Current Events > Malcom In the Middle deserves more attention

(+) Yeah! (+)

When this aired, I only saw it a few times. It was on Netflix for a while, and I watched everything.

Almost everything about this show is great. Every single characteris surprisingly likable, yet scum, at the same time (besides Hal, who is purity). The mom is a psychotic mess, but with those kids, you can see why. However, I love how at the end of the day, she has a good relationship with Hal, and she usually knows whats best for the kids.

Reese is a punk with little depth and usually just acts as a foil to everyone, which is fine. Malcom is of course the every-kid, and Francis is the hopeless underdog who cant catch a break, Dewey is the weird Chaotic Neutral kid who was basically Stewie but not obnoxiously violent. And of course Hal is a saint,

but the best thing about the show is that the baby never did anything. Most babies ruin shows, but i dont recall him ever having an episode, or a gimmick either.

Anyway, best moment is when Hal rents a steamroller to relieve stress.

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Wanda vision

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUcw3P8JlNM

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https://youtu.be/97XjOhdiNRA

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yes its a good show

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Damn shame Frankie doesn't even remember filming it, his memory went to shit already.

https://youtu.be/P72jXc9CUAs

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yes he had several strokes and they destroyed most of his childhood memories including his time working on the show

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I've seen every episode at least a dozen times. It's an absolutely amazing show.

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would love this to be on Netflix, Disney Plus or something.

I watched through it a few years ago.

Great show.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend binging it because by the end I kind of burnt out but if you can watch an episode or two every day or so then go for it

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yusiko posted...

yes he had several strokes and they destroyed most of his childhood memories including his time working on the show

didnt he have some kind of race car accident?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYNKpaNewew

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I was a child actor for a while and I was on that show multiple times. Every single actor was amazingly sweet and caring.

On set once my mom wasn't feeling well (lots of health issues) and Jane Kaczmarek made someone get her shade and a nice chair and personally gave her a water bottle from her trailer. From an outside perspective as an 11 year old they seemed like family both on and off set.


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kirbyakaZ posted...

I was a child actor for a while and I was on that show multiple times. Every single actor was amazingly sweet and caring.

On set once my mom wasn't feeling well (lots of health issues) and Jane Kaczmarek made someone get her shade and a nice chair and personally gave her a water bottle from her trailer. From an outside perspective as an 11 year old they seemed like family both on and off set.

huh. Thats pretty cool!

were you on any other well known shows?


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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0
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Best moments are Deweys purse, when the security guard at the race track lets them go and when Reese drives to the Sum 41 song.

ZevLoveDOOM posted...

would love this to be on Netflix, Disney Plus or something.

Its on Hulu, if you have the Disney+ bundle.

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lww99 posted...

huh. Thats pretty cool!

were you on any other well known shows?

Tons! Like I was on CSI a few times.
Movies to, like Bubble Boy.
And that year where Family Guy was cancelled and they tried to replace it with a bunch of garbage, I was on every single one of those.

Oh and Donna and Jackie from That 70's Show were real sweethearts.
I also was second in line to be young Anakin Skywalker.

I got into the Screen Actors Guild, but puberty hit which is the worst time for boy actors and I started middle school so I had to stop.

Still, I'm a very social person and great at public speaking. I honestly attribute how good I am with people to my time acting.

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This topic made me realize that Frankie Muniz and Aaron Paul sound eerily alike, and share similar physical features. Almost like they could be cousins or even brothers.

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I is smart posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0

Such great writing and comedic timing.

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Shablagoo posted...

Such great writing and comedic timing.

lol that was great

malcolm was such an unbelievably good show. I was a lucky kid when I got home from school my tv only had like 5 channels but everyday it was the same lineup: yugioh/Pokmon 4-5, Malcolm and thats 70 show from 5-6, and classic Simpsons from 6-7 between fox, upn, and the wb

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kirbyakaZ posted...

