in a comedy series throughout the show, two of which she won in 2002 and 2006.

[edit] DVD Releases

Season Releases

DVD Name	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.

• Only the first Season of Malcolm in the Middle has been released on DVD.
• Season 2 was going to be released Fall 2003 but was cancelled due to high costs on music clearances [3].

[edit] Trivia

• Episode 321, "Cliques", featured a remarkable domino sequence set up by Dewey (after Lois tells him to stop scratching his chicken pox and find something else to do), and obsessed over by Hal, who missed the dominos falling 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 words Mann (man) and küssen (to kiss), which means man-kisser.
• Justin Berfield's character, Reese, is one year older than Malcolm in the show, but in real life Frankie Muniz is 3 months older than Justin Berfield.
• A running joke in some episodes of Season 3 is that, after Dewey stuffed a hamster in a ball filled with food and let it go outside, when people are traveling you can catch a glimpse of the little pet hamster rolling along the road. In the last episode of the Season the hamster can be seen to have made it all the way to Alaska.
• The song "I've Seen Better Days" by Citizen King is played at the end of both the pilot and final episode.
• While Stevie's parents appear to be in their mid to late thirties, when they were first introduced, Merrin Dungey, who played Stevie's mom, was 29.
• Merrin Dungey played one of Malcolm's teachers in the pilot, when Malcolm is discovered to be a genius.
• In Season 4, episode 19 ("Future Malcolm"), Leonard, the "future Malcolm" (played by Jason Alexander), is portrayed as a loner, who says he has "a great job, selling toner over the phone". In Season 7, episode 13 of Friends, Jason Alexander plays a very similar character, Earl, who also sells toner over the phone, but wants to commit suicide - by the end of the episode, Phoebe (played by Lisa Kudrow) changes his mind and changes his perspective on his life - hence "I have a perfect life. I have a great job, selling toner over the phone...". He goes on to describe how great his life is, in a small speech bearing a striking resemblance to that which Phoebe used to persuade him how good his life is.
• Cloris Leachman (Gramdma Ida) and Otto (Kennith Mars) appeared together in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein in 1974.

[edit] References

• Official Website of the HFPA and Golden Globe Awards
• Official Website of Emmy Awards

[edit] See also

• Music from Malcolm in the Middle
• List of Malcolm in the Middle episodes

[edit] External links

• Malcolm in the Middle launches on YTV Fall 2006
• Official FOX Malcolm in the Middle website
• Malcolm in the Middle at the Internet Movie Database
• Malcolm in the Middle at TV.com