I love Malcolm In The Middle. I have a very distinct memory of being 12-going-on-13 when the pilot for the beloved sitcom first aired on Fox in January 2000, and since watching all seven seasons when they originally aired, I’ve rewatched every episode multiple times. I’m fascinated by the strange depth of the characters, and the writing is layered to the point where you can catch fresh jokes on your third or fourth viewing.
There has been only one downside to this passion: when you’re paying close attention, you start taking notice of certain details that can eventually evolve into unanswered questions. One of the best things about my role here at CinemaBlend, however, is that I frequently get the opportunity to inquire about those kinds of details as part of my job – and that’s exactly what I recently got to do when speaking with Malcolm In The Middle creator Linwood Boomer and producer Tracy Katsky Boomer in advance of the upcoming revival series Malcolm In The Middle: Life’s Still Unfair.
Is Malcolm’s First Teacher In The Pilot Kitty Kenarban Or A Totally Different Character?
Speaking with the filmmakers over Zoom, I was very upfront about my geeky love for the original sitcom, and my first question cited the very first episode of the show – specifically the role played by actress Merrin Dungey. In the pilot, she is featured as Malcolm’s teacher prior to him being accepted into the school’s gifted program, and while Malcolm never goes back to her classroom, it’s notable that Dungey’s time on the show didn’t end there: she returns in the sixth episode of Season 1 playing Kitty Kenarban, the mother of Craig Lamar Traylor’ Stevie Kenarban a.k.a. Malcolm’s best friend.
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In the five episodes in which Kitty appears, her profession is never mentioned, which has long led me to wonder if she was possibly an elementary school teacher. It’s a theory that seemingly holds water… but the Boomers clarified that is not the case. Rather than making up canon, they explained that Dungey’s casting as Kitty was an exercise of abandoning continuity in favor of working with a talented performer:
- Linwood Boomer: No, and that was one of those things I remember that we always had… we had a few things where we would jettison something that had been established or canon, you know, if it meant that we could have… Merrin [Dungey] did so good in that pilot.
- Tracy Katsky Boomer: She came in and she was so good that then I think… it’s like, well now we know this girl and there’s gotta be a way, but the first teacher that he didn’t have anymore… there just wasn’t a big enough part.
Kitty Kenarban doesn’t ultimately have a massive role on the show, but she does certainly have a fascinating arc: when she is first introduced, she is a helicopter parent who will do anything to avoid conflict, but when the health-challenged Stevie eventually starts becoming more independent, she abandons her family in pursuit of living the wild life.
Rewatching/looking at the actors who appeared on Malcolm In The Middle, one can note that Merrin Dungey isn’t the only person who played two roles over the course of the show. Linwood Boomer specifically namedropped James Henriksen during the interview (who actually had four separate parts on the show), but others include Scott Adsit, Jennette McCurdy, Terry Rhoads, and Patrick Bristow.
Malcolm In The Middle most definitely wasn’t the only show of its era to operate that way, and as explained by Linwood Boomer, the casting approach was logic based:
These are people who know how to do a joke and they’re gonna get it in two takes or probably one, and they’re really funny and they’re gonna make this joke really hilarious. And so let’s get them!
That was one question answered, but I still had another.
How Did Commandant Spangler Lose So Many Body Parts Without Ever Seeing Combat?
With the mystery surrounding Kitty Kenarban cleared up, I then turned the spotlight to another notable Malcolm In The Middle supporting character: Commandant Edwin Spangler.
Played by Daniel von Bargen, Spangler is a key antagonist in Season 1, featured as the charge of the cadets at Marlin Academy – the military school attended by Francis (Christopher Kennedy Masterson). His visage is particularly notable because he is missing an eye, a hand and a leg… but what makes him an interesting mystery is that he at one point admits to having never seen combat during his time in the United States Air Force.
So how did Spangler lose all of his parts? Linwood Boomer and Tracy Katsky Boomer were both tickled when I asked them, and the former recalled it as a joke for which he has great affection:
That was my favorite thing. I don’t remember what the setup was – I’m trying to remember. After you see all that stuff, and he says, ‘I unfortunately never saw combat,’ Or ‘wasn’t fortunate enough to see combat.
Without absolute certainty, they then discussed potential causes – recalling talk about an incident involving a lawnmower that resulted in his lost hand, and the possibility that his lost eye was because of an errant move with his hook.
In response, I threw a fan theory into the mix: in the episode “Malcolm Babysits,” Francis and some of the fellow cadets discover the mummified corpse of an old Marlin Academy janitor, and one of the dead man’s possessions is a Spangler voodoo doll that just so happens to have pins in its leg, hand and eye. Could it be that the much-hated general was the target of dark magic? The Boomers laughed heartily and loved that as an answer:
- Tracy Katsky Boomer: Yes! Can we just say that that’s what it is?
- Linwood Boomer: I remember that was in there because we just wanted to establish that he’s been despised for years and years and years, including by staff and how much they hated him.
- Tracy Katsky Boomer: But your version’s really funny!
- Linwood Boomer: Honestly, there’s so many things that the fans have put together that are so much smarter and sophisticated and more detailed and layered than… you know, we’re just a bunch of dumb comedy writers.
They may think of themselves as a “bunch of dumb comedy writers,” but they made a truly excellent show in Malcolm In The Middle… and now, after 20 years, we’re finally getting more.
While Hulu subscribers can currently watch all seven seasons of the original run, the four-episode limited series Malcolm In The Middle: Life’s Still Unfair is set to premiere tomorrow, April 10. And I will tell you this: if you’re a fan, you’re going to be totally blissed out and are guaranteed to join me in hoping that it ultimately inspires a full new show.