I was a child actor for a while and I was on that show multiple times. Every single actor was amazingly sweet and caring.

Who did you play on Malcolm?

also

did you ever meet piama.

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I'm so confused by this topic. Mitm is already well known as one of the greatest shows of all time. Second, how are the characters scum, third how is hal purity, when he's a lazy dad who takes fridays off and leaves all the disciplining to lois to the point of making her crazy/overbearing while he drinks his beers and puts his hands down his pants?
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Favorite all time scene was Hal screaming in the car after finding out a new baby was on the way, without knowing Malcolm was sleeping the back seat. Incredibly funny moment.

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SomeLikeItHoth posted...

Who did you play on Malcolm?

also

did you ever meet piama.

Oh I was just a background actor, I never had a speaking role even though I was eligible.

Literally every person on TV is getting paid, from the kids in the park that you can hardly see, to the pedestrians crossing the street. I've been on closed streets, schools during the summer, and entire closed malls.
One of the worst experiences was on the set of some commercial where it was like 10 at night, on the Santa Monica pier, in November, and I was freezing. I was 9ish and I also lived in the more desert areas of California so I was not ready or prepared for the wind chill. It sucked.

And to answer your question: maybe? I was only on there 5 or so times over my 4 years as an actor, so it's possible but it'd have only been once since she was introduced late to the series.

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I wonder what happened of the actors that played Francis, Dewey, and Reese. Don't hear too much of them these days

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TheHoldSteady posted...

I wonder what happened of the actors that played Francis, Dewey, and Reese. Don't hear too much of them these days

Francis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Masterson
Looks like he stopped acting in 2014, or at least stopped acting in anything major.

Reese: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Berfield
He also stopped acting and is in charge of a company.

Dewey: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Per_Sullivan
He too stopped acting and practically dropped off the face of the planet.

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Its really an incredible series. I think my favorite thing is the chemistry the main cast all share. Most sitcoms have a group of characters who are supposed to be friends or family but feel like theyre just random archetypes that got mashed together. MitM is probably the series that I feel best nailed the family aesthetics. Every character plays off every other like theyve known eachother from birth and you can feel that they all care for one another, even when theyre at eachothers throats.

Totally disagree about Francis, btw. He never seemed like an underdog so much as an immature kid who responded to his overbearing mother by endlessly rebelling against her. Thats why he was sent to military school. Thats why he went to the dude ranch. Thats why he moved to Alaska. Thats why he married Piama. Thats why, even after getting a steady job, he can never tell his mother about it (it would make her happy). Most of the bad things that happen to him he brings on himself with his rebellion. That said, the show does a good job still making him likable.

Kami_no_Kami posted...

Totally disagree about Francis, btw. He never seemed like an underdog so much as an immature kid who responded to his overbearing mother by endlessly rebelling against her. Thats why he was sent to military school. Thats why he went to the dude ranch. Thats why he married Piama. Thats why, even after getting a steady job, he can never tell his mother about it. Most of the bad things that happen to him he brings on himself with his rebellion. That said, the show does a good job still making him likable.

What I especially hate about Francis is how they pretty much threw his mature development in the trash starting with Season 6. When he started working at the ranch, he took several levels in maturity and responsibility, only for him to have suddenly get fired offscreen and go back to being the loser that he was in the earlier seasons until the series finale.

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Solar_Crimson posted...

What I especially hate about Francis is how they pretty much threw his mature development in the trash starting with Season 6. When he started working at the ranch, he took several levels in maturity and responsibility, only for him to have suddenly get fired offscreen and go back to being the loser that he was in the earlier seasons until the series finale.

Not for nothing but that's not entirely unrealistic.

People can go down self destructive paths and lose all their character development, as it were, over silly or stupid events.

It didn't quite execute the best way in show, but its certainly far from unrealistic

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I was never sure how to feel about the ending.

On one hand, it was really sweet how the family acknowledges in such matter of fact terms that Malcom is a brilliant kid with no ceiling.

