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Post by Quorthon on May 16, 2006 11:14:28 GMT -5
Hey y'all!
One of my favorite shows on TV is now totally dead: Malcolm in the Middle. Series finale aired Sunday night. It was still as funny as ever-so it would seem that the show at least went out before it got stale.
Also, though I'm not a huge fan of it, this Thursday brings us the final That 70's Show.
Anyone fans of either of these? Seen or seeing the episodes? Sorry they're gone??
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Post by LivingDeadGirl on May 16, 2006 15:55:10 GMT -5
Never watched Malcolm...but I love That 70's Show. I guess I'll be watching the dvd sets after the show ends.  |
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Post by slayrrr666 on May 17, 2006 10:15:05 GMT -5
I'm more of a 70s fan than Malcolm, but I do watch both series. I fucked up the recording for the Malcolm finale (stupid tape didn't have enough room on it) so I got the first fifteen broadcast minutes before it was through, but it certainly was pretty funny. I'm anxious for That 70s Show, as it's one of my favorites. It never fails to give me some laughs during the course of the episode, and as such, I will greatly miss it.
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Post by Quorthon on May 22, 2006 12:44:53 GMT -5
I prefer Malcolm in the Middle. Throughout it's years, the quality of the writing never dipped. It was strong right through that final episode. I still think it's the best written, and funniest, show since Seinfeld. As far as I'm concerned, Seinfeld is the best, #1, sitcom/half-hour TV comedy ever made--and Malcolm in the Middle is a close second. Plus, these were the best teenagers I'd ever seen, pretty much anywhere.
That 70's Show on the other hand, I thought took a helluva nosedive during those last 2-3 seasons. Especially after Kelso and Eric left the show and that blond wanker showed up. I don't know why, but everytime I see him, I want to punch him in the face and knock him down a staircase. The pot-head dialog was getting to be too much as well. The second-to-last episode was overly predictable--and all in all, so was the final episode. It went from being a good show about characters and stories to an average sitcom with formulaic plots. Also, it took place in Wisconsin on New Years 1979-1980--where the hell was all the snow and ungodly freezing temperatures?!
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Post by slayrrr666 on May 23, 2006 9:51:14 GMT -5
I totally agree with that. I thought that once Donna dyed her hair, the show really lost most of it's steam. The only episode that really stuck out as being good was the one where Eric continually ruins her wedding dress. I thought that one was pretty funny, but nowhere near as funny as it was in the first four seasons. Third one so far is my favorite, but once a couple more come out on DVD, that may change.
Malcolm was pretty good, but it was a while before I really got into it. Once Francis got the job at the hotel, I became a frequent viewer. Once he got there, I stayed on and really enjoyed the series. A Hal or Dewey centered episode were the best ones, at least to me (my all-time favorite is the court-room case with Hal as the one fingered as the head of a multi-million dollar conspiracy) and it's remained a favorite because of episodes like that. I haven't followed the last season as much as I wanted to, and I feel bad about that, but I can only hope I can fix that soon enough.
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Post by Quorthon on May 23, 2006 11:21:04 GMT -5
My only disappointment with the final season of Malcolm in the Middle is that Francis and Piama (who's wicked hot) are hardly ever in it. They don't show up in every episode like they/he did before. I think the writers thought it was cluttery with Jaime now appearing so much, plus, I think Masterson may have requested to be on the show less to do other shit.
I agree with yah on that one in court. That was awesome. "I haven't worked on a Friday in fifteen years."
"I always figured Mom for jail and Dad for the crazyhouse. Life, huh?"
I also liked how Reese ended up in the military and got shipped off overseas without the show being clogged with hyper-liberal anti-war propaganda, or for that matter, pro-war propaganda. It stuck to the characters and story and didn't get preachy. That show will probably age better than Seinfeld which spent a lot of time being topical on current event-type stories.
Last night was another one of my favorites: When at the Lucky Aide, they have this cardboard stand-up of a black janitor named Slappy holding a mop and drinking malt liquor. Awesome episode.
