Malcolm in the Middle/Trivia

• Dawson Casting:
  • Averted, there is some variation on the exact ages between child actors and their characters but generally its teenagers playing teenagers. What's interesting is that Frankie Muniz (Malcolm) is actually a year older than Justin Berfield (Reese). Not that obvious early in the series (it's likely why he was cast as Reese), but Berfield remained taller than Muniz throughout the series run.
  • Played straight in one of the last episodes, where Malcolm organizes an alternative prom with a high school character played by a 26 year old actress.
  • Emy Coligado was in her 30s when she started playing 19 year old Piama.
• Hey, It's That Guy!:
  • One episode guest-starred Kurtwood Smith as the Dean of Students. I almost expected him to call Malcolm a dumbass.
  • If Dewey was a girl he would be Sam and Malcolm would be an All That cast member (ironic because in the sketch where Frankie picks the cast, he chooses Lisa first).
  • Who knew Claire Bennet could be such an annoying houseguest?
  • Anyone else "Shocked" that Staff Sgt. Abby Tucker didn't turn into a puddle of water.
  • The Mayor, AKA Harry Groener, taught Lois to dance.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The music to the show costs far too much to re-license, so DVDs haven't come out after the first season. It is available for streaming through Netflix and Amazon Prime, though, so presumably that legally counts as "broadcasting" under the original license.
• Unintentional Period Piece: The show itself does fairly well to steer away from pop culture references and the like which usually dates these sort of shows, but the actual show soundtrack (consisting of bands like Sum 41 and similar era bands) grounds it into the early 2000s.