Most Controversial 'Malcolm' Episode

Gouki

New member
I can't really see an episode as controversial, although I find it hilarious the bile directed at Thanksgiving.
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
I don't know about any 'real' controversies in the press or on this board (I would need to do some searches for that), but I can imagine that making fun of racial issues (which happened with Abe Kenarban on several occasions as in Poker #1 and Baby #2), Stevie's physical handicap (Poker #2 and I guess throughout the series) and defiling Thanksgiving with sex with drunken teenagers and condoms and puking into a turkey could be called 'edgy'. ;)

I'm thinking also of 'Reese's Party' with lots of jokes about Lois' final stage of pregnancy and Hal's would-be sterilization. I think Hal says: 'Lois, leave my balls alone', right?

Then there were other jokes about gays, whores, strippers, inflatable sex dolls, drug abuse and sundry which sometimes involved young children, and a prime example when Lois says to naked Hal: 'Stop playing with yourself' in the Pilot, in front of her young teen and pre-teen children.

Rich

P.S. I found this nice illustrative tidbit from the AFA (American Family Association) TV reviews, which advises concerned Christian parents to send complaints to the series' sponsors and advertisers. This is how they formulate their own goals:

The American Family Association represents and stands for traditional family values and exists to motivate and equip citizens to reform our culture to reflect Biblical truth on which it was founded. We believe that God has communicated absolute truth to man through nature and the Bible, and that all men everywhere and at all times are subject to His authority.

Malcolm in the Middle P6 TVPG-L
(P6 = 6 profanities counted)
Fox, 1/11--In this debut episode the mother shaves dad's back in the kitchen while he stands completely naked in front of his children; and mom has to tell Reese, the youngest boy, to stop "playing with yourself" at the table. Later, mom also walks around the house bare-breasted, and when she opens the door and finds the school counselor shocked about her half-nakedness, the mother snaps, "They're just boobs."
Advertisers: MCI, Volkswagen

Malcolm in the Middle H P4 S TVPG-LV
(H = promotes homosexual agenda, P4 = 4 profanities counted, S = sexual content)
Fox, 3/19--At military school, Francis makes crude suggestions to girls practicing for a talent show. Later, he pretends to be a homosexual in order to help the girls in the dressing room. When Francis asks Tanya to help him change into a heterosexual, she takes him to hear a preacher. In an obvious parody of ex-gay ministries, the preacher rails at the young men to "pray out the gay."
Advertiser: Disney
 
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Richiepiep

Administrator
I like MITM's idea of 'implied swearing', with swear-words left unfinished, and name calling like 'Regina Tucker, I bet we could do something good with that' in Hal Quits, the result of which would have raised lots of eyebrows when you work it out - poor adult viewers getting tricked into thinking that way!

Rich
 

Dabney

Deutscher Moderator
Didn't we have a thread somewhere about the epsiode "4.22. Day Care" being controversial? Some user, i guess it was tony montana, claimed it was offensive to him, as it mocked christianity.
 

MalcolmFun

New member
This topic is funny because Malcolm has done more to promote traditional "family values" then any other show in the past decade. A family that actually sticks together and helps each other with their problems through think and thin! The only way to eliminate the controversies is to have no difficulties or controversies in their lives and assume nothing bad ever happens and no one ever makes mistakes. What kind of a show would that be?

I have the answer.

It would be a show like Seventh Heaven, which I despise. Somehow many got it in thier heads that this was a show promoting family values, but was it really? It is the opposite of Malcolm. They live mundane lives in a mundane world and all of their problems are caused by the lack of support they give each other. It is been years since I watched so I can't even fully describe the total dysfunction which somehow parades as a healthy family values.

It is the difference between assuming life is supposed to always be wonderful and perfect and the show measures itself by how those problems can be swept under the rug and gotten past vs assuming life is a difficult thing full of various problems and measuring itself by how those can be dealt with and what support your family might give.
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
It would be a show like Seventh Heaven, which I despise. Somehow many got it in thier heads that this was a show promoting family values, but was it really? It is the opposite of Malcolm.

Exactly! I think Seventh Heaven is so silly. A perfectly dressed, coiffed and manicured family living in a showroom house! Haha! (sarcasm implied) :p

See article thread

Filmed at the CBS Radford soundstages in Studio City, "Malcolm'' is a family show with a difference - it's a lot like reality. Malcolm's clan, often compared to the gang in "The Simpsons,'' doesn't have the neighborhood's best-kept lawn, the cleanest house or best-behaved kids. Mom and Dad aren't the world's most refined role models either. Take, for example, the time Dad had his hairy back shaved right in the kitchen.

Childhood is portrayed as a dimly understood, chaotic time. Adults, including the series' parents, are often flawed.

"They make mistakes,'' admits Linwood Boomer, "Malcolm's'' creator and executive producer. "But the alternative is to trot out perfect parents that always do everything right and have all the answers - I just don't think any exist. These people are at least trying. They screw up half the time, but their hearts are in the right place.''
 
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Lonestarr

New member
I don't know...

Instances of abusing the handicapped, (hinted-at) incest and homosexuality...no doubt about it. "Goodbye Kitty" (funny though it is) is fairly controversial.
 

lll333

New member
What episodes did they show or hint at incest?

By the way- in the Pilot episode- nobody could do what Lois did in that episode in reality. (Answering the door topless) In reality, that would be considered indecent exposure.
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
What episodes did they show or hint at incest?

By the way- in the Pilot episode- nobody could do what Lois did in that episode in reality. (Answering the door topless) In reality, that would be considered indecent exposure.

I guess so, but MITM series creator Linwood Boomer has said that his family used to run around naked in the house, and that's what he based the incident on!

Rich
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
You said some episodes showed hints of incest. Which episodes are that?

I suppose that has to do with implications that the only woman suitable for 'taming' the wild Wilkerson boys in marriage would be Lois herself.

Hal and Malcolm say this to Reese at some point, if I remember it right, and it's the basis of the plot with Reese in Goodbye Kitty, when he reads Lois' old school diary by accident and imagines her to be the kind of tough tomboy girl he'd fall for.

Rich
 

K174

New member
I'm in my late teen years at the moment and even the most vulgar things in MITM don't even come close to every day incidents occurring to people in the world around us. Kitty's Back has it's sinister moments but Thanksgiving, despite being credited as "absolutely disgusting" is just typical teen behaviour. It's not a show that really shows itself to be vulgar to be honest.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
What episodes did they show or hint at incest?

By the way- in the Pilot episode- nobody could do what Lois did in that episode in reality. (Answering the door topless) In reality, that would be considered indecent exposure.
"If you can't be naked in your own damn house what the hell you buying a house for?" -Linwood, first season DVD commentary.
 
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