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‘Malcolm’ ends 7-year run

Sunday, May 14, 2006 - 12:06:29 am CDT

As “Malcolm in the Middle’s” Jane Kaczmarek remembers it, the phone wouldn’t stop ringing.

Not that she or her husband, “The West Wing’s” Bradley Whitford, were complaining.

It was eight years ago and networks were considering pilots of both of their TV shows.

One day NBC called to say it had picked up “The West Wing.” The following day Fox called to say “Malcolm” had made the cut.

And on day three … it was the doctor with news of Kaczmarek’s pregnancy.

“So we just thought, ‘Wow, I wonder if our lives are going to change?’” Kaczmarek said in a conference call to promote “Malcolm’s” series finale tonight on Fox.

“I thought doing the pilot would pay for the new bathroom in the house,” she said. “Never, never in a million years did I think this would turn into what it did.”

What “Malcolm” turned into goes without saying.

Though the sitcom never enjoyed ratings success like “Friends” or “Seinfeld,” it helped pioneer the single-camera, no-laugh-track technique that is becoming more and more popular in the industry.

“My Name is Earl,” “The Office,” “The Bernie Mac Show,” “Scrubs” and more owe their success to “Malcolm,” the over-the-top comedy about a middle-class couple and their five extremely mischievous boys.

It’s a technique I prefer. Four-camera comedies with laugh tracks are too formulaic, too predictable. I hate being coerced into laughing.

The single-camera technique is fresh and spontaneous. You never knew what was coming next or how it was going to be presented. More than once, I found myself laughing out loud at “Malcolm.”

“There had been a few tries (with single camera), and it was a real problem for a lot of people reading the script and when we were developing it,” “Malcolm” creator and executive producer Linwood Boomer said during the conference call. “It’s just like anything that people aren’t familiar with. There was a little bit of timidity about it.”

Boomer said “Malcolm’s” humor eventually won over the powers that be.

“When the kid tips over his own wheelchair, which, if you were in front of a studio audience, I wouldn’t know where you would put the laugh track anyway,” he said. “That was how I was always able to argue about it.”

In tonight’s finale, titled “Graduation,” Malcolm (Frankie Muniz) is elected valedictorian of his graduating class and struggles with his speech, but Lois (Kaczmarek) refuses to hear his complaints and reveal her plans for him to become president.

There also are storylines involving Malcolm’s brothers Reese (Justin Berfield) and Francis (Chris Masterson) and father, Hal (Bryan Cranston).

Kaczmarek, who has earned six straight Emmy nominations for her performance as the “strong-willed” Lois, said the final shoot was “emotional.” She admitted she’s has had a difficult time saying goodbye to her character.

“I think she reminded so many people of their mothers,” she said. “You know, Lois kind of hearkens back to a time when mothers said ‘no,’ which I find sorely lacking in mothers today. They don’t have to say ‘no’ as loudly as Lois sometimes said ‘no,’ but there was nothing about Lois that I ever found that out of the ordinary. I think maybe that’s why I was so fond of her and why she came so easily to me.”

Muniz, who grew up in his “Malcolm” role, also was a tad reflective during the conference call.

“It just got better and better and better,” he said. “And the fact we did go for seven years was just insane. Every actor in every show dreams of having that, and we were really lucky to have a great time doing it.”

Fans of the show had a great time watching them, too.

Around the dial

* The news keeps getting worse for “Commander in Chief.” ABC has pulled the drama for the rest of the month and will air the final three episodes in June.

That doesn’t bode well for the Geena Davis vehicle to return next fall. May is a sweeps month, when the networks put up their best stuff to lure advertisers.

* Speaking of next season, keep an eye on Ground Zero’s Web site, www.journalstar.com/gz, this week for network fall season announcements.

The “upfronts” — when networks announce their new and returning shows for advertisers — begin Monday. NBC is up first, followed by ABC and MyNetwork (Tuesday), CBS (Wednesday) and Fox and The CW (Thursday).

* I haven’t quite figured out America’s fascination with superheroes, but it’s obvious they have appeal. I expect this summer’s new X-Men and Superman movies to go through the box office roof.

On the TV front, Marvel Comics guru Stan Lee knows there is a buck to be made. He’s created a reality” show, “Who Wants to be a Superhero?,” for Sci-Fi. It is set to premiere July 26.

Eleven potential superheroes will compete, with the winner being the star of a new comic book created by Lee. Hmmm.

* “Lost’s” executive producers told TVGuide.com that Michelle Rodriguez’s character, Ana Lucia, was never long for their fictional world and that her recent drunk-driving arrest had nothing to do with her early exit.

“A lot of this is going to sound like spin, so all we can give is our word that this is exactly what happened,” Damon Lindelof told the online entertainment magazine.

Rodriguez told the producers she was “sort of a nomadic spirit” and didn’t want to commit to a long run, Lindelof said.

I had heard (and read) rumblings that Ana Lucia was on her way out. But, like most viewers, I didn’t expect Michael to be the one who sent her packing.

Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.