Editing Malcolm in the Middle (section)

==Premise==
The series revolves around Malcolm ([[Frankie Muniz]]), who's revealed in the first episode to be a [[genius]] with an [[Intelligence quotient|IQ]] of 165, which places him in a class for [[gifted]] students (also known as "Krelboynes"), originally taught by Caroline Miller ([[Catherine Lloyd Burns]]). He is the third-born child in a comically [[dysfunctional family]] of four (later five) boys,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Roman |first=James W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h8AqrjoCueUC&pg=PA119 |title=From Daytime to Primetime: The History of American Television Programs |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-313-31972-3 |page=119 |access-date=February 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627120407/http://books.google.com/books?id=h8AqrjoCueUC&pg=PA119 |archive-date=June 27, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Abbott |first=Jon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gq-uf3wB-TcC&pg=PA139 |title=Irwin Allen Television Productions, 1964–1970: A Critical History of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants |date=October 3, 2006 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-8662-5 |page=139 |access-date=February 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627120431/http://books.google.com/books?id=Gq-uf3wB-TcC&pg=PA139 |archive-date=June 27, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>
of Lois ([[Jane Kaczmarek]]) and Hal ([[Bryan Cranston]]). As of the first season, their delinquent oldest child Francis ([[Christopher Masterson|Christopher Kennedy Masterson]]) has been sent away to military school; while his brothers Reese ([[Justin Berfield]]) and Dewey ([[Erik Per Sullivan]]) remain at home with Malcolm and their parents. With Francis away, Malcolm becomes the middle child of the family. In season four, the character Jamie (James and Lukas Rodriguez) was added to the show as the fifth son of Hal and Lois. The show's early seasons centered on Malcolm dealing with the rigors of being an intellectual and enduring the eccentricities of family life.

Later seasons expanded the show's scope by exploring the family's interactions with their extended family, friends and colleagues in more depth, including Lois' tyrannical mother Ida ([[Cloris Leachman]]); Lois' hapless coworker at the Lucky Aide drugstore Craig Feldspar ([[David Anthony Higgins]]); Malcolm's best friend Stevie Kenarban (Craig Lamar Traylor), who is both a wheelchair user and highly asthmatic; and Stevie's dad Abe ([[Gary Anthony Williams]]), as well as a series of continuing subplots detailing Francis' misadventures at the military academy, from which he subsequently disenrolls to work in an Alaskan [[logging camp]], before finally landing a job on a dude ranch run by an eccentric German couple.

