Starring: Bryan Cranston, Frankie Muniz, Erik Per Sullivan, Jane Kaczmarek, Justin Berfield
Genres: Comedy
Visible crew/equipment: When Malcolm is first visiting Stevie, and Stevie is telling the joke, you can see the hair and hand of a crew member coaching Stevie through the joke.
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Stevie is in Malcolm's room. When Stevie is talking you can see the boom mike poking out at the bottom left part of the screen.
Visible crew/equipment: When Malcolm is talking to his first teacher, you can just about see a small part of a microphone at the top of the screen.
Visible crew/equipment: There is a man's elbow on the right of the screen near the start when only Jamie and Hal are in the room. (00:02:49)
Opening theme song: Yes, no, maybe, I don't know, can you repeat the question? You're not the boss of me now, You're not the boss of me now, You're not the boss of me now, and you're not so big. You're not the boss of me now, You're not the boss of me now, You're not the boss of me now, and you're not so big. Life is unfair.
Trivia: Even though he plays Reese's younger brother, Frankie Muniz is actually about three months older than Justin Berfield.
Question: This question could be for many American TV shows not just this one, but are American schools so strict about cheating on one single test? Because here in Europe if you are caught cheating you will most of the time get an "F" for that test, plus "official warning", and you need like 3 or 4 warnings like that to be Kicked Out of school. But, I saw on many American TV shows situations when a character cheated once and he was like "they are gonna kick me from school" (one example, Family Matters when Steve helped Edward during the test and he was almost expelled).
Answer: They used to do this. Cheating was a violation of the honor code and you would get a mandatory suspension. American schools vary a ton from place to place. During the late 90s and early 2000s they were incredibly strict about a lot of things. The rules have changed because of a lot of scandals in the troubled teen industry. After the school shootings in the early 90s there was a huge moral panic about schools not being strict enough and millennials like the kids in this show paid for it.
Chosen answer: I work in a student conduct office. Students are not expelled after one academic misconduct incident (there are rare exceptions in higher academia). A first time offense usually results in a "0" grade on the test or assignment in addition to a sanction of a warning or probation. Repeated offenses can lead to being suspended for a period of time and even permanently dismissed. Students often cheat or commit plagiarism because they are struggling in school. The goal is to help students get the help and resources they need. Students who are caught committing a misconduct often tend to panic and believe the worst will happen to them. TV shows tend to exaggerate the circumstances for dramatic or comedic effect.
raywest ★