I find it kind of adorable that anyone should be so awestruck that 'Malcom in the Middle' is some kind of ground-breaking subversive treatise on socialism and progressive values. I guess they're too young to remember the truly groundbreaking work of Norman Lear ('All in the Family', 'Good Times', etc.), not mention every other sitcom portraying the struggles of the working class vs. the status quo (Hello, 'Roseanne'?). Anyway, not to spoil the wonder at discovering that TV writers are actually sneaky commies (just as Sen. McCarthy suspected), but I'm happy to enjoy the show as simply 'zany show about four quarrelsome brothers and their parents'.

I loved Roseanne. Sitcom with a fat main character that didn't revolve around fat jokes. They were there, but they weren't central to it like Mike and Molly or King of Queens.

This. King of Queens turned me right off with it's abundance of fat jokes.

...but while we're on the subject- if indeed 'Malcom' touted such progressive values, why the fuck could these economically struggling people not stop having kids? I don't remember any reference to them being Catholic, or religious at all.

This is what happens when Lois works a job that doesn't cover contraceptives.

They did love a booty call.

Didn't she work in a drug store? She couldn't just grab some condoms off the shelf?
I guess one of the conceits of the show was that even though Malcom was supposed to be a genius, everyone else- including his parents, weren't very bright.

Probably "Not stealing from your workplace because you think stealing is unethical" or "not stealing from your workplace because you'll likely get caught and fired, but you really need the money" is more to do with it than "dumb".

Apparently I'm in a BAD mood. Fightspoilin'

You guys are all jerks. Especially you, looking at this text with your eyeballs. You know who else had eyeballs? Hitler. And Vlad the Impaler. I think I've made my case.

Accurate. And Lois would have been mortified beyond belief if she had caught any of her children stealing.

Just to clarify- dumb for not using birth control, not for not stealing it.

That does seem more reasonable. Like I said: bad mood. Misread the intention.

Because the economic impacts of having another kid lessen the poorer you are? Because the more children you have, the more people there are to help around the house? Because in a scenario where you have very little control over your life prospects, having a kid is one of the few things you can claim as your own?

I'm not a breeder, but fuck, even I know there are non-religious reasons to have a large family.

In the final episode they wouldn't let Malcolm take a sweet deal where he would have helped run a company because that wasn't their plan for him. He was going to go to Harvard and help pay his bills by working on the school's janitorial staff. Other kids would spit on him. They wouldn't invite him to their parties. He'd feel awful about himself every day. But...

One day, he would grow up to be President. They had decided that long ago. And when he became President, there would finally be someone in office who cared about people like his family, who understood what they went through.

As series endings go, it was a pretty good one.

They had plenty of money - dad was brewing up plenty of meth in a desert trailer wasn't he?

Malcom wasn't to bad. I re-watched it myself last year and found it decent. I find The Middle quite irritating.

Didn't mind this Sitcom.

Titus 1x01 Dads Dead

Been watching Lucifer. It's adequate, but I have trouble believing that Tom Ellis isn't gay.

I loved tgis show growing up. As the second of 5 bored destructive boys in a low income household I also found it quite accurate