Maybe he got booted from the series?

It's not just Francis. Malcolm's friend Stevie has also gone missing this season.

Now that you mention it, are those kids even going to school? They had Dewey's "special" class, but I think that's about it so far. I'm fine with it because it's working. I doubt any of them have left the show for good. They've had stretches before with no Francis, Stevie or Craig. I just thought of another one! Where's the baby?

They have shown the baby, in fact this episode at the beginning. Just that the baby now looks like a toddler.

Well, he never was a "regular" per se. He was sporadically in episodes throughout the years. Francis was always in an episode.

Well according to Tv Tome, Francis will be coming home this next episode. So looks like he's still on the show.

Since the next episode deals with his mother, Kitty, returning, its safe to say he's still part of the show.

Fox has yet another football game starting at 4:15pm this Sunday in the Detroit area. So, it's pretty safe to say that we'll NOT be seeing yet another episode of "Malcolm In The Middle" this week.
Fox must just be too stupid to see how they're screwing over an entire region of Malcolm fans (And King Of The Hill) this season. Or they just don't give a crap.
I've written them and called them four times. I've never heard back. Oh well, I tried. Now if this was the Simpsons or Arrested Development I'd really be on the warpath.

Well since it is not a reality show, they don't care.

Busey's Run Away (First aired Nov 14)

Standee (First aired Nov 21)

NOTE: The majority of these episodes were pre-empted on the east coast due to football games that ran overtime. FOX joined the episodes with only a few minutes remaining.

It's too bad that this show does not get more attention because the series is definitely hitting its stride. It's been consistantly funny ever since it debuted, and this episode was no different.

The Asthma spray and the 69 parts were truly laugh out loud moments. I think this may be my favorite season by far. The show isn't dragged down with the lame Francis sub-plots.

Good God! The leaf pile scene had me in tears!! That shot was so perfectly set up!

The leaf pile was a great scene. There were a lot of great scenes.

I loved Dewey's opera. Great stuff.

I watched that scene 3 times. Brilliant, and absolutely hilarious.

I am loving the scenes with Dewey and his classmates. Those goofy kids crack me up, especially the one with the oven mits. The part with the teacher reading the "Lesson Plans for Trouble Students" was also good.

"Animals you'd see on a farm: Cow. Horse. Pig. Sheep. ...."

"Sounds of farm animals, respectively: Moo. Neh. Oink. Bah... "

I love the kid with the oven mits, his signs rock.

And I loved the animals, when he was describing the noises, "silent, cluck"

I've actually started watching the show again now that I have an HDTV (I've done that with quite a few shows that I had previously dropped that are in HD). It's still pretty funny. What did they do with Francis though?

He's only been in a few episodes this season (of the ones that Fox has actually played uninterrupted, anyway ). If I remember correctly, one of the last times he was on he mentioned that he was fired from Otto's ranch. I can't remember exactly why he was fired, but I remember thinking at the time that he got fired for something rather trivial compared to some of the other things he did on the ranch.

I think that he was fired for something to do with the deposits. He was depositing at them in something that wasn't a bank, or something like that. Can't quite remember.

the jist of one of the funniest lines

Sign kid: when it says jaime wets his pants, do I wet my pants?
Dewy: not now,(pause) maybe show night,(pause) if the second act drags

People on this forum complain that there's nothing good on television, yet the threads for this show are always minimal. It's too bad they're missing out. Jamie's subplot was hilarious, as was the Dewey's Opera.

I'm not one of the cynical posters ...but I did realize something while watching this particular episode. I realized, despite the great writing, I just don't tune into this show on a regular basis. I don't know why. This I don't know that I have even tuned into more than 2 maybe 3 episodes due to fox's insistance on programming the 6 pm cst sunday hour during football season. How many years will it take for the mensa's at fox programming to realize nfl games do not finish before 6 and many times go into the 6:30 slot.
But I digress. I wonder if there was a lull somewhere which kept me from actively seeking this show? In any case, I can see it being a great dvd buy if I don't catch them in rerun first.

Weren't the Malcolm DVDs canceled after poor Season 1 sales?

No. They are on hold due to music license issues.

Great show, and a particularly great season. I hope it stays around a while longer.