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This is a list of characters in the American television comedy series Malcolm in the Middle, which was originally televised from 2000-2006 on the Fox Network.

Main characters

Originally there were four brothers (although Malcolm's oldest brother attended a military school away from home, so Malcolm was still the middle sibling left at home). A fifth child was introduced in the show's fourth season but his conception was not mentioned until Season 5. The boys are, from eldest to youngest: Francis, Reese, Malcolm, Dewey, and Jamie. In the last episode Lois discovered she was pregnant with a sixth child. In the third season, Francis travels home (to celebrate his father's birthday) with an Alaskan girl named Piama, and reveals that they are married.

During the first season, the writers decided to keep the family's last name a mystery. However, a last name had already been revealed on the show. In the pilot episode, as Francis speaks to his mother on the phone, his name tag says 'Wilkerson.' There was also a joke in the original pilot script that was cut – Malcolm, walking to school, is confronted by a kid who says "Malcolm, Malcolm, Malcolm. I was talking to my parents last night – I was listening to them talk, and what's your last name?" "Wilkerson, why?" Malcolm replied. "Oh. Who are the Pariahs?" said the kid. In the fifth season episode "Reese Joins the Army (1)", Reese uses a fake ID by the name of "Jetson" to lie about his age. Also in one episode when Hal is on the phone he tells the person on the other line that he is Hal Green. Malcolm said that his name was Malcolm Green also when he was on the phone. In the series finale, "Graduation", Francis' employee ID reads "Nolastname" (or "No Last Name" a joke referring to the fact that the family name was never spoken aloud). In the same episode when Malcolm was introduced to give the graduation speech, the speaker announces Malcolm's name, but microphone feedback makes his surname inaudible.

Malcolm

Malcolm, played by Frankie Muniz, is the show's main character and the middle child of the family. In the episode "Stock Car Races", Hal reveals that Malcolm is named after a race car driver called Rusty Malcolm (he mutters that it took two children to win that argument). At the beginning of the series, Malcolm's teacher recognizes him as a gifted student and places him in an accelerated learning class. Much to his dismay, the move brands him as a "krelboyne", a reference to Seymour Krelboyne from The Little Shop of Horrors.

Many episodes revolve around Malcolm's attempts to reconcile his genius-level 165 IQ with his desire to lead what he would consider a normal social life. However, Malcolm remains a social outcast in school. In middle school, Malcolm uncomfortably socializes with his fellow Krelboynes, but when the group moves on to high school, they no longer have classes together and stop interacting. Malcolm and Reese, particularly toward the end of the series, have no discernible group of friends. At this point, the only people Malcolm interacts with socially on a regular basis are his family, his genius best friend Stevie Kenarban, and a handful of short-term girlfriends.

Malcolm has had five jobs in the series. His first was as a babysitter for a rich family to earn money to buy a robotics kit, but he quit after learning that family's parents were spying on him. Later, in the middle of the series, Lois forced Malcolm to take a job with her at the Lucky Aide to have him under her control. He hated the job and had tried to quit many times but Lois wouldn't let him. He finally quit at approximately the time he graduated. In the final episode he gets a job as a janitor at Harvard to help with his tuition. At some point, he was also granted a tutor job for a blonde girl he later dated. He also had a job betting on horses which he shared with Reese.

In the final episode it is revealed that Malcolm's parents do not plan for him to be happy in life. Because Malcolm consistently exceeds his parents' expectations, by the time he graduates high school, they have the highest of expectations for him: that he will become President of the United States. Pursuant to this, instead of letting Malcolm take a six-figure job out of high school, his parents force him to follow through on plans to attend Harvard as part of an elaborate plan for his future. Lois says that at Harvard, Malcolm will have to work harder than his classmates and will accomplish more than they do, but they will continue to look down on him. Consequently, Malcolm will realize that there is more to life than showing off how smart he is. After college, the plan provides for him to channel his energies into a political career, and after starting off as a district attorney or running a foundation, he will be elected governor of a mid-size state and then President. Lois and Hal envision that he would then become one of the greatest Presidents ever because he would represent the interests of people like his family, which, his parents say, no other President has. It appears that his brothers and grandmother are aware of these plans, as when Malcolm looks around at his family after being told this, they all nod at him, and Francis says, "Sorry, we thought you knew." Although Malcolm recognizes that his parents' plans are outlandish and improbable and complains that they are making decisions for him that are rightfully his to make, he signals that he has accepted their vision for him and will carry it in his valedictorian speech at his high-school graduation.

