Over the hills and far away in alt.tv.malcolm-in-themiddle, Santa Claws
came to play...
>>True. I suppose if anything will help shed the image that MITM has got
>>in this country of it being a "children's programme" then that surely
>>would.
>
> Season 4 went way further than previous seasons did. Even the
> language, I remember catching the first episode of season 4 and
> spotting language I hadn't heard on the show before.
The problem is in the UK is that it's on mainstream television at 6:45pm
on BBC2, just after the millionth repeat of Fresh Prince of Bel Air. If I
say to anyone that I'm a big fan of MITM, and I do, they always say, "But
that's a kids show isn't it?" But they miss the point so much. Most of
them have never even watched the programme, and they just dismiss it
because of very poor scheduling by the BBC. The Simpsons is also scheduled
in a same spot, and I have no doubt that if it wasn't already famous,
people in this country would think it's a children's programme too.
I understand that MITM is now on at 9pm in the USA. That's what it should
be here, after the watershed, but the BBC don't like to put on im****ted
programmes at these times.
> By this upcoming season, I don't see how anyone could label this a
> kids show. How would a UK 'childrens' audience react to the ****trayal
> of underage-***, as Linwood Boomer I think did specifically quote
> 'underage'. Ha, actually, I don't know how Fox would appreciate that
> exactly either. Unless it never actually happens and just threatens to
> the whole show. Even so 'children's programme' - what planet are they
> on?
Absolutely. It's so much more than that. Some people might think the only
humour adults might get is based around the adult characters... but no. I
think it's quite enjoyable simply watching the way the kids deal with the
situations, not to mention the things Dewey gets up to. Malcolm's
precocious observations are always good for a laugh too. I really think
that kids would miss almost 100% of the humour in this show, apart from
the odd bit of physical humour.
If *** really does become a big issue in one of the episodes, I have a
feeling that the BBC won't screen it, rather than cut it to pieces as
there'd be nothing left. Neither will Sky One.
>>I'm just not convinced it's entirely the right direction to move into.
>>They've done really well to go this far without really going into these
>>details. It's been a real refre****ng change to see this approach... here
>>in the UK it seems to be inbuilt into the writers that if they're
>>writing a sitcom they must include *** and swearing. It just isn't funny
>>any more.
>
> I agree totally that if that if 'Malcolm' just became another teen ***
> show, I would quit watching. A *** and drugs thanksgiving special
> could be funny, but I don't want an entire season of that. It would
> get boring very quickly. If they can keep it to just being four or
> five episodes out of the season that would be fine.
Yes, that's a good point. We don't want it turning into a Dawson's Creek
or something, but the odd episode about it would still be funny as it's
not particularly been done before.
> As an aside to the age question, in practically every state Malcolm
> would be considered underage, only very few would class Reese as
> underage. I do think it would be funny if Malcolm gets lucky before
> Reese. The way Reese reacts in season 4 when he thinks Malcolm and
> Cynthina had *** was pretty funny, and totally not what I expected.
Yes, I thought that was very funny the way he honed in for the inside
story. Nice touch.
> That uxexpected twist, that misdirection, that NOT doing the same as
> every other show is doing is why I like this show so much. It would be
> a real pity if they drop that.
100% agreement. This show does almost everything right. No one wants to
see another clone of show x, or show y... sure make subtle references, but
something at least half-original is often well worth the effort of
watching. MITM successfully does that.
> But it is hard to see any trends from an article that only touches on
> the first few episodes of the season. I think the way the 'previews'
> of upcoming shows are written, they tend to sensationalize based on
> little information. They talk about trends for the new season, but
> often they only give us one shot plot pieces.
I hope you're right. Given that we get almost no pre-season publicity here
in the UK, we often have absolutely no idea what to expect.
> And actually I am hoping 'Malcolm films Reese' is a take on the whole
> 'Star Wars kid' phenomenon. That could be sooo funny.
That sounds like a cracking idea. I'm sure it's nothing dodgy anyway...
just another strange episode title !
--
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