Malcolm in the Middle 10th Anniversary!
Today (9th January) is the 10th Anniversary of Malcolm in the Middle. It first aired on FOX 10 years ago today on the 9th January 2000!
Richiepiep has posted some classic articles from the time. We plan to do a series of events/posts in the coming weeks to help celebrate, do post your thoughts.
Thanks to deweyinthemiddle & Richiepiep
January 9th, 2010 tjpeople About: General, MITMVC News
- If anyone would be willing to give away season 1 set that would be nice, and then to choose the winner it could be used random.org
Or respond to several questions.
- I agree we should do something. I welcome any ideas.
- All right, I think we should start with everyone coming to the VC to celebrate, but there needs to be more, maybe a live chat with 1 to all of the actors, writers, directors of MITM? Or as many as we can get.
- Coming to the VC is a good idea for a start, and if thats all that could happen, I could live with it. Personally I'm throwing the Pilot in the DVD player
- Ok!
Maybe a party or something with prizes.
- Anyone have other ideas?
- Yes, I second all of that! Getting most of our members online would be a first step, and also trying to organize a live chat as an extra impetus. If the main cast are busy, we could also think of the crew, that all too often neglected but essential part of the production process. Yes, we could also throw in a lottery for some special goodies.
Picking this up from another thread, contacting Regency Television would be great. Fox is probably too humongous to bother (and not exactly enamoured with us, so it seems
), and if I'm not mistaken, Regency is the company the idea for a 'Malcolm' originated with, so it's closest to their hearts.
It would be out of this world (not to mention the universe) if they'd organize a wonderful reunion documentary along these lines, which was aired about 10 year after the series had ended:
Rich
- Cool, contacting Regency would be a good idea, since FOX is to big to listen, but Regency could contact FOX, since it is a company instead of a group of fans. I talk more about this in this thread:http://www.malcolminthemiddle.co.uk/...ead.php?t=2342
But, I think that A and E did a TVography for Malcolm a while ago, but a reunion special is a great idea
- Most users ever online was 190, May 29th, 2008 at 08:14 AM, so we should try to get almost every active member online at that time wihich would be around 500, a record for the site!
- Send an email to all members to get noticed about this anniversary, it's possible but what should be done?
Will the actors join the conversation?
Prizes?
- Maybe TJ can organize that, but sending mass PMs might seem like spam, maybe a front page post about the 10th Anniversary and an invite to the VC on that day.
- Maybe, but trackers do that to announce to the user that is active again, or special goodies are available.Quote:Originally Posted by deweyinthemiddle
Maybe TJ can organize that, but sending mass PMs might seem like spam, maybe a front page post about the 10th Anniversary and an invite to the VC on that day.
When staff sends mass message to all users it isn't spam at all.
- True, I'll should contact TJ about this great idea, since he is head of the site. Thanks, MItM_Fan!
- I'll contact him now that a lot of people are on the VC.
- Yay! my hundredth post!100!
Sorry, i'm very enthuasiastic about things! lol
I think i just rofled myself! Wow! 100 posts! .....I'm gonna stop now... heh,heh, sorry. (I was just very excited!)
Oh sweet, now I'm a Senor Member, Yahoo!
Well....BTW in news about the 10th anniversary of MITM, i p.m.ed TJ, and we will do a mass invite to a party for the anniversary about a week before actual party on january 9th. We might even have Linwood on a live chat! Maybe, tho ...hopefully right?
- Oh Crap! I just made a mistake! The actual date for 'Malcolm's premiere was Jan. 9th, but Wikipedia formerly said Jan. 8th. Sorry, My bad. If I had known
- Well, no one has really posted in this in a while and I just realized that it was October, and I was thinking that we should really get some ideas planned out because the 10th Anniversary is only a few months away, and if we don't start brainstorming ideas now, we might come up with a great idea too late. So, for this project, any ideas are welcome, and I would be glad to help with this and would be happy if so of the member joined in,too.
- Thanks for reminding us! Your post shouldn't be ignored! Perhaps it can be turned into a 'Sticky' to keep it from sliding down!?
Rich
- Good thinking!
Thanks, Rich.
- It's a Sticky now!Quote:Originally Posted by deweyinthemiddle
Good thinking!
Thanks, Rich.