Lois

Lois, played by Jane Kaczmarek, is described as a hard-nosed, manipulative and slightly crazy mother and something of an embarrassment to her five kids and devoted husband, Hal.

Lois went into labour with Francis in the middle of her wedding to Hal.

Jane Kaczmarek described Lois as 'a great mother'.

Lois is intensely disliked by Hal's wealthy and snobby family, as seen in the fourth-season episode "Family Reunion". They consider her low-class, and refer to her as "Lois Common Denominator".

She, in turn, took a strong and immediate dislike to Francis' wife Piama. Both of them take every opportunity to back-bite each other, but by the end of the series they have developed a much more cordial relationship.

In addition to being a full-time mom, Lois works at 'Lucky Aide', a local drugstore (motto: "The L stands for Value"). Craig, one of her co-workers, clearly has a crush on her, which she does nothing to encourage. He often makes inept attempts to impress her.

Lois is believed to be of Polish descent. This is implied by her love of Polish baseball players and her mother Ida's culture. Lois and Hal continue to be sexually attracted to one another and seem eager to expand their brood. In the series finale it is hinted that she is pregnant once again, although it is implied that this is only a prank by Dewey. Her original plan was to have all girls.

In the episode "Tiki Lounge", she reveals that she doesn't believe in an afterlife.

She rarely sees her sister Susan (Roseanne's Laurie Metcalf), who only appears in the episode "Lois' Sister". Despite Susan's comfortable life, she is extremely resentful of Lois; their politeness to each other barely masks a simmering hostility that apparently once came to a boiling point over "the apple turnover incident". When Lois discovers that Susan is dying of kidney failure, she is shocked to find out that her sister would rather die than ask for a donation from her (Susan finally begrudgingly and ungratefully accepts a donated kidney). Although Lois seems hard, she is very vulnerable with Hal and cares very much for her sons, defending them from others. She believes in marriage, giving Francis and Piama advice when they are going through a rough patch.

Hal

Hal, played by Bryan Cranston, is married to Lois, and is father to Francis, Malcolm, Reese, Dewey and Jamie. He is more relaxed in his parenting than Lois, mainly because he is afraid to make the wrong choice. However, he does discipline his boys most of the time when Lois is disciplining them to back her up, and sometimes even when she isn't around. Several episodes refer to him as a former rebel and troublemaker, much like his sons. He ran a pirate radio station in college under the name of Kid Charlemagne. His indecisiveness supposedly stems from a childhood incident in which he accidentally caused a snake to strike a clown (as an adult he is afraid of both snakes and clowns). When Lois is away, he quickly loses self-control and indulges in his baser enjoyments, such as smoking, gambling, loud music, and building "killer robots" (as explored in one episode). In another episode, Hal is seen to love domino toppling. There are also hints that he has a foot fetish.

Although he doesn't show it much, he has a high temper, and usually flies into fits of rage over petty annoyances, frequently engaging in self-destructive vendettas against those who cross him. In the second-season episode Convention, when he and Lois go to a convention, he keeps getting into fist-fights with a man who stole a great idea from him long ago. Also when a clown at a batting cage insults Lois he imeadiatly strikes the clown and continues to get the whole family involved when other clowns join the fray. Another example of his high temper is in the fifth-season episode Reese's Apartment, when he gets furious and starts speaking angry gibberish after hearing the horrible, outlandish thing that Reese did (which is never revealed). He is also very squeamish, and gets freaked out very easily over cartoon characters like Rosie the Robot and "evil puppet" movies.

He is quite passionate about a range of activities, such as roller-skating, painting, pirate radio and race walking. He comes from a large and rich family, all members of which have various (repressed) problems. They rarely visit because of their intense friction with Lois. Hal's family believes that Hal deserved a high-class woman, instead of Lois, who has a lower-class background. His father (Christopher Lloyd) never listened to him, and so he always made jokes or tickled Hal before they both could speak about Lois. In the seventh-season episode Hal grieves his father's death.

