When it comes to comedy TV shows, some series follow the rules, while others break them. One particularly successful comedy show from the 90s decided to do its own thing, ignoring a lot of the established rules of the genre and bringing a fresh approach to sitcoms.
Malcolm in the Middle easily stood out from other shows at the time for a number of reasons. The show was not recorded in a studio for many scenes, instead opting to shoot on location. This allowed them to have a lot of variety in their writing, putting characters in interesting and fun situations regularly. While shows like Friends were largely stuck in the main characters’ homes, in Malcolm in the Middle, writers could imagine scenes occurring in all manner of places.
The show also opted to avoid the use of a laugh track, a common prompt in older sitcoms that has fallen almost entirely out of practice in the modern day. This allowed the audience to decide their own response to the show’s jokes and also showed how the producers trusted in both the writers and the cast to carry the day.
Finally, the show opted to have the titular character engage in the occasional breaking of the fourth wall by speaking straight to the camera. While this has become a very popular technique in both TV and cinema, at the time, it was still reasonably rare and invited the audience deeper into the world of the characters. It is also a useful technique to quickly explain a plot point to the audience rather than have the characters dance through some dialogue with each other.
This all set Malcolm in the Middle up for an incredibly successful run, and the show is still massively popular today. After finding a home on Disney+ when the media giant purchased Fox, Malcolm in the Middle has spent 294 of the last 365 days in the top ten on the streaming service, according to Flix Patrol. This is an insane statistic, given the top ten of Dinsey+ is constantly under attack from new and hotly anticipated shows from IPs such as Marvel and Star Wars.
While Malcolm in the Middle does drop out of the most popular shows on the service from time to time, it always makes its way back into the most watched list due to the incredible performances from the likes of Frankie Muniz as Malcolm, Jane Kaczmarek as Lois, Bryan Cranston as Hal, Justin Berfield as Reese, and Erik Per Sullivan as Dewy.
It seems likely that Malcolm in the Middle will close out the year still dominating the top ten, and it’s great to see this timeless classic still finding an audience long after the cameras stopped rolling.
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