The second season of the American television sitcom Malcolm in the Middle premiered on November 5, 2000, and ended on May 20, 2001. The twenty-five episode season was broadcast in the United States on the Fox Network. The series follows young Malcolm (Frankie Muniz) and his dysfunctional family, including his mother Lois (Jane Kaczmarek), father Hal (Bryan Cranston), older brothers Francis (Christopher Masterson) and Reese (Justin Berfield), and younger brother Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan). A child prodigy, Malcolm attends a class dubbed the "Krelboyne class", taught by Caroline Miller (Catherine Lloyd Burns).

The season was ordered shortly following the success of the first, and the premiere episode continues from the previous season finale, "Water Park", which helped launch an advertising campaign for the season: "Where's Dewey?". All main cast members from the first season return, with Burns leaving the series during this season, making it the last to have her as part of the main cast. The season contained multiple unique concepts, including the use of split screens in the Sliding Doors-inspired episode "Bowling", and extensive backstories for each of Hal and Lois' children in "Flashback".

The season averaged 14.50 million viewers and received positive reviews from critics, who felt it was of similar, or higher, quality to the first. "Bowling" received critical acclaim for its unique premise for the time, and received several award nominations, as did the rest of the season. The season was set to be released on Region 1 DVD in the fall of 2003, but was ultimately cancelled due to high costs of music clearances, but was later released on Region 4 DVD in Australia on September 4, 2013.

Cast and characters

Main Jane Kaczmarek as Lois Bryan Cranston as Hal Christopher Kennedy Masterson as Francis Justin Berfield as Reese Erik Per Sullivan as Dewey Frankie Muniz as Malcolm

Recurring Craig Lamar Traylor as Stevie Kenarban Catherine Lloyd Burns as Caroline Miller David Anthony Higgins as Craig Feldspar Daniel von Bargen as Commandant Edwin Spangler Drew Powell as Cadet Drew Eric Nenninger as Eric Hanson Evan Matthew Cohen as Lloyd Kasan Butcher as Joe Kyle Sullivan as Dabney Merrin Dungey as Kitty Kenarban Tania Raymonde as Cynthia Sanders

Guest stars Hallee Hirsh as Jessica ("Traffic Jam") Clyde Kusatsu as Ice Cream Man ("Traffic Jam") Mark Christopher Lawrence as Sheriff #1 ("Traffic Jam") Leslie David Baker as Cop ("Halloween Approximately") Sean Marquette as Boy ("Lois' Birthday") Michael Horse as Security Guy ("Casino") Melody Perkins as Patty Henderson ("Convention") Robert Curtis Brown as Tom ("Convention") Alison La Placa as Barbara ("Convention") Maz Jobrani as Robber #2 ("Robbery") Nancy Lenehan as Christie ("Therapy") Johnny Lewis as Martin ("Therapy") Busy Philipps as Meghan ("High School Play") Natasha Melnick as Amber ("High School Play") Octavia Spencer as Cashier ("High School Play") Jerry Messing as Big Kid #2 ("The Bully") Florence Stanley as Mrs. Griffin ("Old Mrs. Old") Gregory Jbara as Mike ("New Neighbors") Robin Riker as Tina ("New Neighbors") Michael Welch as Josh ("New Neighbors") Dakota Fanning as Emily ("New Neighbors") Kurt Fuller as Mr. Young ("Hal Quits") Shaun Toub as Janic ("Hal Quits") Steffani Brass as Eliza ("Hal Quits") Robert Loggia as Victor ("The Grandparents") Cloris Leachman as Ida ("The Grandparents") Sam McMurray as Officer Stockton ("Traffic Ticket") Steven Gilborn as Dr. Harrison ("Surgery") Miriam Flynn as Cooking Teacher ("Reese Cooks") Ashlee Simpson as High School Girl ("Reese Cooks") Dave "Gruber" Allen as Mr. Woodward ("Tutoring Reese") Alex McKenna as Beth ("Bowling") Cerina Vincent as Carly ("Malcolm vs. Reese") Matthew McGrory as Lothar ("Carnival") Casey Sander as Captain James ("Evacuation") Jerry Trainor as Guardsman ("Evacuation") Reagan Dale Neis as Laura ("Evacuation") Stuart Pankin as Doctor ("Flashback")

Episodes

Production Development

Following the high ratings and critical success of the first season, a second season was soon ordered by the Fox Broadcasting Company. The season continues after the previous season's cliffhanger in "Water Park", where Dewey, after leaving his deceased babysitter, runs off to an unknown location. Final credits for the scripts started on August 18, 2000, and concluded several months later. Part of the ordered second season was aired as the final few episodes of season one, which only contained 13 ordered episodes.

Casting The season contained the return of all main cast members, including Frankie Muniz, Jane Kaczmarek, Bryan Cranston, Christopher Kennedy Masterson, Justin Berfield and Erik Per Sullivan return as Malcolm, Lois, Hal, Francis, Reese and Dewey respectively. Catherine Lloyd Burns, who portrayed Caroline Miller as a regular in season one, also returns, but left the series following this season.

The season contained multiple guest stars, such as Robert Loggia as Lois' father Victor, and Cloris Leachman as her mother Ida. Leslie David Baker also appeared as a cop, one of his earliest television roles before he became known as Stanley Hudson on The Office.