Rich
- I sent a mail to Dutch Comedy Central about the 10th MITM anniversary. They are part of the Dutch MTV Network (mtvne)
This is what they replied:
From Saskia.baaijverhoeven
mtvne.com
Translation:Quote:Hee Richard
Wat een leuk idee!
In januari hebben we echter waarschijnlijk qua programmering al heel veel hot items op de agenda staan. Nieuwe programma’s en zo.. hierover later meer ;-) dit zijn we nog aan het uitpuzzelen. Maar deze verjaardag zetten we zeker op de lijst erbij..als er ruimte is dan is het zeker leuk om er wat aan te doen. Dus of we op zender er wat aan doen is nog niet zeker.
Van de producent hebben we nog geen acties te horen gekregen. Maar we gaan het balletje wel eens opgooien.
We kunnen online natuurlijk wel altijd aandacht besteden aan jullie initiatieven en ernaar doorlinken!
Gr saskia
Hey Richard,
That's a great idea! I must say that we probably already have a lot of hot items scheduled for January in terms of programming. New series and the like ... we'll let you know, we're still piecing this together. But we will certainly put this anniversary on our list. If we can make room for it, it'll certainly be nice to do something about it, but we can't promise anything.
We haven't heard anything from the producer about special events, but we'll put some feelers out.
Of course, we can always pay attention to your initiatives online and link to them.
Greetings,
Saskia
- I contacted MITM director of photography Levie Isaacks, and got a reply from him!
Some introduction:
I think old-pro cinematographer Levie Isaacks should be credited at least once as one of the (mostly) unsung heroes of MITM for his wonderfully fluid and imaginative camera work on no fewer than 101 (!) episodes of MITM. Among them are gems like Red Dress, Stock Car Races, Rollerskates, Water Park, Traffic Jam, Hal Quits, Bowling, Traffic Ticket, Poker ...
The cinematography of MITM I think is one of its biggest assets, and an aspect that continues to impress and delight me. And the guy never even got nominated for an award!
Watch his promo reel for MITM:
http://hollywooddp.com/index.html
Our correspondence:
From leviehollywooddp.com:
Quote:Dear Levie,
Thanks a lot for getting in touch with me! It's really nice of you to grant us an interview, and I'd love to call you, but that would perhaps be a bit impractical, as I'd have to record the interview and post it and type it up to share it with the other site members.
In order to let site subscribers pitch in with some personal questions, I'd like to collect these first, and pass them on to you by mail. Of course, we may also be able to set up a live chat, so users can post their questions real time, and you can reply to them. I'd have to discuss this with the site administrator.
Of course I can still resort to the phone interview. I'll keep you posted.
With best wishes,
Richard
Quote:Levie Isaacks ASC wrote:
Richard,
I would be happy to talk about Malcolm. Just let me know if you would rather do it by e-mail or by phone. My cell is xxxxxxx, I am presently in northern California this week and my cell does not work everywhere and the number here is xxxxxxxxx.
Levie
Levie Isaacks, ASC
www.levieisaacksasc.com
Quote:On Fri 09/10/09 12:55 PM , Richard sent:
Dear Mr. Isaacks,
I'm currently working as the Photo Gallery administrator for what we consider as the most comprehensive Malcolm in the Middle fan site on the web: http://www.malcolminthemiddle.co.uk/
I hit on your website while searching for 'Malcolm' links, watched your promo reels, and wrote an entry about you in our forums singling out your wonderfully fluent and imaginative work on that show. It's really one of the highlights of the show, and it never fails to impress and entertain me.
I wonder what your fondest memories of working on this comedy are, how you gauge your contributions, if the series was a challenge to you and/or an outlet for lots of creative ideas about angles, lenses, tracking shots etc. It struck me from the start how many different angles (even 'impossible' ones below ground level for instance) and lenses this series uses, and how functional, but also how 'cutting edge' and exciting they all are.
Any contribution would be welcomed, either by way of me or as a direct contributor.
Another thing: January 9th, 2010 will be the official 10th
anniversary of 'Malcolm', as its pilot aired 10 years ago. It would
be wonderful if Fox would do some sort of reunion, a special or a
commemoration. At least we at MITMVC plan to have a special event, if possible with some cast or crew coming on-line.
With best wishes, also for upcoming projects,
Richard
MITMVC site staff
- Great!