The series differed significantly from the standard TV sitcom presentation commonplace at the time. Malcolm routinely broke the [[fourth wall]] by both narrating in voice-over and [[Aside|talking directly to the viewer]] on camera. The distinctive look and sound of the series relied heavily on elaborate post-production, including fast-cut editing, sound effects, musical inserts, the extensive use of locations, and the unusual camera styles, compositions and effects (e.g. overhead, tracking, hand-held and crane shots, and the frequent use of a wide-angle lens for both close-ups and ensemble scenes) that would be generally impractical or impossible to achieve in a standard studio-based video multi-camera sitcom production.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Tom |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HeLhLCfwCbUC&pg=PA74 |title=Breaking the Fourth Wall: Direct Address in the Cinema |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-7486-4425-4 |page=74 |access-date=February 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627120414/http://books.google.com/books?id=HeLhLCfwCbUC&pg=PA74 |archive-date=June 27, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Moore |first=Barbara |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XELSaXYkpMwC&pg=PA47 |title=Prime-time Television: A Concise History |date=January 1, 2006 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-275-98142-6 |page=47 |access-date=February 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627120409/http://books.google.com/books?id=XELSaXYkpMwC&pg=PA47 |archive-date=June 27, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> The show employed neither a [[laugh track]] (which was standard in other TV sitcoms) nor a live [[studio audience]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shuster |first=Fred |date=August 19, 2001 |title=''Malcolm'' power no longer a babe in the woods, this breakthrough series hits its growth spurt. |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/%60MALCOLM%27+POWER+NO+LONGER+A+BABE+IN+THE+WOODS,+THIS+BREAKTHROUGH...-a079092726 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615111515/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/%60MALCOLM%27+POWER+NO+LONGER+A+BABE+IN+THE+WOODS,+THIS+BREAKTHROUGH...-a079092726 |archive-date=June 15, 2018 |access-date=January 14, 2018 |work=Los Angeles Daily News}}</ref><ref name="Berman2011">{{Cite book |last=Berman |first=Garry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V-SLkIap93wC&pg=PR18 |title=Best of the Britcoms: From Fawlty Towers to The Office |date=January 2011 |publisher=Taylor Trade Publications |isbn=978-1-58979-566-2 |page=18 |access-date=February 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627120443/http://books.google.com/books?id=V-SLkIap93wC&pg=PR18 |archive-date=June 27, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Duffy |first=Mike |date=April 26, 2000 |title='Malcolm in the Middle' rides to the rescue of the TV sitcom |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=348&dat=20000426&id=rVMjAAAAIBAJ&pg=3217,5213050 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170512224719/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=348&dat=20000426&id=rVMjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RDUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3217,5213050 |archive-date=May 12, 2017 |access-date=February 4, 2014 |work=[[Rome News-Tribune]]}}</ref> Emulating the style of hour-long dramas, this half-hour show was shot on film instead of on video.<ref name="Shuster LA">{{Cite news |last=Shuster |first=Fred |date=August 19, 2001 |title='Malcolm' Power No Longer a Babe in the Woods, This Breakthrough Series Hits Its Growth Spurt |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/%60MALCOLM%27+POWER+NO+LONGER+A+BABE+IN+THE+WOODS,+THIS+BREAKTHROUGH...-a079092726 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018015136/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/%60MALCOLM%27+POWER+NO+LONGER+A+BABE+IN+THE+WOODS,+THIS+BREAKTHROUGH...-a079092726 |archive-date=October 18, 2015 |access-date=November 30, 2014 |work=[[Los Angeles Daily News]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Tucker |first=Ken |date=February 25, 2002 |title=Watching Ellie |url=https://ew.com/article/2002/02/25/watching-ellie/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207180533/https://ew.com/article/2002/02/25/watching-ellie/ |archive-date=December 7, 2023 |access-date=December 6, 2023 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |quote="Malcolm in the Middle," now in its third season, opened up new stylistic possibilities in the shot-on-film sitcom genre.}}</ref><ref name="Battaglio2001">{{Cite news |last=Battaglio |first=Stephen |date=July 29, 2001 |title=Single-camera sitcoms make a comeback |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-and-observer-single-camera-sitc/136389180/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207193820/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-and-observer-single-camera-sitc/136389180/ |archive-date=December 7, 2023 |access-date=December 6, 2023 |work=[[The News & Observer]] |page=9G |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>{{Clarify|reason=Certain audiences might not know what the difference is|date=August 2023}}

Another distinctive aspect of the show is that the [[cold open]] of nearly every episode is unrelated to the main story. Exceptions include episodes which were the conclusions of "two-parters"; each part two episode opened with a recap of its part one episode.

The family's surname is never mentioned directly in the series. Linwood Boomer's script for the [[pilot episode]] originally included the surname Wilkerson, but it was later removed because he did not want to put "any specific ethnic label on the characters".<ref name="Michaels2003">{{Cite news |last=Michaels |first=Taylor |date=February 2, 2003 |title=TV pipeline |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/anonymous-clipping-feb-02-2003-520024/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114183843/https://newspaperarchive.com/anonymous-clipping-feb-02-2003-520024/ |archive-date=January 14, 2018 |access-date=January 14, 2018 |work=[[Sun Journal (New Bern, North Carolina)|Sun Journal]] |page=5 |via=[[NewspaperArchive.com]]}} {{free access}}</ref> The surname appeared in early drafts of promotional material and also on Francis' Marlin Academy uniform in the pilot. In the last episode of the series, "[[Graduation (Malcolm in the Middle)|Graduation]]", Francis drops his [[Identity document|ID badge]] from his new office job, which lists his name as "Francis Nolastname". Also, in that same episode, the principal announces Malcolm as the speaker, mouthing "Nolastname" as his voice is drowned out by microphone feedback. A publicist for Fox said that "officially the family's last name should be considered a mystery".<ref name="Michaels2003" />