Hal works as a low-level, cubicle-bound, white-collar worker in a large, scandal-ridden corporation. He was used as a scapegoat for much of the company's shady business practices, a charge that would have resulted in a lengthy prison term. However, with the help of Malcolm, Hal proved that he could not possibly be the guilty party because all of the incriminating evidence against him took place on Fridays, and Hal presented inarguable proof that he had been skipping work on Fridays for many years. He stated in the sixth-season episode Motivational Seminar that he works in Systems Management. In another episode Hal's company head stated that Hal was one of the best systems managers he'd ever had, however in the seventh-season episode College Recruiters Hal says he could be replaced at his job in an hour.

Reese

Reese, played by Justin Berfield, is the second oldest of the children, and also appears to be the least intelligent and most destructive, although at some times, he shows even more intelligence than Malcolm when devising fiendish plans. He also has scored high on tests, when he set his mind to it, and had nothing to do but study, as shown in the episode in which he is kicked out and is alone, in which he is referred to as the "most improved student ever seen" by his teacher. Reese is often too tied up in violence and laziness to try to learn, and appears to have immense problems focusing. He even had a mean streak in the womb; while Lois was in labor, he kicked her so hard that she delivered him prematurely. Immediately following his delivery he kicked the doctor in the nose. His obsession with violence horrifies the family and leaves him with few friends, partly as he is a bully at school. He bullies the "Krelboynes" in Malcolm's class, (except Stevie who is "off limits"), as well as his younger brothers, especially Dewey. Reese is often seen exercising, to increase his muscles.

During his teen years, Reese ran off to join the US military under a faked name and forged age (he was underage at the time) without telling his family where he had gone. He was successful in completing Basic Training and was praised as one of the most brilliant soldiers in his platoon after he learned to "turn his brain off" and surrender his will to his superiors. After being sent to Afghanistan in combat conditions, Reese struggles to stay alive and in the process winds up unwillingly marrying an Arab man. When his mother, Lois, catches wind of what Reese has done, she tracks him down in Afghanistan and personally brings him home without objection from the military since Reese was underage.

Despite Reese's outwardly unintelligent facade, he discovered a gift for cooking in his late teen years. He is gifted at gourmet cooking and enjoys it; the only effective way his parents can find to punish him is banning him from the kitchen. He finds success in a meat-packing job, but is fired after setting all the cows free (trying to impress a girl).

In his late teen years, Reese marries an attractive immigrant girl who requires the marriage to stay in the U.S. Reese truly cares for her, and she claims to care about him, despite her dominating personality and refusal to have sex. However, the marriage falls apart when Reese and Lois discover her sleeping with another man inside the couple's "garage apartment" (they live in his own parents' garage). Added to the fact that Reese miserably failed the immigration test to keep his wife in the country (he mistakenly wrote that she has a tail), the character is never heard from again and presumably deported.

Reese is depicted as a virgin with limited sexual experience. In the penultimate episode, "Morp", a girl named Jeanie offers to pay Reese to take her to the senior prom because she had been too focused on getting into college to cultivate a social life and find a date by normal means. Jeanie says that she initially selected Reese because he isn't "completely hideous" and she knew he wouldn't have a date. However, Reese turns out to be a gentleman and sweeps her off her feet by being charming and considerate. Although Jeanie did not initially plan to do anything with Reese after the prom itself, she invites him to go to the beach with her and tells him, "I really want you." However, before Reese can accept the invitation, his watch alarm goes off, indicating that he is "off the clock", and he leaves, revealing that he was only nice to "satisfy his customer" and thereby passing up a chance to finally have sex.

After graduating high school, Reese moves in with Craig Feldspar and finds success as a janitor in his former high school. In a telephone conversation with Malcolm in the season finale, Reese says that when the principal found the peepholes in the bathroom, the head janitor was fired, and his job was given to Reese.