A phone conversation could quite easily be recorded if you were using Skype.
- Yes, that would be fine, but I'd like to let users in on the conversation, either offline or online. I could still do the interview as a fallback option.Quote:Originally Posted by Batch
Great!
A phone conversation could quite easily be recorded if you were using Skype.
I will discuss with TJPeople what we can do.
Rich
- Wow! Thanks, Richard! A member of the crew AND a TV network! You're a natural! Now, if only you could convince FOX to release 'Malcolm' on to DVD! Although, we should try to get support for that before, during or after the 10th Anniversary. Maybe Levie Isaacks or Dutch Comedy Central will support us. This other thread I made could help. It could be a sticky, too. http://www.malcolminthemiddle.co.uk/...ead.php?t=2342
Anyway...
Thanks,
deweyinthemiddle
- Very awesome Rich.
- Yeah, TJ is right. Another round of applause! Great work! I think that some kind of live chat would be great, and submitting questions or asking them live. Sorta like the Bryan Cranston chat.
- I also want to see if we could contact TV.com or TV Guide and request that the do an article about Malcolm's 10th Anniversary to help spread the word.
- This comment will be negative for most people, but it's the truth:
People are taking this too serious, no word from the producers or companies will be in this project.
The serie can not be on DVD/Blu-Ray due to the costs of the songs, they'd had to pay all artists.
Be happy at least the S01 is on DVD, and I've order'd it already from Amazon.
About Richard's talk to the mitm's photogropher, it's nothing really important, I sincerely don't care about if he get's or doesn't, makes no real difference, either not a person to do a change.
- Uh, ok. If you say so.
- I think MITM_Fan is right here. We often think of Fox & co. as these big, dictatorial moguls who deny us the rights to see what we want to see or be full-fledged fans, but as for the music rights, it's not up to the cast & crew or even Fox.
It's a problem of the media conglomerates (which includes Fox to be sure) at large, who effectively block releases because they're asking what appear to be literally millions of dollars for the original song rights.
Just to illustrate this, a Fox exec on securing the music rights for The Wonder Years, whose impact relied heavily on original '60s songs by famous artists. What it all boils down to, is probably (oh, horror) the famous songs replaced with cheaper ones or cover versions.
"We know it's something we'd like to put out. We know that people want it out. Consumers are waiting. Fans are waiting. We talk about needing to tackle it, but we haven't gotten to a place where it's being actively worked on. I'd love to put it out on DVD, so other people can enjoy it, so we just have to work through these issues. It's not that simple, because music is an integral part of that show. So it's not like you can just go in and replace it all."
"You go in and see which songs are expensive that are not as essential, and that process of going through each episode and doing that analysis is a more complicated process than putting out a TV show that doesn't have these issues."
The Denver Post - Pricey Nostalgia
Rich
- Well put, Rich.
(Although, I personally think its cool that you contacted Levie Isaacks)
- i think all the cast members should qet toqether & talk about times on the set &
show there favortie memorable clips. & they should air it on fox or somethinq. lol
- Thats a good idea. We are thinking of arranging something like that ourselves.
- Well, less than a month now so... any news or ideas. Everythings welcome. There's no such thing as a bad idea.
- A few weeks...
- I've got some free time now, I'll see what I can make happen.
- Okay so this is probably just wishful thinking... but Frankie seems to be on Facebook quite often recently... Maybe someone could... give him a nudge?
- Great Idea!
- It would be really cool if they had a reunion, I was sorta hoping for a MITM marathon or something in the U.S. like they had with Glenn Martin D.D.S. last week on Nick at Nite (grr I only had 30 minutes of MITM the whole week) anyways, based on the schedule here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212671/tvschedule for the US, it doesn't look like there's going to be anything until 1:35 A.M and that's it.
- Now that our Gallery is mostly complete, I've finally found some time to deal with the 10th anniversary again, after a very hectic December that left me hardly any time to spend on more constructive things than upload the odd picture! It's a pity time is so short now, December is always a crazy month to get things done - remember we Dutch are foolish enough to also celebrate Sinterklaas (the historical Santa Claus) as a completely separate feast with lots of presents and poems on December 5th!
OK, I've just contacted Levie Isaacks, MITM's main cinematographer, again and sent him a couple of questions about his work on MITM. For the moment, the idea is for him to type up replies which I will publish on this site, but I've also invited him to come to our site on January 9th and pass on the invitation to any crew or cast he might know.