On the other hand, they reject his true dreams and pressure him to shoot for an extremely difficult career that he doesn't want, for the benefit of themselves and people like them.
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Kami_no_Kami posted...

Its really an incredible series. I think my favorite thing is the chemistry the main cast all share. Most sitcoms have a group of characters who are supposed to be friends or family but feel like theyre just random archetypes that got mashed together. MitM is probably the series that I feel best nailed the family aesthetics. Every character plays off every other like theyve known eachother from birth and you can feel that they all care for one another, even when theyre at eachothers throats.

Totally disagree about Francis, btw. He never seemed like an underdog so much as an immature kid who responded to his overbearing mother by endlessly rebelling against her. Thats why he was sent to military school. Thats why he went to the dude ranch. Thats why he moved to Alaska. Thats why he married Piama. Thats why, even after getting a steady job, he can never tell his mother about it (it would make her happy). Most of the bad things that happen to him he brings on himself with his rebellion. That said, the show does a good job still making him likable.

Francis is one of the best characters in that show. Malcolm and Reese show what it's like to experience having someone emotionally unstable, overbearing yet ultimately well-meaning like Lois as a mother, but Francis is the aftermath of Lois's parenting.

Solar_Crimson posted...

What I especially hate about Francis is how they pretty much threw his mature development in the trash starting with Season 6. When he started working at the ranch, he took several levels in maturity and responsibility, only for him to have suddenly get fired offscreen and go back to being the loser that he was in the earlier seasons until the series finale.

Yeah that kind of thing does happen in real life though. We're used to clear cut character development in characters with obvious developments but I've known people in real life that made improvements or adjustments just to not be able to commit to them and fall back down. Francis was never very disciplined and that was part of the irony of him having a strict mom and being in the military

Christopher Masterson all but leaving the show didn't help develop that charavter further either

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_____Cait posted...

Every single characteris surprisingly likable, yet scum, at the same time (besides Hal, who is purity).

_____Cait posted...

And of course Hal is a saint,

???

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My favorite episode was the one where they showed that Hal and Lois were an up and coming yuppie couple with a great house, till Francis ruined it.

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One of the rare shows thats great the whole way through.

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fan357 posted...

One of the rare shows thats great the whole way through.

Overall yes but there are some boring episodes.

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I love the episode where both Lois and Hal take the kids bowling on their own.

Love the show. I randomly discovered that the actor playing Reese was younger than Frankie Muniz the other day.

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remember when lois met the army commander and started giving him tips on how to break his mens spirits?

or when francis is getting hazed but nothing the guys do bother him cause his mother was always worth and once they hear everything she did to them they start hazing students using her methods

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfRWxiRZVrw

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Cranstons performance as Hal > his performance as Walter White. Just gonna put that out there.
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I cant find it streaming anywhere

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I'm guessing you're fairly young because Malcolm in the Middle was huge when it was airing lol

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SomeLikeItHoth posted...

Best moments are ... and when Reese drives to the Sum 41 song.

scene right here, nothing captures the spirit of the early 00s quite like this one:

https://youtu.be/cCauK1OUvoE
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refmon posted...

I cant find it streaming anywhere

It's on Hulu.

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I watched that back in the day, pretty good show though I was never a huge fan of the "quirky" early 00s humor elements (Scrubs is the other big example of this)

It was good but got played out pretty quick imo because of the young actors just naturally aging.

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masticatingman posted...

It was good but got played out pretty quick imo because of the young actors just naturally aging.

Nahhh. I mean seasons 1-3 were the peak but the show was good all the way through even if the last season dragged at times
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Gafemage posted...

Cranstons performance as Hal > his performance as Walter White. Just gonna put that out there.

Its a prequel series

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Blue_Target posted...

Love the show. I randomly discovered that the actor playing Reese was younger than Frankie Muniz the other day.

Hold the fuck up...

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