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For Sale Apr 22, 2026 at 4:13 PM

Would "Malcom in the middle" be still this popular and beloved, if Bryan Cranston did not become such an iconic actor through "Breaking Bad"

Posted by Sythrin



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Harkoncito 3 days ago +78
You're under 25, right? Malcolm was popular during its run.
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Royal_Body9732 3 days ago +4
nah i'm 28 and malcom was huge when i was kid. everyone at school was quoting it and doing the weird dance moves from opening credits. breaking bad definitely made people go back and rewatch but the show was already legendary before that
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matt1267 3 days ago +1
Yea I remember being in elementary school when it first started airing and we were definitely talking about it. He'll I remember talking to the lunch lady about the show, haha
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Sythrin 3 days ago -12
I am exactly 25 and not american. While it ran in my country and it was a funny series. And rewatching now I see the quality of the series. It has some great wirting. Funny plots and surprsingly smart written characters (even if Malcom became my least favourite). But in terms of popularity, I thought "The office", "Big bang theory" "two and half man" "scrubs" are more popular. And they all ran during similar time?
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TheSecondEikonOfFire 3 days ago +20
Who ever said Malcolm in the Middle was more popular than those series? I don’t think anyone’s arguing that. But a show doesn’t go for 151 episodes unless it’s doing well
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Sythrin 3 days ago +2
fair
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Bone_Breaker0 3 days ago +9
There can be multiple popular shows on at the same time on different networks.
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Joey-WilcoXXX 3 days ago +4
No th- that doesn’t sound right….
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Ripper1337 3 days ago +1
I think they mean the same time period rather than at the same time s***.
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Joey-WilcoXXX 3 days ago +1
It’s a joke.
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Ripper1337 3 days ago +1
My bad
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Harkoncito 3 days ago +1
Malcolm had multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Nominations/Wins for their actors, and the main theme even won a Grammy.
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Ripper1337 3 days ago +29
Yes
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smurf_diggler 3 days ago +4
For the longest time I wouldn't watch BB because I couldn't picture Cranston  playing a bad guy. And I live in ABQ too. Obviously I was wrong.
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twstdbydsn 3 days ago +21
Hell yeah. He was beloved when the show originally aired. BB was a shocking change of pace for him.
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ChristianAlexxxander 3 days ago +5
Yeah I would wager a lot of people gave breaking bad a shot because of Bryan Cranston, that’s why I tuned in.
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twstdbydsn 3 days ago +1
Exactly, I really wanted to see his dramatic chops after MitM.
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glaive1976 3 days ago +25
If anything, you might ask if Breaking Bad benefited from Cranston's fame from Malcolm in the Middle.
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Kevinmld 3 days ago +2
It 100 pct did. Hal in a serious role???
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glaive1976 3 days ago +4
Oh, I know this, I'm old and lived it all. I was flipping it on OP.
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DeadpooI 3 days ago +16
Malcolm the middle was huge before breaking bad and Cranston won 2 or 3 Emmy's from the show.
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ForsakenTurnip4895 3 days ago +4
He was nominated three times but he didn't win any Emmys for Malcolm in the Middle.
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DeadpooI 3 days ago +1
My bad, I misremembered i guess. Been a long ass time since I thought of the show.
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Sythrin 3 days ago
oh cool. Did not know.
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Bamford38 3 days ago +9
Yes
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yesrushgenesis2112 3 days ago +9
Lmao if anything the question should be inverted, but it would still be a resounding yes.
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egnards 3 days ago +5
Malcolm in the Middle was extremely popular - so much so that Bryan Cranston was almost not considered for Breaking Bad because of how strongly he was associated with that sitcom dad role, and the belief that he couldn’t possibly be believed in the role. I’ve never really watched Malcom in the Middle, outside of a few random episodes while scrolling through channels, but it was a pretty strong phenomenon - I wouldn’t say as big as FRIENDS when airing, but it was big.
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Open_Seeker 3 days ago +4
People loved Hal long before BB. He was a highlight of the show.
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Any_Astronomer_2840 3 days ago +3
I remember people being very skeptical of breaking bad because it had the guy from Malcolm in the Middle playing a serious dude.  Malcolm in the middle was an award winning show, honestly I can’t agree with the way you’re phrasing your question because I consider Malcolm in the middle to be criminally underrated today and deserves to be mentioned alongside the office, parks and rec, etc. 
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Senators_1992 3 days ago +3
>Would "Malcom in the middle" be still this popular and beloved, if Bryan Cranston did not become such an iconic actor through "Breaking Bad" Did you watch WandaVision, and how they paid homage to classic sitcoms throughout the years? Did you notice one of those sitcoms was “Malcolm In The Middle”? Breaking Bad has nothing to do with this…
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bbb26782 3 days ago +2
I convinced everyone to watch Breaking Bad back in the day by telling them that the dad from Malcolm in the Middle was a secret meth cook.
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anewname4444 3 days ago +3
I guess technically no it wouldnt be AS big because there are younger people getting into MitM through Breaking Bad I guess.... but that number is probably negligible. Malcolm in the Middle was must watch for me and my siblings.
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seanisdown 3 days ago +1
His success definitely helps.
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PreferenceAnxious449 3 days ago +1
This is backwards. Would Breaking Bad have as much of the Bryan Cranston hype if it wasn't a breakout from the role he was well known for in the popular Malcolm In The Middle? (The answer is No)
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Frequent_Rhubarb_36 2 days ago +1
Bryan Cranston was already iconic after performing his role as Snizzard.
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mike10dude 3 days ago
beloved seems to be true but malcom in the middle never really seemed all that popular to me after it ended was plenty of shows from that time that seemed to be all over tv in syndicated reruns for a long time but never really noticed that with malcom also was apparently wasnt really doing that great with viewership near the end which is why fox moved it to Fridays for the last season
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Fuzzy62 3 days ago -8
But then he came out as a woke retard, so now 'normies' won't watch anything he was in. 🤷‍♂️
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