I really don't know what to do with Dutch Comedy Central yet. They're showing MITM now for another (third?) run at the viewer-friendly time of 9:15 p.m., and it's actually bringing in new fans - quite a feat considering they're showing hosts of umpteenth reruns of Scrubs, Frasier, Futurama, Simpsons, 70s Show, South Park!
As we can't offer goodies or promise anything substantial in terms of interaction (I think, TJ?), I can ask them to direct any ardent fans to our site on January 9th to become members or just have a chat.
Best,
Rich
P.S. I noticed something funny and striking for Dutch web users. A lot of us use www.startpagina.nl as their default homepage to link to certain popular topics - if you prefer a thematic search to just haphazard Googling. Now, if you go all the way down to TV comedies, the entry for MITM links directly not to some Dutch site, but to us! (and I had no hand in this whatsoever)
http://comedy-central.startpagina.nl/
- Thanks a lot, Rich! I have been busy as well, and looking at the stats, so have a lot of other members.Quote:Originally Posted by Richiepiep
Now that our Gallery is mostly complete, I've finally found some time to deal with the 10th anniversary again, after a very hectic December that left me hardly any time to spend on more constructive things than upload the odd picture! It's a pity time is so short now, December is always a crazy month to get things done - remember we Dutch are foolish enough to also celebrate Sinterklaas (the historical Santa Claus) as a completely separate feast with lots of presents and poems on December 5th!
OK, I've just contacted Levie Isaacks, MITM's main cinematographer, again and sent him a couple of questions about his work on MITM. For the moment, the idea is for him to type up replies which I will publish on this site, but I've also invited him to come to our site on January 9th and pass on the invitation to any crew or cast he might know.
I really don't know what to do with Dutch Comedy Central yet. They're showing MITM now for another (third?) run at the viewer-friendly time of 9:15 p.m., and it's actually bringing in new fans - quite a feat considering they're showing hosts of umpteenth reruns of Scrubs, Frasier, Futurama, Simpsons, 70s Show, South Park!
As we can't offer goodies or promise anything substantial in terms of interaction (I think, TJ?), I can ask them to direct any ardent fans to our site on January 9th to become members or just have a chat.
Best,
Rich
P.S. I noticed something funny and striking for Dutch web users. A lot of us use www.startpagina.nl as their default homepage to link to certain popular topics - if you prefer a thematic search to just haphazard Googling. Now, if you go all the way down to TV comedies, the entry for MITM links directly not to some Dutch site, but to us! (and I had no hand in this whatsoever)
http://comedy-central.startpagina.nl/ I suppose this is an extremely busy time of year, but now that the holidays are ending, I hope members will trickle back to the VC in time for the Anniversary.
- I'm now going to try and dedicate as much time as possible to this, I was thinking we could do an Anniversary "month" because getting everything sorted for 1 day (so close to hand) will be hard. I've contacted Frankie just now about it.
Thats very awesome! And I will pretend you waved your Dutch wand and made it happen Rich.Quote:Originally Posted by Richiepiep
P.S. I noticed something funny and striking for Dutch web users. A lot of us use www.startpagina.nl as their default homepage to link to certain popular topics - if you prefer a thematic search to just haphazard Googling. Now, if you go all the way down to TV comedies, the entry for MITM links directly not to some Dutch site, but to us! (and I had no hand in this whatsoever)
http://comedy-central.startpagina.nl/
- Great idea to make this a special month instead of the one day! Did you contact Frankie on Twitter or Facebook?Quote:Originally Posted by tjpeople
I'm now going to try and dedicate as much time as possible to this, I was thinking we could do an Anniversary "month" because getting everything sorted for 1 day (so close to hand) will be hard. I've contacted Frankie just now about it.
The 'Dutch route' isn't going too well. Monique has let me know that she's been wanting to close down her fan Hyves (the Dutch Facebook) for a while, because she moved on to different things - it's a terribly designed one anyway, which frustrated me no end (just between me, you and ... the rest of the world)!
Comedy Central decided against a special event, because there's nothing to offer. As you can see on the site http://www.comedycentral.nl/ (Win!-links), they offer DVDs, signed stuff and special parties, but it's not a running series, and they can't even offer the DVD because it's the wrong region
!
