Malcolm in the Middle - The Complete First Season
by Arlene Sanford, Chris Koch, Jeff Melman, Ken Kwapis, Nick Marck
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Actor: Bryan Cranston, Erik Per Sullivan, Frankie Muniz, Jane Kaczmarek, Justin BerfieldDirector: Arlene Sanford, Chris Koch, Jeff Melman, Ken Kwapis, Nick Marck
Brand: Fox
Writer: Alan J. Higgins
Writer: Andrew Orenstein
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 4.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 4.0; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Color, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 360 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-10-29
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of Malcolm in the Middle - The Complete First Season
DVD Review: Simply Sublime Sitcom Silliness
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm as prone as the next Boomer to waxing endlessly nostalgiac about the sixties-seventies TV of my childhood, particularly the great sitcoms of the era... but I have to admit that the past decade and a half or so have produced some truly great new classics, and "Malcolm in the Middle" can take its place at or near the top of the list.
This insanely funny family comedy was created by the versatile Linwood Boomer, who as writer-producer made witty contributions to series such as "Night Court" and "3rd Rock From the Sun" and in his hunky young actor days was once best known as the blind husband of Melissa Sue Anderson on the Michael Landon family drama "Little House on the Prairie." "Malcolm" is reportedly loosely based on Boomer's own life (!), and in this DVD collection there are so many wonderfully written episodes and memorable moments of expertly executed lunacy--here a sampling of mine:
Pilot Episode: When couch potatoes Malcolm, older brother Reese and little brother Dewey all decline to move to answer the insistently ringing front doorbell their mother, an exasperated--and obviously topless--Lois (who was moments ago trying to locate her bra as she hurriedly dressed for work), flings it open to find a startled school counselor on her doorstep. (A snippet of this moment can be seen in the opening theme montage)
"New Neighbors" (Season 2): Headstrong eldest son Francis and his fellow military school Cadets, in full dress, are led by their autocratic Commandant Spangler in a hilariously sprightly choral performance of the old Sammy Davis Jr./Mike Curb Congregation pop classic "Candyman" in honor of the impending visit of Spangler's hero, Colonel Oliver North.
"Monkey" (Season 3): An injured and temporarily wheelchair-bound Craig Feldspar (Lois's Lucky Aide co-worker) must be rescued by his "rival" Hal when he realizes that the Capuchin helper monkey who had been taking care of his needs has turned on him and is now trying to kill him.
"If Boys Were Girls": During a trip to the mall a beleagured Lois, now expecting child #5, daydreams that her brawling, battling sons were well-behaved lady-like daughters instead; meanwhile in another part of the mall an increasingly desperate Hal attempts to find the perfect Valentine's gift for Lois--and resorts to repeatedly stealing the bags of another mall shopper to do it; and
"Day Care" (both Season 4): Now that baby Jamie has arrived Hal and Lois are desperate to find affordable care for him. They discover a neighborhood church offers free day care services to its members, so they pretend to be a Christian family from another town's sister congregation in order to qualify; meanwhile, in a spiritual instruction class, their dimbulb son Reese spies a painting of Elijah being taken up to Heaven by a chariot of fire and is inspired to recreate the holy experience for himself with a lawn chair and a bunch of attached balloons. He (briefly) ascends upward singing a mangled version of "Amazing Grace" as Dewey watches in wonder and calls up to him sweetly "I'll miss you, at first!"
You get the idea. Malcolm finds in his neurotic and hyper-articulate Krelboyne classmates Lloyd and Dabney, and especially his asthmatic, wheel-chair-bound and very droll African-American best friend Stevie (Craig Lamar Traylor is truly affecting with... his... gasping...pauses), another family of sorts, one as amusingly dysfunctional as his own. His dad, Hal, bonds with Stevie's loving, over-protective dad, Abe, joining him in evening poker games with friends (all Gentlemen of Color, whom Hal eventually accuses of looking down on him because he's the only... NON-PROFESSIONAL in the group!) And David Anthony Higgins (who also co-starred in "Ellen") steals every single scene he's in as Lucky Aide manager Craig, hopelessly smitten with Lois and prepared to submit to every humiliation--and mean trick at the hands of her scheming boys--to be near her. His panic, in the face of the worker revolt Hal leads against him at Lucky Aide (to the marching beat of Phil Collins's "Sussudio"), is priceless.
The kids (star Frankie Muniz as the hapless Malcolm, Christopher Masterson as rebellious big brother Francis, Justin Berfield as second oldest idiot-bully Reese, and particularly Erik Per Sullivan as Dewey, the smarter-than-he-looks, sweet oddball kid brother) are all letter perfect in their realistic sibling rivalries, but to me it's the parents who deserve special mention: Jane Kaczmarek is the perfect modern TV mom--harassed, embattled, controlling, perpetually weary, yet loving and fiercely devoted to her wayward family. The scene (cannot at this moment recall the Season or episode; sorry) in which in the midst of a typical battle of wills with the equally stubborn Francis her eyes suddenly fill with tears and she apologizes, acknowledging that when he was little she was not the mother to him she should have been, will put a lump in your throat no matter how many times you see it. And Bryan Cranston is a revelation as the scattered, semi-ineffectual and utterly put-upon husband and father who nevertheless manages to pull himself together and come through for his family in spite of himself; he simply adores the mother of his children, not minding a whit that very possibly he loves her more than she loves him. With his loyalty, basic decency, and moments of gentleness he is the show's beating heart.
In later seasons look for recurrent apppearances from veteran scene-stealers like Cloris Leachman (as Ida, Lois's appalling monster-mom) and Kenneth Mars (as Otto, Francis's sweet-natured German dude-ranch employer), and delightful guest turns from the talented likes of Susan Sarandon, Bea Arthur, Stephen Root and Patrick Warburton, among others.
Description of Malcolm in the Middle - The Complete First Season
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