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Post by slayrrr666 on May 24, 2006 18:28:32 GMT -5
That was a big problem I had with the Fifth Season. They've got the three brothers home with their storylines, plus the Lois and Hal storylines, and the Francis/Piama stories, and it felt a little jumbled, like they were trying to give everyone the minimum contracted screen-time required and then they switch over to someone else's story. Then they have to introduce a new character in Jaime, who really serves no purpose only to make Lois feel like she's going crazy again. I would've rather kept on the by-then well-established circle that they had achieved, and adding a new character into that and shuffled all the stories around to make rooom for him. I would've rather had the same thing happend with Married...with Children in their Sixth Season, where Peg was pregnant and then explained away as a dream. The comedy they could've done with a plotline like that would've been magical. Hal going crazy over another mouth to feed? Lois constantly beratting him for touching her like that? It could've been a great season that way, but the jumbled storyline for Season 5 didn't really sit well with me.
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Post by Quorthon on May 25, 2006 8:12:03 GMT -5
I do like the Jaime storylines, typically, they weren't all that intrusive--like, they didn't take up as much screen time as a Francis & Piama story did.
You want to know what happened in the end of the series finale?
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Post by slayrrr666 on May 25, 2006 10:53:51 GMT -5
I know, but it took time away from the other storylines, and that was why I was watching it.
Yeah, sure, I wouldn't mind.
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Post by Quorthon on May 25, 2006 11:58:45 GMT -5
***MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE SEASON FINALE SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER***
Reese was planning on ousting the current janitor of the High School so he could take his job. He'd mixed up that huge concoction of awfulness to do it and had it hidden in the back of the family minivan.
Malcolm and Stevie were offered countless hundreds of thousands of dollars to work for some big-time stock broker guy (or something like that) Lois flatly turned the guy down and he didn't seem to mind. Malcolm was pissed off.
In the end, the cannister Reese made exploded in the van coating everyone with his horrible creation.
Malcolm then exploded on Lois going on about how being covered in filth on the day he was supposed to give a speech for graduation was just the icing on the cake of his life never going the way he wanted.
Lois then revealed her long-lasting master plan. Malcolm is supposed to suffer and work hard and barely scratch by through his whole life so that one day he'd be President of the United States. Because only through all that hard work and vigilance and pain and suffering would he become President. And he would be the only person to ever be President that actually understands how it is that people like their family lives and suffers through. Malcolm is not meant to have the life of rich fancy-free joy--that's meant for Dewey.
They get cleaned up and Malcolm gives his speech at school. There are large circles of people sitting far away from everyone in the family because of the stench. An employee badge falls from Francis' jacket and he reveals to his Dad that he actually has a stable data entry job but doesn't want Lois to know because then she'll think she's won.
In the end, Reese is janitor of the High School and he loves it. He's talking to Malcolm on the phone, who is working like a janitor at college. Reese moves in with the fat guy from Lucky Aide... I forgot his name. Francis argues with Lois on the phone about how he'll find a job eventually and everything will eventually work out. Then he hangs up and Piama gives him his lunch and he heads to work. Dewey and Jaime are now acting in the roles that Malcolm and Reese once occupied--with Jaime now in the role that used to be Dewey's--the patsy, basically. It ends with Lois pregnant again.
It rounded out all the stories pretty well, I thought. And was one of the best "final episodes" I think I've ever seen.
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Post by slayrrr666 on May 26, 2006 10:29:58 GMT -5
Wow, yeah, that does sound pretty good. Everything works out according to the characters, and it still sounds funny as well. I'll definitely have to look for this one pretty soon.
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Post by Quorthon on May 31, 2006 9:03:46 GMT -5
Now I just need all the box sets.
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Post by slayrrr666 on May 31, 2006 10:40:13 GMT -5
ISn't the first one the only one out at the moment? They're could be the first two, but I only know of the first one officially released.
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Post by Quorthon on May 31, 2006 11:26:40 GMT -5
I'm not really sure. You don't see Malcolm in the Middle DVD's populating store shelves like you see CSI, Raymond, Futurama, Simpsons, 70's Show, etc, etc.
Maybe only season 1 is out...
I wonder why that is...
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Post by slayrrr666 on Jun 1, 2006 12:38:04 GMT -5
I'm not really sure. I know 1 is out, maybe 2 is a couple weeks away or something like that. It just finished, you'd think that at least another one would come along to support it.
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