“Malcolm in the Middle” was one of those rare, modern-ish, long-running shows that never felt forced, as far as the writing went.
If you grew up middle-class or with parents who worked to pay the bills, it felt like a funnier version of your own family, barely holding it together.
Many of us middle and older millennials didn’t just watch it from 2000 to 2006.
Many of us recognized pieces of our own homes in it.
The yelling and scheming among siblings and parents. The alliances and relatable hijinks and life lessons.
The original show was great and gave the audience the constant sense that everything could fall apart at any moment, even though it never did. That was the magic that kept people tuning in.
So when the four-episode reboot “Life’s Still Unfair” was announced, I was a little excited and also cautiously skeptical.
Reboots usually fail, but every once in a while, one surprises you.
This one doesn’t even try and is, in fact, absolute garbage. That is to say, things finally fell apart.
The reboot is a vehicle for wokeness, and there’s nothing redemptive about it.
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The Disney/Hulu reboot immediately introduces a new transgender sibling into the equation named Kelly, who is a “non-binary” teenager using they/them pronouns.
It falls off the tracks from there and becomes a mockery of the original series.
Executive producer Tracy Katsky didn’t even try to hide where the needless injection of gender politics came from.
“Three out of four of our kids are queer,” she said while explaining the character, Deadline reported.
Yeah, you can tell.
The addition of wokeness to the show is not subtle, and nothing about it feels organic. It is forced and off-putting, and represents everything wrong with Hollywood.
Katsky’s bad parenting and the sterile writing end up killing a TV institution, because the original never worked that way.
It didn’t lecture or signal politics, or work to further the left’s agenda at normalizing the trans absurdity.
“Malcolm in the Middle” didn’t need to prove anything to anyone or pander to dysfunctional Hollywood family dynamics.
The show followed a lovable, flawed, and broke, dysfunctional family that fought constantly, loved each other imperfectly, and always bonded the way many American families do.
That was enough to make it a hit.
Actress Jane Kaczmarek made her matriarch character, Lois, equal parts terrifying, unhinged, and maternal.
Frankie Muniz broke the fourth wall and pulled you straight into the chaos as a smart kid with unlimited potential, ready to seize the American dream.
Bryan Cranston nailed the role of Hal to such a degree that he was later handed the keys to “Breaking Bad” as Walter White.
The show was smart, sharp, and honest, and it never felt fake, which can’t be said about “Life’s Still Unfair.”
There is absolutely no reason for this to exist. Thankfully, it’s only four episodes long.
If you’re someone who remembers what “Malcolm in the Middle” actually was, do yourself a favor and skip this entirely.
There’s nothing here worth your time, and certainly nothing that captures the spirit of the original.
Save yourself the sighs and frustration, and let this forgettable reboot fade away as quickly as it deserves to.
This article originally appeared on The Western Journal and is reposted with permission.
