10 TV Shows That Chose The Wrong Main Character
6. Malcolm In The Middle - Malcolm
Who It Was
While a lot of people have very fond memories of Malcolm in the Middle, a lot of them probably don't involve the main character.
Like a lot of comedy shows, Malcolm in the Middle suffered from having a main character who came across as a bit bland. Malcolm was his show's perpetual straight-man, always reacting to situations with either an incredulous stare or a sarcastic comment. The problem is, this made him pretty hard to like compared to the more interesting members of the cast. This problem only got worse as the actor got older and his character turned from a precocious child into a whiny teenager.
Time spent with Malcolm always seemed like it was time spent away from someone you'd rather be watching, like the secretly genius Dewey or Francis and his increasingly surreal adventures at military school.
Who It Should Have Been
Then there was Malcolm's dad Hal, played by a pre-fame Bryan Cranston. Hal's adventures always seemed to hit a mix of the bizarre (like the speed-walking episode) and the relatable, he was still a henpecked husband dealing with an unruly family and a mid-life crisis.
All of these characters felt like they could carry a show on their own and that their adventures were always far more entertaining than whatever angst Malcolm was dealing with.