I think this was a very funny and sometimes touching series about a dysfunctional family. However, what hurt the show were too many subplots and the jumps from scene to scene. Just when you would get to a classic Reese or Malcolm conflict with Lois, we have Francis at the ranch in an unrelated matter. Three minutes later, Hal is involved in some problems at work.

What Malcolm should have done was focus on one great story and have the characters each build off of what that episode was supposed to be about. I think Jane and Brian had some very funny scenes together and Justin and Frankie have enough of a similar facial resemblance that you could see them as real brothers with real conflicts. Dewey was a great scene stealer! Francis was good when he was involved in family conflicts at home. But at the ranch, my feelings always were, "Who Cares?"

But jumping from scene to scene like MITM did in every episode hurt what could have been.

Jack

The guest character, Nicki, should have been played by Alecia Alcott instead!

I comply with you that the biggest problems were the wacky storylines. The show's atmosphere felt cartoony but I guess that's just its style.

I think Francis would have been better as a recurring character instead of a regular cast member, or they should have had him visit home more. While his military school subplots were enjoyable, the ranch subpots weren't interesting most of the time.

One of the things I could never figure out on Malcolm In The Middle is that every time that Dewey would get in trouble in some episodes they would always say it was always Malcolm's fault even though Malcolm never did anything wrong. Was it because Dewey was younger than Malcolm and Reese and they always gave Dewey special treatment? Another thing they should've done was make Francis remain at home rather than join the military because I never figured out why Francis wanted to join the military and had he had a simple summer job Malcolm In The Middle would've been a better show
Bestie