On Air Replacement

MalcolmFun

New member
Here is a topic I dont see was talked about in depth before. What show(s) do you think come closest to replacing or copying Malcolm now that it is no longer filming.

I think the closest one is "Scrubs". It copies Malcolm's style I think more then any other show. Single camera, no laugh track, characters talking to the camera or you can hear thier thoughts, quick scene changes, fast pace, background music and fantasy sequences. The problem I have with this show is it just isnt that funny. It seems to go for silly juvenille humor way more then Malcolm did. Despite that Malcolm is about a family and kids and Scrubs is about adults at work, I consider Scrubs a much more childish show.

Then there is Everybody hates Chris. A low confidence kid narrates his troubles to the audience. Malcolm rip-off? Not funny.
 
D

Deleted member 1693

Guest
I saw an episode of Scrubs just the other day. The characters are painfully unoriginal and they try much too hard to be wacky.

Everybody Hates Chris? The humor used in the show is also painfully idiotic.

You just can't top the original. Not at all.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
I don't think either one of those shows are "replacements" for MITM. Certainly they both use a couple aspects of the show's innovation. Fox had lined up both Arrested Development and, later, the War at Home to replace MITM. It's a pretty well known fact that MITM fans have to hate AD just on principle. I mean it was a great show but the critics always loved it while widespread audiences never really caught on to it so Fox promoted the hell out of it to the expense of MITM during its life span and frequently MITM got the short end of the stick. By alienating the people they were trying to appeal to, that show pretty much lost it. I enjoyed the War at Home but even though it was designed to take the place of MITM (and ultimately went just a year longer than MITM) the only thing it had in common was a dysfunctional family. Like the plot idea for TWAH was similar but all the concepts were different whereas the other shows raised here teh concepts were similar but the plot was different.
 

MalcolmFun

New member
The geniuses that run TV networks obviously figured they can save money by just replacing one sitcom family with another and it all works out the same. Viewers don't care! The problem is War at Home bears no resemblance whatsoever to Malcolm and as I think I made the case Scrubs is probably the closest thing to it on TV style wise (only I think the comedy sucks).

I agree Arrested Development was trying to capture the same audience as Malcolm. It was almost funny but I think they fell into the trap like most TV comedies of always trying to have outrageous and over the top things happen to the characters. I mean their family business sold houses to Saddam Hussein and the fathers twin brother seduced their mother ect.... that is not really a high brow comedy as critics would say, it is really little more then a soap opera or novella when the plot gets like that.

Look at the greatest TV comedies. Whatever outrageous or funny things happen is usually caused by the characters themselves not that the world is crazy or unrealistic things happen. Malcolm, Seinfeld, I love Lucy. All About the interesting characters not unbelievable plots. The world these characters are in is not funny, they are.

Other shows like Cosby, Cheers or All in the Family jumped the shark when they were no longer about their interesting characters after a couple years.

All the shows with vapid characters who, oh look interesting things are happening to me! Yuck! Friends:thumbdown:
 

AlexTheMartian

New member
The geniuses that run TV networks obviously figured they can save money by just replacing one sitcom family with another and it all works out the same. Viewers don't care! The problem is War at Home bears no resemblance whatsoever to Malcolm and as I think I made the case Scrubs is probably the closest thing to it on TV style wise (only I think the comedy sucks).

I agree Arrested Development was trying to capture the same audience as Malcolm. It was almost funny but I think they fell into the trap like most TV comedies of always trying to have outrageous and over the top things happen to the characters. I mean their family business sold houses to Saddam Hussein and the fathers twin brother seduced their mother ect.... that is not really a high brow comedy as critics would say, it is really little more then a soap opera or novella when the plot gets like that.

Look at the greatest TV comedies. Whatever outrageous or funny things happen is usually caused by the characters themselves not that the world is crazy or unrealistic things happen. Malcolm, Seinfeld, I love Lucy. All About the interesting characters not unbelievable plots. The world these characters are in is not funny, they are.

Other shows like Cosby, Cheers or All in the Family jumped the shark when they were no longer about their interesting characters after a couple years.

All the shows with vapid characters who, oh look interesting things are happening to me! Yuck! Friends:thumbdown:

The War at Home was a dysfunctional family, like Malcolm was, that is really the only connection, and the fact it started pretty much right after Malcolm ended. But the whole talking to the audience in a separated white room totally killed it for me, that sucked. It was like they tried to do what Bernie Mac did but made the mistake by putting it in a white room, which is just too much of a change to cut to at times during the episode. And instead of only the main character breaking the 4th wall like on Malcolm in the Middle and Bernie Mac, The War at Home had EVERYONE breaking the 4th wall. I liked the show only because of the crude humor :lol:
 

MalcolmFun

New member
You raise an interesting point so I'll raise another question. Did MITM ever jump the shark?

I don't think so. I think there are some subplots or parts of episodes that are not up to the same standards as most of the show. But the writers always seemed to recover from those problems.

Just as an easy example, look at All The Family. I think it is pretty much universally agreed by everyone who has ever seen the show that it jumped the shark when it was no longer about a hippie liberal student ideologically battling an old fashioned working man under the same roof. Part of the cast moved out of the house when he got a job and the show never recovered from this. Watch on TV land or something you can instantly tell which era the episode is from. There is almost no point even to the later episodes.

So compare to Malcolm. I think the common point were people are critical and when ratings when down is season 4. What happened there? Lois got pregnant and had Jamie. Jane was not in some episodes radically altering the way the family operates. Despite Humilithon, Malcolm and Reese seemed to actually barely fit in at school and Malcolm and Reese do more teen things. It was only in season 4 either of them had girlfriends that lasted beyond 1 episode.

This changed some things about the show in season 4 and maybe 5. But did that radically alter the show? Not really because first of all it is only some subplots of some episodes, not a complete change. Then season 6 and 7 got back to basics more focusing on the family interaction and once again like seasons 1-3 showing Malcolm and Reese as outcasts and therefore the story becomes about the family.

Halloween and Mono are a little like Funeral and Smunday. Stock car races is kind of like Hal grieves. Tutoring Reese similiar to Malcolm defends Reese which is similiar but sort of the reverse of The Bully. Blackout and Health insurance are similar to Funeral and Red Dress. Jessica in 6 and 7 is a replacement for Cynthia in 2 and 3

I have heard some say that Jamie somehow altered the balance of the show in the later years. But this is silly, if he changed it was only back to how it was previously before Lois was pregnant. You can't say it jumped the shark when season 7 is more like 1 then the middle seasons are. I think the subtle changes in the way some of the plots went in the middle seasons may have caused some people to think it did. Although personally I still love just about every episode.

whew..I sometimes have a tendency to write long thesis when a thought crosses my mind....
 
D

Deleted member 1693

Guest
That's never a bad thing. It gets us thinking. :p
 

MalcolmFun

New member
It has been a year since this thread and I wanted to say that in that time I have grown to love Arrested Development. (the whole thing is on HULU) I still hate that this was claimed to be some kind of masterpiece by critics while Malcolm was ignored, but standing alone on its own merits I rate it #2 of my all time favorites, behind Malcolm.
 
Top