<P> Malcolm in the Middle was produced by Satin City and Regency Television in association with Fox Television Studios (syndicated by Fox corporate sibling 20th Television). The show has proven popular worldwide and has been syndicated in 57 countries . In the United States, it had been syndicated during the day on FX and at night on Nickelodeon's sister channel TeenNick, as well as local stations . It's also currently being syndicated by IFC every Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday mornings at 8: 00am EST . In the United Kingdom, it originally aired on Sky 1 then eventually began on BBC Two on 6 April 2001, its HD counterpart and Sky 2, however after Sky stopped airing repeats of the show, the rights were bought by Channel 5 and the show was shown on 5Star . Since 2015, the show airs on Comedy Central . In Ireland it aired on TV3's sister channel 3e . It was also syndicated on Network Ten from 2009 to 2010 and on Eleven from February 2011 in Australia (originally airing on the Nine Network, 2001--2009) and on Comedy Central in India . In Canada, episodes were shown on the Global Television Network . </P> <P> The show received universal acclaim from critics and proved an extremely popular draw for the network . It was placed No. 88 on Entertainment Weekly's "New TV Classics" list, and was named by Alan Sepinwall of HitFix as one of the 10 best shows in Fox network history . </P> <P> Set in the fictional town of Star City, California, The series Malcolm in the Middle is about a boy named Malcolm Wilkerson and his dysfunctional family . The show stars Frankie Muniz as Malcolm, the third of four and later five boys, his brothers, and their parents, Lois (Jane Kaczmarek) and Hal (Bryan Cranston). Their first child, Francis (Christopher Masterson), was sent away to military school, leaving his three younger brothers at home, Reese (Justin Berfield), Malcolm, and Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan) with Malcolm being the middle child still living at home . In season four, the character Jamie (James and Lukas Rodriguez) was added to the show as the fifth son of Hal & Lois . The show's early seasons centered on Malcolm dealing with the rigors of being an adolescent and enduring the eccentricities of his life . Later seasons gradually explored the other members of the family and their friends in more depth, including others such as Craig Feldspar, Lois' coworker at the Lucky Aide drugstore, Malcolm's friend Stevie Kenarban, and Stevie's dad Abe . </P> <P> The series was so much different from many others in that Malcolm broke the fourth wall by talking directly to the viewer, all scenes were shot using a single - camera setup, and the show employed neither a laugh track nor a live studio audience . Emulating the style of hour - long dramas, this half - hour show was shot on film instead of on video . Another distinctive aspect of the show is that the cold open of every episode is unrelated to the main story . Exceptions were episodes which were the conclusions of "two - parters"; each part two episode opened with a recap of its part one episode . </P>

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