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By: Roxanne
Date: 2/11/00 11:33:42 AM
# Replies: 7
Have you seen this show? (It's on Sunday nights on FOX)
They Might Be Giants does the theme music and some of the incidental music; which was a cool surprise for me. But the show is quirky and clever. To many, it might just seem another show like "Married with Children" or a live action "Simpsons"; however, there is a difference that I can't quite put my finger on. It's more "realistic" somehow.
Response #1
By: Ralf
Date: 2/11/00 2:05:33 PM
It's clever without pandering to the lowest common denominator.
The parents say things real parents might say.
The world they live in is ABSOLUTELY NORMAL except for this one almost-but-not-quite-dysfunctional family.
There is no laugh track.
The kids sound like real kids, not adult scriptwriters trying to sound the way they think kids sound.
There are virtually no stereotypes.
Despite doing stupid/repugnant things, the characters are sympathetic and thus endearing. (Mom shaves dad's entrire body before he goes to work, because "He has sensitive skin and business clothing irritates it". She shaves him at the breakfast table because it's more efficient that way -- dad can eat breakfast & read the paper, and she can keep an eye on the boys while they eat. Plus, mom gives dad's body hair to birds for nesting material.)
Even though Malcom has a reported IQ of 165, he cannot solve differential equations in his head, build a nuclear reactor in his bedroom, nor program the VCR to show naked pictures of the neighbors over the internet. (In fact, the last thing Malcom wants to do is win the Science Fair -- he just wants to be "normal".)
None of Malcom's teachers drive expensive cars. They're all realistically broke. In fact, his favorite teacher (whom he turns to for help in a recent episode) has less than $30 in the bank.
While there is lots of [implied] nudity, there is virtually no sex, nor sexual innuendo. It's just people being naked.
There are no "zingers" or personal attacks just for the sake of a laugh.
Nobody pauses for the laugh.
Characters often speak at the same time, stepping on each other's dialog.
Malcom is mean to his little brother, the same way his older brother is mean to him. But nobody *hurts* anyone, at least not permanantly.
Everyone in Malcom's family loves each other, even if they don't always show it. Despite the awful things that happen sometimes, they have each other to turn to. (Did you EVER get that impression from Married With Children?)
I think it's an awesome show, and am glad Fox picked it up for another 16 shows. WATCH THIS ONE, FOLKS. It's a keeper.
Response #2
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 2/11/00 4:43:59 PM
So, you haven't thought about this much at all, have you?
Response #3
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 2/11/00 6:41:53 PM
I saw it by accident once, and thought it was pretty good for just those reasons.
Didn't require much thought at all. :-)
Response #4
By: Roxanne
Date: 2/11/00 11:44:06 PM
Thank you, Ralf. You said just what I was thinking.
Response #5
By: sooz
Date: 2/12/00 12:35:31 AM
I liked the first episode a lot. The second one seemed a little weirdly psychotic.
A woman named Anne works for me. Anne doesn't let her 10 year old surf the 'net without supervising her. She doesn't let her watch TV unsupervised. She makes the child earn "points" to get time with Pokemon. But Anne loves Malcolm. I don't think she and I have ever both liked the same show.
Response #6
By: Ralf
Date: 2/12/00 10:08:54 AM
A *lot* of MitM is weirdly psychotic.
One episode had the dad disposing of an 'evil' tree in their front yard ('evil' because one of Malcom's brothers fell out of it and hurt himself, and 'evil' because it has "a face that keeps looking at you as you walk by").
He cuts it down, and rents a wood chipper to get rid of the pieces.
Kid: What's that, Dad?
Dad: It's a wood chipper. It instantly vaporizes anything you throw into it.
Kid: [Walks up to the spinning/gnashing/humming maw of the chipper, looks at his lunchbox, looks at the chipper, looks at his lunchbox....]
Dad: Hey! Don't...
Kid: [Tosses lunchbox in.]
Chipper: vvvvwwwwwweRRRRRRRRRrrrtttt! [Multicolor plastic lunchbox confetti spews out the other end]
Kid: [awestruck] Cool!
Dad: [suprised] Wow, that *was* cool. What else ya got?
...and for the rest of the episode we cut back to them occasionally, dad and his sons happily throwing all sorts of stuff in the chipper, like lawn furniture, trash, a basketball, a big box of confetti.
Bliss.
Response #7
By: Roxanne
Date: 2/12/00 12:24:47 PM
Ralf, the bliss was at the very end of the wood-chipper experience when the thrill wore off. Dad said something like "well, I guess that's all the fun we'll get out of that". That was classic.
I enjoyed the one where their mother was holding them hostage and doing all sorts of incredible torture to get them to 'fess up to who burned her dress. *sigh* I thought my mother was the only one who did things like that...