Dewey

Dewey, played by Erik Per Sullivan, is portrayed as being quieter and more inclined to the arts than his brothers, at least until Jamie was born. It was noted in one episode that Dewey was exposed to radiation from a cracked microwave while in the womb. He hides his intellect from Malcolm and Reese, in many cases cleverly taking advantage of them. But for much of the series he is frequently beat up and picked on by Reese and Malcolm. In one episode he fools Reese into believing he is forwarding instructions from their mother when in fact he is making them up while talking to a telemarketer, Francis, a time and temperature lady, or even no one on the phone ("Hal's Friend"). Dewey longs for attention, especially in Future Malcolm, where he tries to convince his parents that the baby is talking to him from within the womb and forcing Dewey to do crazy things such as painting a wall green, driving the family car and breaking a stack of crockery (however, Dewey simply wanted attention and an excuse to cause havoc). As the series progressed, most episodes involving Dewey would have him viewed as a manipulator when dealing with his brothers or parents. Examples of this are the episode Stevie in the Hospital, when he made Lois think she was losing her mind by messing with her clothes and daily routine, and in Dewey's Opera, when he fueled a fight between Lois and Hal so he would have better material for the opera he was writing based on their fight. In the fourth season, Dewey begins to exhibit a high degree of intelligence, seen mainly in his talent of playing the piano. Dewey is about to follow his brother into the gifted class, only to have Malcolm help him stay in normal classes. Malcolm has Reese complete Dewey's test, which accidentally gets Dewey thrown into the "Special" class, which is full of kids considered lost causes. Students in this class are known as the "Buseys" (a reference to actor Gary Busey). Dewey has since organized the class to desire more normalized expectations, and is teaching them standard lessons. He has been trying to show that they are just as capable as others, and has organized them to do things such as performing an opera he wrote based on his family. Unlike Malcolm, his parents intend for Dewey to be rich and happy later in life. Lois even once told Malcolm that "Dewey is a flier, he'll just drift and float through life and things will turn out for him, but you and I, Malcolm, are burrowers, we are at our best when our heads are down and we're grinding through a mountain of drudgery."

Dewey spends much effort making sure his brother Jamie doesn't feel neglected as he did. Jamie once showed Dewey a pearl necklace, as a result Jamie and Dewey went on a treasure hunt looking for the "stash"(where Francis' hid Lois' jewelry) as part of a back story, in the end it turned out that Jamie was stealing jewelry from their neighbor's house.

Francis

Francis, played by Christopher Masterson, is the oldest of the brothers and the biggest troublemaker. Francis is a regular character on the show for the first five seasons, although he has lived outside the house from the series' beginning. His mother, Lois, was in labor with Francis in the middle of her wedding to Hal. Francis was a troublemaker from a young age; he broke curfew, drank, smoked and slept around. Lois exiled him to a military academy after he was caught in bed with his girlfriend, and crashed Lois' car (which proceeded to burn up), although the last straw was when he got his nose pierced. From afar, Francis provides fodder for many subplots. Francis is shown (in frequent flashbacks) dating girls of which his parents did not approve, although he claims to be in love. He has been shown to be obsessive and going out of his way to prove Lois wrong.

Francis blames his mother for most of his problems.

During the first two seasons, at the military academy, rebellious Francis finds a formidable adversary in Commandant Edwin Spangler, whose hook-for-a-hand proved a valuable comic device as Francis sows insurrection in the student ranks. After the second season, at only 17 years old, he legally emancipates himself with the help of forged signatures and an unscrupulous Alabama lawyer. He then leaves the academy and heads to Alaska to find work as a logger.

While in Alaska, he marries a local woman, Piama, whom he had dated for three weeks. Lois reacts hysterically and continues to be somewhat hostile toward Piama for some time. Piama, like Lois, is hot-tempered and does not shrink when Lois goes after her. By season 4 Francis and Piama have left Alaska and Francis finds work as a farmhand at a New Mexico dude ranch owned by a German couple. Here, Francis becomes more of a responsible adult: he even begins to discipline his younger brothers, who always regarded him as a rule-breaking role model. A little over two years after he begins working at the ranch, however, he is fired because the ATM he used to deposit the ranch's funds wasn't actually an ATM.

