Genetics

Malcolm

New member
Do you think the boys physically resemble their parents?

I was watching te show and I realized that, actually, Francis does look a bit like Hal. I mean, you can believe he is his son.
What do you think about this, and about Malcolm, Reese and Dewey? And Lois?:confused:
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
I think they did an exceptionally good job finding actors that looked and fit the part. The thing I have always wondered is about Francis and Dewey's blonde hair. Blonde is a recessive gene to brown, which means that both Hal and Lois would have to have blonde hair; the chances that one of the kids would have blonde hair when neither parent does is only about 1 in 40; the chances that two come out that way is about 1 in 80, but other than that, I think things fit in pretty well.
 

Wemboy

New member
Aside from hair colour they all look fairly alike. I think the two most convincing brothers are Malcolm and Francis, who also look fairly similar to Hal. Reese is probably the character who looks least like the other family members in my view. Again it's a hair thing, because Malcolm, Francis, Hal and Lois have quite wavy hair, whereas Reese's seems fairly straight. You can't tell with Deweys cos it's always shaved, or at least cut very short. Overall though I'd have to say they make a very convincing family.
 

Malcolm

New member
I think they said once that Reese was always concerned about his hair. Maybe it was wavy, like Malcolm´s, but he uses lots of hair care products, you know, hair gels, sprays, things like that, so it looks different. But I dont know anything about hair care, so I dont know if thats possible.

But, yeah, Francis and Dewey are probably adopted since they are both blondes and neither Hal or Lois have blond hair. ;)
 

Garbage Kills Megan

parties with your mom
I do think that Malcolm and Francis look pretty similar. Or they used to when Frankie was younger. Reese kind of looks like he could have gotten his traits from Lois.
 

Randee15

New member
I think the boys look plausibly like Lois and Hal's children, yes. I actually think most of the boys--Malcolm, Dewey, and Jamie (though it's hard to tell for sure yet with him)--look more like Lois than Hal, while Francis definitely looks more like Hal imo. Reese, I think, looks like a cross between his parents, with a leaning towards Lois.

And as for blond hair...

Simple Explanation of Recessivity in Genes: Recessive genes get passed on regardless of whether the individual displays the effect of the gene (whether it's eye/hair colour, or a disorder like haemophilia). If a man's father has blue eyes and his mother has brown eyes, and this man gets brown eyes, he still has a recessive gene for blue eyes. Now, if he marries a brown-eyed woman with the same genetic ancestral background as himself, there's actually a rather good chance of them producing blue eyed kids, since both parents have a recessive blue-eyed gene inherited from their parents.

Because of the above, I don't see it as unusual that Francis and Dewey have blond hair. They simply could've inherited it from their grandparents.
 

MITM18

New member
I also dont think the writers are looking that into this show to look at the genetic, hair color/style, etc.

They go by how they act and thats as much as your going to get.

This isnt history or a real life movie :)
 

Ryebeach

Moderator
MITM18 said:
I also dont think the writers are looking that into this show to look at the genetic, hair color/style, etc.

They go by how they act and thats as much as your going to get.

This isnt history or a real life movie :)
I would tend to agree wit you MITM18, the acting is the key. And the actors they ended up going with have certainly proven themselves in that regard. This does make for an interesting topic though. Thanks for all the insightful posts so far.:)
 

Jimmy Junior

New member
I can see how Francis, Dewy and possibly Malcolm look a little similar to Hal and Reese vaguely resembles Lois, but I would've thought in a family of that size there'd be more similarity.
Of course, being as the actors aren't related to each other that's unlikely to happen, but I suppose it could be explained by the different conditions they faced when they were very young (different levels of stress, that broken microwave etc).
 

MITM18

New member
Also, the flashbacks when they show the characters at an even younger age doesnt even resemble the older versions at all.

So yeah looks dont mean anything, its how they act.
 

Emrysgirl

New member
Is hair color even autosomal? I thought it was codominant.

Assuming it (blond hair) is autosomal recessive:

We know that Lois' parents don't have blond hair. But even if she had one blond grandparent out of four, that would still give her a fairly good chance, (1/2) of being a carrier of the blond gene (Bb). Make it two blond grandparents (that's the max it could be), and the chances would be 2/3.

Hal's Grandparents, or even mother for that matter, could also have been blond. So, there's a good possibility that he's also a carrier.

Assuming they're both carriers (not enough info to calculate total probability), the chances of them having a blond child would be 1/4. 2/5 is quite possible.
 

Emrysgirl

New member
MITM18 said:
Also, the flashbacks when they show the characters at an even younger age doesnt even resemble the older versions at all.
I find it really funny how they keep changing the actor for child Francis, even within the same ep (Flashback). The actor from Sleepover looked kinda similar, as does the second one from Flashback. Child Reese looks nothing like him. Child Malcolm is a bad copy. You can tell it's on purpose.

MITM18 said:
So yeah looks dont mean anything, its how they act.
Well, looks don't mean EVERYTHING. I think "anything" is a bit extreme.

Overall, it's believable, but not obvious. That is, they don't not look like brothers/children. But just seeing the chars walking down the street, I wouldn't immediately realized.
 

Jimmy Junior

New member
MITM18 said:
Also, the flashbacks when they show the characters at an even younger age doesnt even resemble the older versions at all.

So yeah looks dont mean anything, its how they act.
Yes, they may have all looked more similar when they were younger, but there's no way any of the actors could ever have been substituted. While they may have replaced Jamie, he's young enough for it to make little difference.
 
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