About
Malcolm in the Middle is an American situation comedy created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Network.The show starred Frankie Muniz as Malcolm, the third-oldest of four, later five, children in the family. The oldest child, Francis was shipped off to military school, leaving the three boys; Reese, Malcolm and Dewey living at home, Malcolm being the second oldest of the three (hence the title of the show.) The situation centered on Malcolm and his dysfunctional family's life.
The series was different from many others in that Malcolm broke the fourth wall and talked directly to the viewer, it was shot using a single camera, and it used neither a laugh track nor a live studio audience. Like most hour-long dramas, this half-hour show was shot on film instead of video. As a midseason replacement, the show quickly gained a large viewer base, starting off with ratings of 23 million for the debut episode and 26 million for the second episode.
From: Wikipedia