For the remainder of seasons six and seven, Francis makes only occasional appearances, yet he is still credited in each episode. Later, we find that he has regressed and reverted to his old ways, living in a cheap apartment without getting a job. Here, he briefly takes a job as the agent for his friend's band and attempts to start his own business. In one episode it was mentioned he had a "stash", the stash was where Francis hid all of Lois' jewelry to make her feel just as miserable as he was going to be at miltary school. Malcom, Reese, Dewey and Hal seem to be obsessed with it, to the point of being able to hear someone whisper something about it in the next room. It was only mentioned in one episode and they never found it.

In the final episode, Francis and his mother fight over the fact that he remains unemployed. Later, his father discovers that Francis has been working at a large corporation called Amerisys Industries for two months. He explains that he enjoys his job of sitting in a tiny cubicle entering data into computers all day immensely, but he kept the job a secret from his family because he equally enjoys frustrating his mother by telling her that he's unemployed. Francis' final scene shows him taunting his mother over the phone with his non-existent unemployment by yelling "I'm a FREE SPIRIT!" before he picks up his briefcase, makes plans to come home right after work for dinner with Piama, kisses her, and happily heads to the office.

Jamie

Jamie was played by identical twin brothers James and Lukas Rodriguez in his later episodes. In his earlier episodes, he was played by twin sisters Kara and Jessica Sanford. The character first appeared in season four of the show on May 18, 2003. Jamie is the youngest but on the finale in the Epilogue it is revealed that Lois was pregnant again. Like his older brothers, in the episode "Lois battles Jamie", Jamie proves to be more than a handful for Lois; refusing to eat his peas, getting himself banned from a nursery school and being able to slip away from his chair numerous times. He is also the first of the boys who attempted to kill Lois by pushing a huge shelf on her but Lois rolled away just in time. However, it was revealed that Reese has been giving him 4 cans of Kopow soda, which is why Jamie is acting so crazy. (Reese says half a can makes him nuts.)

Recurring characters

• Craig Feldspar, portrayed by David Anthony Higgins, is Lois's neurotic, though well-intentioned, co-worker at the Lucky Aide. It was made obvious on numerous occasions that Craig is in love with Lois, and he even told her so when he thought he was going to die. He appears frequently in the show, especially during later seasons, as his character becomes more entwined with Lois and her family. After entrusting his house and cat ("Jelly Bean") to Dewey's care while he is away, and the resulting fire that destroys it, he lives with Malcolm's family for a short time until the boys' scheme to cover their tracks ends up getting him out. The series ends with Reese moving out of the house and becoming Craig's roommate.

• Stanley, played by Karim Prince was a cadet at the academy, friend, and is Francis' informal body guard during the first season.

• Stevie Kenarban, played by Craig Lamar Traylor. As Malcolm's best friend, Stevie first meets him in the pilot; they are in the same accelerated class through middle school and most of high school. Stevie is a wheelchair user and has severe asthma, and only one lung, causing him to have difficulty speaking. Stevie has a sarcastic side and has also outsmarted Malcolm and Reese on numerous occasions.

• Lloyd and Dabney Hooper, played by Evan Matthew Cohen and Kyle Sullivan, are Malcolm and Stevie's Krelboyne classmates and best friends for the first four seasons of the show. As Krelboynes (gifted students), Lloyd and Dabney are often bullied by their classmates (including Reese), and they often suffer the consequences of schemes they help Malcolm with. Like Malcolm's other Krelboyne friends, Lloyd and Dabney appear less frequently during the show's fourth season, eventually leaving Stevie as Malcolm's only friend.

• Abraham "Abe" Kenarban, played by Gary Anthony Williams. Abe is the devoted father to Stevie and husband to Kitty. He is also Hal's best friend and enjoys playing poker with him and his other friends: Trey, Brian, Malik, and Steve.

• Richie, played by Todd Giebenhain, is Francis's best friend before military school, and Francis often visits Richie on his trips back home during the first three seasons. He is a delinquent who was eventually shipped off to military school with Francis. It is never explained why Richie disappears or why Francis never sees him again after the third season.

• Kitty Kenarban, played by Merrin Dungey. Stevie's mother and Abe's wife. Kitty is generally soft-spoken and doesn't normally punish her son due to his disability. Kitty disappears from the series after the third season premiere and it is revealed that she becomes a porn star and deserts her family. She returns in season six, however, hoping to reform herself. (In the pilot episode Dungey plays a different character: Malcolm's teacher, before he transfers to the Krelboyne class.)

