Malcolm in the Middle

Malcolm in the Middle is an American television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons consisting of 151 episodes.

The single-camera series is a comedy that follows a dysfunctionalworking-class family and stars Frankie Muniz in the lead role as Malcolm, a child prodigy. The ensemble cast includes Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek as Malcolm's parents, Hal and Lois. Christopher Kennedy Masterson, Justin Berfield, and Erik Per Sullivan appear as Malcolm's brothers, Francis, Reese, and Dewey, respectively. Typical plots revolve around the family's dysfunctional relationships and inability to fit into society, with Malcolm regularly making asides to the camera to comment on their failures. Another brother, Jamie (James and Lukas Rodriguez), was introduced as the fifth son of Hal and Lois at the end of season four, with a further pregnancy in the series finale alluding to a sixth child.

Malcolm in the Middle was produced by Satin City and Regency Television in association with Fox Television Studios. The show has been syndicated worldwide, and received widespread critical acclaim and proved a popular draw for Fox. It is placed on several lists of the greatest TV and sitcom series of all time. It has won a Peabody Award, seven Emmy Awards, one Grammy Award and seven Golden Globe nominations. The show was influential as one of the first single-camera comedy series on TV without a live studio audience or laugh track.

A four-episode revival Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair was released on Hulu in April 2026, with Caleb Ellsworth-Clark replacing Sullivan as Dewey and Anthony Timpano replacing the Rodriguez twins as a now grown Jamie. The revival was well received by critics and reached 8.1 million views in three days.