Malcolm in the Middle

The funniest comedy since The Simpsons. [9 Jan 2000]

The wittiest, smartest, sharpest-written, most original comedy of the season.

But at the true core of this strange and wonderful series - wackiness notwithstanding - are the often strange and, ideally, wonderful relationships among members of a family. [7 Jan 2000]

A wonderful comedy that twists the family sitcom genre to a screwball turn. [6 Jan 2000]

You'll laugh so often that you may not notice the blessed absence of a laugh track.

There are times when you wish the jokes in this series were a little funnier, but right now its unique situations — there's comedy gold being mined from Malcolm's gifted-child class of awkward brainiacs — make it distinctive.

"Malcolm" is an instantly likable series, as it takes conventional TV-family material and gives it a good old-fashioned goose. [7 Jan 2000]

So funny that you might not notice it doesn't have a laugh track. [8 Jan 2000]

Innovative camera work and occasional sound effects throughout add distinctive elements to the series. [9 Jan 2000]

The funniest new comedy in several seasons. ... "Malcolm in the Middle" is as fast and strange as any cartoon but occasionally has a depth you can't find without flesh-and-blood actors. [7 Jan 2000]

A wildly funny family sitcom. ... I am in love with all of them after the first half hour. [5 Jan 2000]

The sweetest, funniest and most original family sitcom that has come to TV in a long time. [6 Jan 2000]

Marvellous, goofy fun. [8 Jan 2000]

Wonderfully irreverent. [6 Jan 2000]

"Malcolm" immediately, instantly, explosively achieves an identity all its own--a little bit like a live-action "Simpsons," but with a Bart who's a genius, not an underachiever. [8 Jan 2000]

Malcolm recalls Roseanne's maternal drive, The Simpsons' cartoon exaggerations, and a blue-collar sensibility and emotional honesty common to both. And if tonight's outstanding premiere tries too hard for its own good to stand out, even that flaw subsides in later episodes. [7 Jan 2000]

Malcolm is much more than mega-jolts of Fox "attitude." It's both quirky and charming, edgy and reaffirming. [9 Jan 2000]

The show is a laugh-out-loud funny, skewed look at the American family that rings surprisingly true. But the pilot goes more than a bit over the top at times. [6 Jan 2000]

The irreverent comedy manages to be affectionate, thanks largely to Kaczmarek, who plays the mother with wisdom and sass. [9 Jan 2000]

An inventive, likable comedy. [7 Jan 2000]

While the tendency might be to overpraise this oddball but smart and keenly observed family comedy about the ordinary life of an extraordinary child simply because it arrives square in the middle of a TV season in which most TV comedies have been simply awful, it is nonetheless one of the better shows to come down the pike. [6 Jan 2000]

Colorfully plucky but inconsistent. [9 Jan 2000]

"Malcolm" is kind of a "Wonder Years" for the millennium. Or maybe it's just a weird sitcom about a semi-functional family. Either way, it's funny. [6 Jan 2000]