• Caroline Miller, played by Catherine Lloyd Burns, Malcolm's teacher, appears in most of the first-season and two of the second-season episodes. She was very passionate about her job and had Malcolm's best interests at heart. She disappeared from the series after giving birth in the school parking lot.

• Commandant Edwin Spangler, played by Daniel von Bargen. The strict and hard-nosed military veteran in charge of the cadets at Marlin Academy. He suffers from dozens of injuries and is missing an eye; ironically none of these are combat-related, as he has never served in wartime. For the first two seasons and beginning of season three, Francis was Spangler's most rebellious student and clashed with him on many occasions. Halfway through the third season, Francis' desertion to go to Alaska Spangler reveals that he was about to quit his job from boredom, but Francis gave him a purpose in life in trying to discipline him. He affectionately presents a ceremonial sword in recognition to Francis, who then accidently cuts off his one remaining hand. After Spangler's life goes downhill as Francis stood out as his only failure. Spangler is fired from the academy, tracks Francis to Alaska, and attempts to kill him at first. Taking pity on Commandant Spangler Francis attempts to get him a job but he fails his interview by showing up drunk. Eric and Francis realize that 'the only thing that ever made him remotely happy was tormenting and bullying helpless students.' They quickly find him a job at the Snow Haven Retirement Home where he has the freedom to bully the elderly. After this he is never seen again.

• Cadet Eric Hanson, played by Eric Nenninger. Francis' fellow cadet at the academy and friend for the first three seasons. Eric was Francis's reluctant sidekick and normally suffered the consequences of the antics caused by Francis. On several occasions, Eric has mentioned that he has two fathers. At the start of season three, Eric turns eighteen, drops out of the academy, and goes to work in an Alaskan lodge. Francis emancipates himself and follows soon after, but both of them learn that their job isn't as great as they hoped. Francis eventually gets a job at a ranch, but Eric is left behind to hitchhike on the highway. His fate is unknown.

• Cynthia, played by Tania Raymonde, is a new Krelboyne girl who joins Malcolm's class in the episode "Krelboyne Girl." Cynthia is one of Malcolm's first crushes throughout the series but quickly takes on the role of a caring and compassionate friend. In season three her prolonged absence is explained by stating that she has returned from Europe. After sharing a brief romance with Reese (in which he is only trying to take advantage of her) she returns in the season four episode "Humilithon," she saves Malcolm from making a horrible mistake by implying that they have shared an intense romance; destroying her own reputation in the process. After this episode she is never seen again and there is no explanation as to what became of her.

• Lavernia, played by Brenda Wehle, is Francis's cruel, heartless boss at the Alaskan lodge. Lavernia rules over her workers with an iron fist, charging her employees instead of paying them. Eventually she closes down the lodge and fires her workers when a mining company buys out the land.

• Lionel Herkabe, played by Chris Eigeman, Malcolm's teacher, is divorced and in debt though he used to be a dot-com millionaire. He was a Krelboyne like Malcolm and manipulates Malcolm for his own purposes.

• Victor and Ida, played by Robert Loggia and Cloris Leachman respectively, are Lois's dysfunctional parents, introduced in the episode "The Grandparents." Ida is depicted as greedy, chain-smoking, manipulative, racist, and quick to take offense. The only good deed she has ever done is saving Dewey from being run over by a truck; this resulted in her suffering the loss of one of her legs. Victor's background is obscure, except for mention that he left home at a young age and that he was in "the war." Ida often refers to a hard life growing up in "The Old Country" and going through "a camp." While they speak with Slavic accents and appear to be from somewhere in Eastern Europe, their exact nationality is never specified, and may be intended to be fictional. However, an episode which centers on a fictitious "St. Grotus Day" feast, appears to take place in a Croatian community center, with a Croatian flag and a poster of Zagreb Cathedral on the wall. Victor, who had died by the time Ida made her second appearance on the season 3 episode "Christmas," had been keeping second family a secret from Lois and her sister Susan (Laurie Metcalf): He had run off and married a good-natured Canadian woman, played by Betty White. In the episode "Victor's Other Family," it was further revealed that Victor wasn't Lois's biological father.

