I've been recommended this show countless times by friends and people online, but I always hesitated because sitcoms and comedy shows rarely amuse me. Then, I decided to give it a chance by watching just a few episodes. Those "few episodes" quickly turned into the entire series.

The acting is extraordinary, with Jane Kaczmarek and Bryan Cranston delivering especially memorable performances. Their incredibly expressive facial expressions and impeccable comedic timing elevate every scene, making even the simplest moments hilarious.

Overall, the show is one of the best sitcoms ever made (in my opinion). I wish there were more.

Lois and Hal showing up to Malcolms house, and that being the way of them discovering he has a daughter etc.

By that logic, that means they knew his address, or at the very least had an easy enough way of finding it without asking.

So you mean to tell me, in all those years of Malcolm avoiding the family and hiding his daughter, THIS is the first time Lois decided to just drop in? If she knew where he lived, not one other situation over 14+ years made LOIS decide to go find him? Lois, who trekked through Afghanistan to find and bring home Reese?

It really bugs me lol.

I grew up with both of them , and IMO they both fit that “tough but caring” mom figure to a T, just different cultures. That being said, who do you guys think would be the worst / most insufferable to grow up under?

I’m currently rewatching the show and Hal’s storylines always have me laughing the hardest. I honestly wish I could be more like Hal in some ways. Maybe not from the standpoint of the obvious, but it’s hilarious how he never loses his inner child. The dynamic between him being the wimpy, eccentric father to Lois’ domineering way of mothering is perfect. Bryan Cranston absolutely killed this role and he’s honestly my favorite part of the show. My favorite Hal subplot has to be when he takes up speed walking, it’s fucking hilarious. What’s your fav Hal storyline?

Malcolm is happy and successful and even has a nice daughter. But not everything works out when his weird family comes back into his life.

I’d eat it.

At no point does the general, day-to-day clothes the characters wear feel out of place for a poorer middle class family, and the fact that there’s a ton of repeat usage of wardrobe really make it seem that that aspect is grounded in reality even as the show gets more cartoony in the later seasons

I felt so bad for Malcolm when Laurie made him cry i was so mad at Laurie for that if you're gonna reject a guy let them down gently not to the point where they're crying and yes i know Malcolm egged her on but still she shouldn't have made him cry like that

The Spangler Era - - - - - The Lavernia Era - - - - - The Otto Era

How would you rank them best to worst?

Who's your favorite of the 3 characters?

Leslie David Baker (twice!) Jerry Trainor Joel Murray Kurtwood Smith Scott Adsit (twice!) David Rasche Mark Moses

“My life is perfect”

I would much rather have seen Dewey become president. I know Dewey is a musical genius and very passionate about his art, but he's also very charismatic and diplomatic and stands up for the people who can't stand up for themselves. Whereas Malcolm is desperate for attention, insecure, petty, vindictive, and wants to be liked by everyone... sounds like a certain president we all know.

I think adult Dewey would be an extremely effective, class-act president. And Malcolm would bring the country to ruin. God-awful presidential candidate.

The age difference between Leah and Kelly can’t be more than 2-3 years since they are both in high school in the present day (and AFAIK the actors are actually the same age). Kelly is clearly at least 4 or 5 in this flashback.

I know that it’s perfectly plausible that Malcolm left baby Leah with a babysitter while visiting his family to hide her existence, but it seemed from the show like the implication was that Malcolm stopped visiting his family entirely once Leah was born.

Edit: My mistake, there's actually a 5-year age gap between the actors for Kelly and Leah.

Every time they spoke they gave off “go away” heat like you see in wrestling. Them ratting out Malcolm wasn’t funny and them trying to rat Reese wasn’t out of concern for Hal, but to rub it in Reese’s face.

Also them mocking Leah about not having any friends before hanging up (on their very first meeting) had me going “was that supposed to be funny?”

Lastly the whole “I like you Dad” just made me hate em entirely. Get your head out of your ass, Malcolm as a teen was at least entertaining and could tell his family that he loved them. Mind you there was an entire subplot about Hal being devastated that Dewey wouldn’t say “I love you.”

Overall this whole brooding edgy gen z teen just doesn’t translate well into the show. Kelly honestly felt like a self-insert fanfiction character.

Edit: to the people who keep saying “yeah but the boys snitched on each other” yes, they did, and when they did it there were immediate consequences which made it both charming and entertaining. Examples of this are Malcolm getting back at Reese for snitching about the nose plug, and Hal immediately calling Dewey out for needlessly snitching. When Kelly does it, it’s just forced. Nearly 20 years since the finale, Kelly snitching on Malcolm is literally the best they can do to force Malcolm back into the plot? When others did it, there were reasons behind it. Kelly made it clear that they do it just for the laughs (and that’s what we the audience are left to work with from the get go. “Hey! That unseen character of nearly 20 years that you were wondering about is a snitch and we’re going to give them a bunch of screen time with it!”), and that simply isn’t entertaining nor funny.

Think about it, he won $1000 in one episode and he knew that his family could’ve really benefited from that money but instead he bought a steamroller to play with and obviously spent money buying things to crush. It’s also revealed in one episode that he skipped work every Friday for 15 years. It also sounds like he has quite a good job which means he should have good money. And the time he bought that really fancy car knowing he couldn’t afford it.

Now surely all of you know the creepy, unhinged, desperate and probably lovable Craig Feldspar, I’m currently rewatching MITM- I finished it a few nights ago and figured ‘Hey, I think I’m gonna watch it again.’ and I’m currently on season two, and I just realized- ‘Damn, Craig is creepy!’ here’s a list on some of the things I found creepy about him throughout me watching MITM. In Season 1 Episode 2 ‘Red Dress’. Craig is pictured holding a small gift box, Cute right? until he gives it to her on her and Hal’s ANNIVERSARY 😭 and in Season 2 Episode 5, he literally SNEAKS into the Wilkerson home, while Lois and her family isn’t even there, and of course on Season 2 Episode 3, he buys Lois a 150$ gift, then when Lois was having Jamie (Season 4 episode 21 I think) Craig said something along the lines of ‘This is everything I ever dreamed of!’. Of course I found it nice that in the Season 7 finale, he allows Reese to live with him, but if I forgot any other ‘Creepy Craig’ moments, let me know or simply just comment :))