Malcolm In The Middle Costars Clash Discussing TV’s Most Hated Character

By TeeJay Small
| Published 17 seconds ago

Now that Hulu has revived Malcolm In The Middle for a four-part reunion special, the stars of the legacy sitcom have been making their rounds on all the major press outlets. While their promotion for the show has been mostly hugs and nostalgia, there have been a few moments where the actors have humorously butted heads just like their on-screen characters. One notable instance of bickering occurred during a recent episode of Hot Ones Versus on YouTube, featuring Bryan Cranston and Frankie Muniz.

While asking each other burning questions and eating increasingly hot chicken wings, the Malcolm In The Middle costars got onto the subject of Cranston’s other most popular television show, Breaking Bad. Muniz remarked “I loved Breaking Bad. Obviously everyone in the whole world loved it. I wanted to kill Skyler, to make your life easier! … All she did was complain.”

The critique left Bryan Cranston’s jaw agape, prompting him to come to the defense of his former TV wife. The Walter White actor replied “Let me understand this. Her husband leaves without any explanation. She’s pregnant, he’s making crystal methamphetamine and people have died. And she’s the bitch?” Cranston also took a moment to praise Anna Gunn for her performance as Skyler White, calling her “a superb actor” and highlighting that the show “got a lot of blowback” from fans who didn’t enjoy the character.

How Did You Expect Her To Act?

Ultimately, Frankie Muniz reconciled that perspective, and the duo moved on. Still, his read of the show represents a large portion of the Breaking Bad audience. Fans have been hating Skyler since the first season of the show, mostly because her role within the story centers on dragging Walter kicking and screaming back into suburban malaise. Skylar is a necessary source of frustration within the narrative, but if she existed in real life, she’d be lauded as a hero and a blameless victim of her monstrous husband.

Within the narrative of Breaking Bad, however, it’s easy to see why Skyler is so hated. We’re not watching the show in hopes that Walter drops the criminal enterprise and returns to his drab lifestyle of quiet sulking. It simply wouldn’t be good TV. Fans want to see the narrative progress in increasingly explosive ways, even if it means putting a bomb in a nursing home, or poisoning a small child. People hate Skyler because if she got her way, the narrative would come to a screeching, unsatisfying halt.

When Frankie Muniz says killing Skyler off would have made Walter’s life easier, he’s not alone. But, there’s a reason why Skyler White is one of the most misunderstood characters on TV, and it’s not just because she’s a woman. She behaves rationally in an un-rational situation, which makes her annoying to us, the viewers, since we want things to go even more off-the-rails.

If you’re looking forward to seeing more bickering between Frankie Muniz and Bryan Cranston, be sure to check out Malcolm In The Middle: Life’s Still Unfair on Hulu. If you’re more interested in seeing a fairly normal middle-aged woman’s entire life fall apart, Breaking Bad is streaming on Netflix.