 |
 |
|
 |
Malcolm in the Middle Shaun Corley | Ritz Section Manager 
There are few TV shows that I make a point to watch. WWF Raw is
one. Jerry Springer sometimes. I watch Dawson's Creek every
once and a while, mainly to get my USDA recommended allowance of Katie
Holmes. The Family Guy was at the top of the list until Fox canned
it (but, praised be the name, it's returning soon). Oh yeah, I can't
forget The Simpsons. Well, now you can add Malcolm in the Middle
to the list.
Just seeing the previews for the show back in December told me that this would be my type of show. It looked to be irreverent, slapstick and totally off the wall. All the ingredients that, to me, make up a great show. The show finally arrived, and, what do you know, lived up to the hype. The show follows the trials and tribulations of young Malcolm, who is content to do the normal things kids do: play video games, skateboard and hang out with friends. Making his life more interesting is the fact that he has just been recognized as having a genius-level IQ. And compounding the problem even more is the fact that his family are, well...idiots (to give you an idea: in one episode, they all started making monkey sounds. And acting like them too). Malcolm finds himself in some of the most outlandish of situations. For example: in one episode, after one of his siblings destroys his mother's dress that she was going to wear for her wedding anniversary, she subjects them to a night of extreme psychological torture in order to break their spirits and make them confess which one of them did it. Another episode found Malcolm baby-sitting for a family that was seemingly too good to be true. Their kids were well behaved and they let Malcolm have his run of the house. The only thing was that they were watching him, and had surveillance equipment rigged to watch his every move. Part of the show's appeal comes from the fact that we can all, in some way, relate to Malcolm. I'm sure, that at that age, we felt that are family were idiots also (although I hope they didn't act like monkeys. Feces-throwing is pretty messy), that they didn't have a clue, and that it was us against the rest of the world. God knows I did. Watching Malcolm's ordeals makes me look back on my own adolescence and smile, which is no easy feat. While I didn't have to do some of the stuff that Malcolm does, such as trying to save his older brother from being sent back to military school, seeing him go up against almost seemingly impossible odds makes me feel better about my own adolescent years. And who knows, if such had been around when I was growing up, maybe I would have came to that realization back then. Responses: Refresh frame to view latest entries.
|