They concentrated on The Simpsons' 20th Anniversary instead in December: viewers could choose their Top 20 episodes, which were shown in one week, and famous (a relative term) Dutch actors and comedians voiced one episode as a special event.
Anyway, I'll restrict myself to POSITIVE news in this thread. Me no wet blanket, nor spoilsport!
Rich
- Yes, it would be terribly hard to fit this into 1 day but we could kick off with a special celebration 24 VC party from 8:30 pm friday night to 8:30 pm Saturday night ( the exact time it first aired). Plus, since it is 24 hours long, members from all time zones can check in and not miss the party! And maybe a special event every week throughout the month! Well, just throwing it out there.
P.S. Too bad about Dutch comedy central. But, I'm sure they would have if they could.
Quote:Originally Posted by Richiepiep
Great idea to make this a special month instead of the one day! Did you contact Frankie on Twitter or Facebook?
The 'Dutch route' isn't going too well. Monique has let me know that she's been wanting to close down her fan Hyves (the Dutch Facebook) for a while, because she moved on to different things - it's a terribly designed one anyway, which frustrated me no end (just between me, you and ... the rest of the world)!
Comedy Central decided against a special event, because there's nothing to offer. As you can see on the site http://www.comedycentral.nl/ (Win!-links), they offer DVDs, signed stuff and special parties, but it's not a running series, and they can't even offer the DVD because it's the wrong region!
They concentrated on The Simpsons' 20th Anniversary instead in December: viewers could choose their Top 20 episodes, which were shown in one week, and famous (a relative term) Dutch actors and comedians voiced one episode as a special event.
Anyway, I'll restrict myself to POSITIVE news in this thread. Me no wet blanket, nor spoilsport!
Rich
- Great! They kept their word
There's a link on their home page:
http://www.comedycentral.nl/
Image:
... which links to follow-up info:
http://www.comedycentral.nl/tv/progr...he-middle.html
MITM is ten years old!Quote:Malcolm in the Middle bestaat 10 jaar!
Op 9 januari 2010 zal Malcolm in the Middle zijn tiende verjaardag vieren.
Meer informatie over deze serie kun je hier vinden!
On 9th January, 2010, Malcolm in the Middle will celebrate its tenth anniversary. More information about this series can be found here!
Rich
- Awesome! Well, only a few minutes until MITM would have first hit the airwaves 10 years ago...tonight. (sounds cliche to me)
- It's a small step for mankind, but a giant leap for a Malcolm!Quote:Originally Posted by deweyinthemiddle
Awesome! Well, only a few minutes until MITM would have first hit the airwaves 10 years ago...tonight. (sounds cliche to me)
(avoiding cliché)
Rich
P.S. I've always loved a cliché!
http://www.officialkarencliche.com/about/index.html
- Quote:Originally Posted by Richiepiep
It's a small step for mankind, but a giant leap for a Malcolm!
(avoiding cliché)
Rich
P.S. I've always loved a cliché!
http://www.officialkarencliche.com/about/index.html
Yeah, so...what (do you members think) should the VC do to celebrate?
- Front Page Post
Today (9th January) is the 10th Anniversary of Malcolm in the Middle. It first aired on FOX 10 years ago today on the 9th January 2000!
Richiepiep has posted some classic articles from the time. We plan to do a series of events/posts in the coming weeks to help celebrate, do reply with your thoughts.
Thanks to deweyinthemiddle & Richiepiep
- Yes, I will be putting up some articles and other stuff that I have lying around or have collected links to.
I do hope some cast or crew members, however 'loosely connected', will come on or leave messages in the coming weeks!
I've been rallying fans and MITM associates to turn up and leave messages, but so far only Comedy Central has taken up on it!
I guess we'll just wait and see!
Rich
(nodding off so logging off)
- Cool!Quote:Originally Posted by Richiepiep
Yes, I will be putting up some articles and other stuff that I have lying around or have collected links to.
I do hope some cast or crew members, however 'loosely connected', will come on or leave messages in the coming weeks!
I've been rallying fans and MITM associates to turn up and leave messages, but so far only Comedy Central has taken up on it!
I guess we'll just wait and see!
Rich
(nodding off so logging off)
- awsum the first episode aired on the day i was born
- --------
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