List of Malcolm in the Middle episodes

Malcolm in the Middle is an American television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Broadcasting Company.^[1] The series follows a dysfunctional, working-class family, focusing on child prodigy Malcolm (Frankie Muniz), who also narrates the series by addressing the audience. Other main characters include Malcolm's mother Lois (Jane Kaczmarek), father Hal (Bryan Cranston), older brothers Francis (Christopher Masterson) and Reese (Justin Berfield), and younger brother Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan).^[2][3] Later in the series, two more children are added to the family: Jamie (James and Lukas Rodriguez) and an unnamed child that Lois is pregnant with.^[4]

Originally pitched to UPN, Malcolm in the Middle was initially planned for the 1998–99 television season, but the network lost interest in it. Soon after, when Fox's then-president of entertainment Doug Herzog heard about the project, he quickly greenlit it, and decided to wait until mid-season to air it; this ultimately contributed to its success, alongside airing directly after The Simpsons.^[5] Over the course of seven seasons, the series aired a total of 151 episodes.^[6]

The first season began airing on January 9, 2000, and aired through May 21, consisting of 16 episodes.^[7] Ratings for the season were high,^[8] with the premiere garnering 22.35 million viewers,^[9] before peaking at 23.24 million with the second episode the following week.^[10] The second season premiered a few months later on November 5, 2000, running until May 20, 2001.^[11] Malcolm in the Middle continued to air regularly until its seventh and final season, which began on September 30, 2005, and ended on May 14, 2006,^[12] with the finale netting 7.38 million viewers.^[13] A four-part revival miniseries entitled Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair premiered on the streaming service Hulu on April 10, 2026.^[14]