• Piama Tananahaakna, played by Emy Coligado, is Francis' wife; she appears for the first time in "Hal's Birthday". She was 19 at her marriage to Francis, and had been married before. Her mother moved away long ago and her father kicked her out when she was 14. After Lois is mistreated by Hal's family at Hal's birthday party, Lois treats Piama better, seeing that the actions against her by her husband's family reflects how she is acting towards Piama. She later comes to work for the Mannkussers (who own the dude ranch where Francis works). She mostly serves as a voice of reason between Francis and his family. Although it has never been directly stated (Francis says she's "fiery" in "Hal's Birthday"), the series hints that both her attitude towards Francis and others and her mannerisms are very much like Lois'.

• Otto Mannkusser, played by Kenneth Mars. Francis's German boss and sidekick for the fourth and fifth seasons. He meets Francis while he had a 1974 broken car at the highway coming down from Alaska. Otto is in charge of The Grotto, a dude ranch (named after the two in the episode "Zoo,", Otto says "She is Gretchen, I am Otto - Grotto"). Otto is married to Gretchen and has an estranged son. Otto is gullible and a bit of a pushover; he hires too many employees and gives them extra vacation days. However, after Francis works on the ranch for a little over two years, Otto fires him when the ATM that Francis was depositing his funds into wasn't really an ATM. His last name might be derived from the ill-formed German expression "Mannküsser", literally meaning "man kisser." In the German version of the show, the Mannkussers are Danes.

• Gretchen Mannkusser, played by Meagen Fay, is the wife of Otto and the co-runner of the Grotto. She is a kind and caring woman. As Otto explained to Francis, their marriage was by deceit: Gretchen was actually the girlfriend of Otto's best friend, but Otto loved her as well. When they were planning to elope, Gretchen's intended arranged for her to meet him at a rendezvous point, but he lied about the actual location and said he would meet her at the train station in Berlin. When his friend didn't show up, Otto came and comforted her and they married. They had a son named Rutger.

• Jessica, played by Hayden Panettiere is a teenage girl who first made an appearance as a babysitter that Hal hired so that he could take on a second job while Lois was away tending to her pregnancy. Proving to be more of a threat than initially thought, she turned out to be as scheming, conniving and manipulative as any of the boys. In later episodes she was a frequent visitor as a neighbor who would come over to escape a negligent father. Working again for her own benefit she proceeded to create uncomfortable situations including convincing the family to see Mamma Mia! and convincing both Malcolm and Reese that the other was homosexual. In season seven she replaced Stevie as Malcolm's best friend and, though manipulative, did her best to look after Malcolm during that time. In one of the final episodes she convinces Malcolm to end a detrimental relationship claiming that she has feelings for him. After he returns to her once he ends his previous engagement, she confesses that she had once again lied. When Malcolm is upset that he has once again fallen for one of her tricks she kisses him, responding next with 'Nope, nothing.' With Stevie's return Jessica is no longer seen; even during graduation. Much like Cynthia, her character has frequent breaks in between episodes, but unlike Cynthia, Jessica is given much more of a back story and her absences are fewer in the later season, making her more of a central guest character. In one episode it is revealed that she dates a very large and muscular Asian named Mike.

• Polly, played by Julie Hagerty is Jamie's slightly insane babysitter. She usually gets people involved in her own problems, such as the time when Malcolm had to keep secret about Polly stealing back her ashes. She also dated Abe and Craig at the same time but in the end admitting they are more of a distraction to her career. She refers many times to family issues such as court cases. Polly disappears by the end of season 5.

References

1. "Malcolm in the Middle" at IMDB
2. Malcolm In The Middle, Fox, "Graduation", May 14, 2006, Production #722, Episode #151
3. hard-nosed, crazy, embarrassing
4. great mother
5. "Trivia for "Malcolm in the Middle" at [[IMDB]]". {{cite web}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
6. Lucky Aide, Craig, Polish, Sex
7. IMDb
8. Malcolm in the Middle Episode Guide - Malcolm in the Middle Season Episodes - TV.com
9. Malcolm in the Middle: Victor's Other Family - TV.com

External links

• Official FOX Malcolm in the Middle website

• Lists of television characters