Was Malcolm in the Middle one of the best sitcoms of the decade?

also this

unlike some shows i think they were actually trying to appeal to kids as well as all you arrested development slacker-types. which is why it was cartoony. i think.

never imagined Dewey would grow up to be Danny Bonaduce w/ a fauxhawk

it definitely started as a more kid-oriented show. as the kids grew up (probably around season 3) they shifted their focus

...to german nudity subplots?

I really think this show is very funny. I laugh like a goon every time I see an episode.

love the episode where they are stuck in the huge traffic jam and they all have their dreams crushed in various ways (Malcolm with dream girl, Dewey with ice cream, etc).

some of these plot descriptions are pretty lol.

loved Hal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tXcPc1uZXY

<3 Hal roller boogie

it was a good-natured show and i think the people on it were really talented. they did it well. the thing that sometimes pulled it down for me was the focus on malcolm's geekiness and inner life and school stuff when all i really wanted was the anarchy of hal and reese or even lois and chaotic family stuff in general. the francis military school/alaska/wife thing did this too sometimes. didn't even really need it. though sometimes it could be funny.

I have enjoyed this show both when it first aired and rewatching it here and there on syndication as of, like, 2 years ago. Generally good stuff, though, especially in later seasons, they're not afraid to recycle tropes.

cuz really malcolm least funny thing on show. though very realistic. as far as kids go.

lois's friend, the guy who was on ellen's sitcom, he had one of my favorite episodes with the helper monkey. love that one.

i think the cartoonish sets and overacting are both necessary

the helper monkey

Yes! This episode is golden.

always thought Cranston was a beast on this show, totally unsurprised but delighted at his career since then

The episodes with Cloris Leachman as the grandmother are all pretty funny, especially the one where she is doping the family and her husband to be.

reese: you show me a man with pride and I'll show you a man with limited options

i liked this show pretty well. didnt really grate too much for me & i thought the family dynamic was realistic

i mean, the mood it capture was realistic -- obvi it was rather cartoonish in other ways

might have been a decent show without frankie muniz and his charaacter

honestly more annoying to me were the simultaneous stories about the older brother & his new wife in alaska & their entirely unrelated plot adventures

oh right I forgot about him yeah get rid of him too

but the other two brothers, cranston and kaczmarek were pretty good! they deserved better

kaczmarek felt like the most authentic mom in tv history

this show was really not v good

wtf wikipedia says muniz now attempting a career as a racecar driver?

apparently he was also in a 2007 movie with harvey keitel and haylie duff called 'my sexiest year'

my friend & i were the only two ppl in the theatre for our midafternoon showing of 'agent cody banks' back in two thousand w/e. got super drunk on peach schnapps and made fun of hil duffy's acting iirc

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/2272/frankiemunizkd5.jpg
http://www4.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Celebrity+Locker+Room+Presents+Star+Night+6caPPnbdFMGl.jpg

I feel like this guy might have a charlie sheen-like life ahead of him

unlike some shows i think they were actually trying to appeal to kids as well as all you arrested development slacker-types. which is why it was cartoony. i think.
seems otm to me — it's hard to trust my judgment tho cuz I was still basically a kid (tween? when did this show start?). but maybe that's what felt slightly 'off' about it? that it was still in some measure just as much a "kids' show" as an "adults' show"

this is OTM. i loved this show as a young teenager, not only because my best friend had an older brother and a younger brother who got into all sorts of mischief, but because it had these moments of adult humor that were truly refreshing for a bookish nerdy faggot adolescent like myself.

also, totally used to imagine Reese naked all the time when the show first came out. then i stopped watching television and started having sex. ok.

This show was brilliant. Always <3'd Hal. Also, the episode where Reese does this huge plan - involving making a proper mix tape, etc - with the sole purpose of touching this prematurely-developed teen girl's boobs - genius.

"Cats are nocturnal creatures. They prefer the night. Then again, so do coyotes. And feral dogs. And devil worshipers."- Hal

This show was rad. fuck the haters.

honestly more annoying to me were the simultaneous stories about the older brother & his new wife in alaska & their entirely unrelated plot adventures

I liked those parts if only because I found the wife super gorgeous, but that might be due to my own weird taste in woman more than anything. I did find it entertaining that he married a woman who had a lot in common with the mother who he claims terrorized him his entire life.

kaczmarek felt like the most authentic mom in tv history

― iatee, Thursday, January 13, 2011 2:34 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this

I never could watch this show because they were all so hard to look at. Has there ever been an uglier cast?

― Moodles, Wednesday, 12 January 2011 20:40 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

considering a 'non-joking suggest ban' here

can't be bothered to see if it's on Youtube but I think the scene where a dude in the carpark approaches a heavily made-up Lois because he thinks she's a hooker is my favourite

Remember when Kaczmarek held out for more money and there were a few episodes where she was absent? Has there been any other recent tv stars who have pulled this? I remember it being a common thing in the 70s, but I can't recall any in the past 20 years.

I do like it but it may just be the relief that it isnt the 30th two and a half men of the day on comedy central. Theme tune makes me want to kill myself though.

one of They Might Be Giants' best later songs!

I loved this show but fell out of the habit of watching it. I didn't know about the end-of-series reveal but wow did it make me lol.

kaczmarek felt like the most authentic mom in tv history

I basically agree with that, I mean all the cartoony stuff aside she really kind of nailed the subtleties of it. I grew up with two brothers so yeah a lot of that stuff was kind of familiar to me. Especially since she's from Wisconsin like me and definitely has the same Midwestern accent.

theme song was totally otm for this show. this show was funny though all i can remember right now is the episode where hal for some reason became addicted to running things over with a bulldozer (?)

I have fond memories of this show and wouldn't mind watchnig it again - is it out on DVD?

Only the first series, apparently the music was too expensive for latter.

this show made me irrationally angry.

I wonder who the best sitcom or movie mom of all time is?

like I think lois in this is pretty awesome, but so was the mom from home alone, and jill from home improvement.

"Has there ever been an uglier cast?"

night court cast

home improvement cast

dear john cast

markie post ~alone~ yanks night court from that list

so even though I think she was the most authentic mom of all time, there def was an aspect of watching her do her mom thing that was more uncomfortable-uncomfortable than uncomfortable-funny

No mention of Christopher Lloyd having the best guest star appearance in a tv show.

Been thinking about Cloris Leachman on this as Lois' mother, and one of the most savage putdowns in network TV history when she described Lois as "the one with the imbecile factory between her legs".

Oh WHOA!!! Yes. Incredible line

this line still pops into my head all the time

https://i.imgur.com/Ze5OwDH.png