Los Angeles — Turns out, "Malcolm In the Middle" was never originally created to be a TV show. "It was written as a writing sample," series creator Linwood Boomer told the audience at the annual William S. Paley Television Festival at L.A.'s Directors Guild of America on Friday.
It was Boomer's agent who wanted to shop it to the networks and studios as a possible series. Soon after both UPN and Regency Studios were interested in developing the comedy, Regency eventually won out and brought the show to Fox.
Frankie Muniz stars as Malcolm in Fox's "Malcolm in the Middle."
Listening to Boomer's version of how a writing sample became one of television's smartest comedies, it sounds like it was just one lucky occurrence after another. But it takes more than luck to get a show on the air. One area where they didn't have a lot of luck was casting the parents for the show's leading character, a child genius named Malcolm.
Although Boomer thought the lead character would be the hardest to cast, they found actor Frankie Muniz on the second day of casting. However, Hal, Malcolm's father played by Brian Cranston, wasn't cast until the day before rehearsals were scheduled to begin. Part of the problem was the way the character was written. "It just stunk," Boomer said of the original character. "It just wasn't written right."
However, he knew he could make it right when Cranston came in to audition for the role. According to Boomer, Cranston's "building a rocket ship in his brain" take on Hal was so funny "that it inspired the whole character in a really profound way."
Jane Kaczmarek, who plays Malcolm's mom Lois, says Cranston has developed quite a reputation on the show. "There's a term around the set: 'Cranstonian"' she said. It refers to how willing actors are to do their own stunts, such as get covered with live bees or go roller-skating. Kaczmarek added that she's not very Cran-stonian, instead preferring to use a stunt double as often as possible.
Boomer also discussed why viewers won't be learning Lois and Hal's last names or hometown any time soon. Once you give away the name it would give away their ethnicity, what they are and what they aren't, he said. Instead, he prefers everyone being able to relate to the family as his or her own.
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