Filming and inspirations "Bowling" alternates between two storylines with the same characters, taking inspiration from Sliding Doors, and utilizing several split screens in its cinematography. The episode "Flashback" gives backstories to each of the children's births and childhoods, and to Hal and Lois' marriage. During the production of "Lois' Birthday", the scene of the family beating up a pair of clowns that offends Lois was a highlight of the season for Masterson, who recalled that they really "kicked the piss" out of stuntmen during filming. After a scene from "Old Mrs. Old" in which Dewey hits a bully with a purse filled with a brick went viral, Berfield recalled that they used "fake stunt bricks" when Dewey hits the bully. However, real bricks were used when he swung the purse, as to keep the assumed weight of the purse accurate.

For the season, the set for the family's house cost to create, and it was built by the set's headman Bill Fariello, who, along with his crew, was asked to bring all their "junk" in to help build the set. Its interior is on a sound stage in CBS' lot in Studio City. While filming "Hal Quits", Cranston had to cover himself completely in blue paint as Hal tries to properly get ready to paint. He noted that covering himself in the paint was a poor decision, since "your body can't regulate the heat if you're covering up all your pores", and him moving around while filming added to the uncomfortable feeling Cranston felt. After a while, he started to feel worse, and was quickly thrown into a shower by the crew, who washed off the paint.

Release and marketing During season two, the series aired on Sundays at 8:30 p.m. EST.Brooks, Marsh (2009): p. 840. The season premiered on the Fox Network in the United States on November 5, 2000, and concluded on May 20, 2001, with a total of 25 episodes. To promote the premiere, in which Dewey's whereabouts from "Waterpark" were to be revealed, the Fox Network launched the "Where's Dewey?" marketing campaign during the summer hiatus, where clips of Dewey wandering around the country were released to the public. A website, wheresdewey.com, allowed participants to guess where Dewey was based on the videos, and win a contest. The season was set to be released on Region 1 DVD in the fall of 2003, following the success of the season one boxset, released in October 2000, but was cancelled due to the high costs of music clearances, a factor they didn't consider when getting licensed music for the season. It was released on Region 4 DVD in Australia on September 4, 2013. Reception Ratings Overall, season two averaged around 14.50 million viewers. The season premiere, "Traffic Jam", garnered 15.52 million viewers. Soon thereafter, the next episode, "Halloween Approximately", attracted 6 million less viewers at 9.18, staying the lowest of the series until the twentieth episode of the next season, "Jury Duty", at 5.89 million. The season concluded on 13.77 million viewers with "Flashback", and "Surgery" was the most watched episode, obtaining 17.55 million.

Critical response The second season of Malcolm in the Middle received generally positive reviews from critics. David Bianculli, writing for New York Daily News, praised the premiere, highlight Kaczmarek's performance, Dewey's subplot, and how "genuinely goofy" the season proved itself it be right from the start. Mike Lipton of People commended the series for its "delightful anarchy", writing highly of "Traffic Ticket" and "Lois' Birthday", and asserting that "Malcolm [is] still on top" as his favorite series from Fox at the time.

TVLine's Blair Marnell selected "Krelboyne Girl" as the season's greatest and most representative episode, noting that Cynthia, who makes her first appearance in the episode, helped lay the groundwork for Malcolm's future relationships, also enjoying the cold open of Malcolm setting Reese up for a prank as "one of the best". Brenton Stewart of Comic Book Resources ranked season two as the second best season, writing that the season helped define each character and their personalities, such as Hal being just as childish as his sons, and the experimentation with episodes like "Bowling" and "The Bully", the latter exploring Reese and expanding on his role in the series.

The twentieth episode, "Bowling", has received critical acclaim since release. Emily St. James of The A.V. Club'''s listed it as one of the "best TV episodes of the decade" for its "wild stylistic innovations", and the strong acting of Cranston and Kaczmarek. Similarly, critic Richard Chachowski, for Thought Catalog, called it one of the series' best, praising its unique premise, and "perfec[t]" showcase of Hal and Lois' character traits and differences. /Film writer Mike Bedard called "Bowling" both the best episode of the series, and one of the most creative television episodes from the 2000s. He praised its cinematography and humor, and also listed "Traffic Jam" as the series' second best episode, feeling that it built off of how "Waterpark" explored the family's personalities, while "Traffic Jam" was about their "superegos", also praising its ability to tie together multiple different subplots. Additionally, "Bowling" is the highest rated episode of Malcolm in the Middle on IMDb.

Awards and nominations Muniz and Kaczmarek were nominated for Best Actor and Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy at the 59th Golden Globes, but both lost to Charlie Sheen for Spin City and Sarah Jessica Parker for Sex and the City, respectively. At the 13th Producers Guild of America Awards, the series was honored with a nomination for the Award for Best Episodic Comedy. However, it ultimately lost to Sex and the City''.

"Bowling" won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing and Writing for a Comedy Series for Todd Holland and Alex Reid, respectively, in 2001; the win for directing competed against another episode from the season, "Flashback". Leading on from this, Holland won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series in 2002.

Frankie Muniz was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, as was Kaczmarek for Outstanding Lead Actress. Also at the Primetime Emmys, Linwood Boomer, Bob Stevens, Gary Murphy, Neil Thompson, Alan J. Higgins, Michael Glouberman, Andrew Orenstein, Todd Holland, Alex Reid, James Simons, Ken Kwapis, and Jeff Melman were nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series. Loggia and Leachman received nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor and Actress in a Comedy Series.

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