Elaborate sets

ReMoss85

New member
Lately I have been noticing the show's very elaborate things it does to the sets, usually the house. Hal and Dewey's dominoes, or Dewey's legos, or Hal's decision tree, or the thoroughly destroyed house after they got rid of the bats, it seems like Malcom in the Middle has far more complex setups in their sets than most shows do. Most shows just have their set and the actors do all the storytelling but in MITM, the environment that the characters are in and the physical objects that surround them play a big role. I often wonder how long it must have taken the crew to set up those dominoes or that lego city, or the decision tree, or any of the other things like this the show has done over the years. I also have to commend the show for its lighting. Slightly off topic, but the lighting is always just perfect for the mood of the particular scene. In summary, the show has the most well thought out and executed sets of any show on television. Thoughts?
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
Excellent thread! I've thought about the same thing. And how many times do you think they had to set up those Dominoes before they got it right? With just one camera, they must have had to reshoot the thing like five times. And I've actually tried making a decision tree before--I got the idea from Hal, of course. Mine wasn't nearly as big, but it does work well. :D

I would be interested to know which scenes they shoot in the real house and which ones they do at the set.
 

Amigo22

Super Moderator
Another thing is all the props they use to create 'mess' in the house - like on the coffee table in the lounge, particularly in Season 1, with all the toys and video games etc.

And in Home Alone 4; the mess that Francis's friends created when they showed up to party.

Also in "Therapy" in Season 2, they had that huge stack of boxes. It looked more like they had just moved in rather than just cleaning out the closet, which is another thing - coming up with a whole stack of random bits and pieces to clutter up the closet.

And the garage sale in that ep in Season 4, all the stuff they had for that.

I agree with you on the show's lighting - an example is the lighting they use for the "moonlight" at night. But, I've noticed in a few episodes that although the scenes are meant to take place at night, there is visible daylight in one area or another. Although, like Sam said, some scenes/episodes could be filmed inside the actual house, which is probably the case.
 

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
Amigo22 said:
Another thing is all the props they use to create 'mess' in the house - like on the coffee table in the lounge, particularly in Season 1, with all the toys and video games etc.

Yeah, I noticed that when I was taking screencaps for one of the recent episodes--Hal Grieves, I think. The boys room is always messy--unmade beds, clothes and stuff all over the floor. They really do a great job of making it look authentic. Malcoholic even pointed out the mildew around the bathtub in Lois Strikes Back in the thread for that ep. Now that's attention to detail! :D
 

Amigo22

Super Moderator
Speaking of the boys' room being messy, what's that ep where the girls break all of Dewey's stuff....Poker #2 - wonder how they broke all those toys. Same with the Mighty Man in Funeral that Reese stomped on.
 

NeCoHo

Retired Mod
mmmmm........ Senseless violence... :D

To bring myself back on topic: I think the elaborate sets are one of the things that is unique to only MITM. They put so much time into it, and it really does the trick. It's believeable and shows you, "hey, a real american household is never perfect like those ones on tv" or at least in my opinion.
 

rzombie1988

New member
This is somewhat off topic, but what about the area they used in Hal's Dentist for when Malcolm and Dewey were sitting on the sidewalk? It looked nothing like their usual surroundings, and it looked odd.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
That's been brought up in our analysis thread for Hal's Dentist. My guess is this: (being the interpreter I am :D)

The boys are bored. They're randomly walking around. The Wilkersons themselves are not rich, but they certainly don't live in the crappy part of town. The Kenarbans have a fair chunk of money and they're just a few blocks away. So I'm willing to guess that a rich portion of the neighborhood isn't too far for the boys to walk to.
 

ReMoss85

New member
By the same logic (thinking they were sitting outside their house), you should also think that Reese found Lois in the alley at their house. I don't think the family owns an alley, and since Reese was wandering around after ditching school, just like Malcolm and Dewey were, is it really so hard to believe that they were somewhere other than their house?
 

rzombie1988

New member
ReMoss85 said:
By the same logic (thinking they were sitting outside their house), you should also think that Reese found Lois in the alley at their house. I don't think the family owns an alley, and since Reese was wandering around after ditching school, just like Malcolm and Dewey were, is it really so hard to believe that they were somewhere other than their house?

I'm not sure if your responding to yardgames or me or both of us, but if its to me, heres my response:

I was thinking Reese found Lois outside her job. But then I was thinking, she doesn't know how to ride a bike, so why would she be trying to learn at work? I wasn't thinking that Lois/Reese were near the Wilkersons house.

It's not that hard to believe, but I just have an image in my head of where MITM are located, and it just doesn't fit them being in a suburban looking place.

Yardgames - I never noticed that the Kenarbans live in a richer part than the Wilkersons. I didn't think they ever showed their house.
 

ReMoss85

New member
rzombie1988 said:
Yardgames - I never noticed that the Kenarbans live in a richer part than the Wilkersons. I didn't think they ever showed their house.
Didn't they show it at the end of Sleepover with all the cops around it? From what I remember, it was a fairly big, nice looking house. Time to whip out the dvd.
 

Amigo22

Super Moderator
There is also an exterior shot of the house in Pilot. Stevie's room is shown in Pilot, Sleepover and Carnival. That's the only part of the inside of the Kenarbans' house that's been shown.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
It's also implied they're richer though. I'm thinking of a few instances: first, they have enough money for Stevie to get the best treatment for his disease. (think the Institute in Reese vs. Stevie) and second, Abe clearly states he could be sitting on a beach in Hawaii rather than in a manmade lake in Houseboat, but he was stuck there becuase Kitty wanted to do something with the Wilkersons and the Wilkersons couldn't afford Hawaii.
 

Amigo22

Super Moderator
Yeah, there's several hints of them being rich. If you were referring to my post, I was just saying which episodes show the Kenarbans' house. And I haven't seen any of Season 7.
 

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
This isn't really about the set, but it kinda goes along with the attention to detail theme and fact that the Wilkersons don't have much money. I noticed that Dewey was wearing the same shirt in Bomb Shelter that he was wearing in Lois Strikes Back (it's the blue one with the pizza slice on it.) I think he's worn it in other episodes too. I'm pretty sure that Reese has worn the shirt that he had on in other episodes also, but I don't remember which ones. I just found it interesting. It seems like in most shows the characters never wear the same thing twice (or maybe I just never noticed), but it makes it more realistic when we see them wearing the same clothes more than once. It also reinforces the fact that the Wilkersons don't have a lot of money and the boys only have a few shirts to choose from.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
Oh, they've all worn the same things a bunch of times. Frankie wore a yellow shirt back in season 2, and I've seen him wear it as late as season 5. Sometimes he wears it as a pajama shirt and other times he actually wears it as a fashion.
 

Amigo22

Super Moderator
Are you sure it's the exact same shirt? Some of their shirts do look the same, like the various striped shirts they've worn (this includes the Krelboynes as well) but when I've watched the ep I remember seeing it from, it's not the exact same one.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
No the one I'm thinking of is exactly the same. It's bright yellow; the most distinctive ep in which I remember it was If Boys Were Girls--in that episode he wore it under that green woven shirt.

He's got a Road Racer shirt he wore a couple of times too. And Justin's woren the same t-shirt on top of a long-sleeved shirt several times too. Most recent is Blackout. Again, same shirt, not just same style.
 

PBUNDY

New member
Yeah, I've also noticed that Lois wears the same shirts also. Ones I can think of off the top of my head right now are the bird cage shirt she wore at the end of "Mono" and in last years "Tiki Lounge". Another one I can remember is a greenish striped one she wore in last year's "Mrs. Tri-County" and in season three's "Poker".
 
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