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In the words of They Might Be Giants' rollicking
Grammy-winning theme song, "life is unfair." The inventive and wholly original
sitcom Malcolm in the Middle has been honored with a Peabody Award and
Emmys for directing and writing, but if life was fair, it would have earned an
Emmy for Best Comedy Series, not to mention statuettes for its pitch-perfect
cast. With his perpetual "yes, me worry" expression, Frankie Muniz instantly
earns audience empathy as Malcolm, whose chances for a normal life are thwarted
not only by his genius IQ, but also by his
outrageously dysfunctional family: Lois (Jane Kaczmarek), his obsessive,
control-freak mother; Hal (Bryan Cranston), his loving but ineffectual father;
Francis (Christopher Masterson), his eldest brother waging his own private war
at military school; middle brother Reese (Justin Berfield), a delinquent savant
and Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan), the put-upon youngest. As Malcolm observes at one
point, "This family may be rude, loud and gross and have no shame whatsoever,
but with them you know where you stand." |
