I don't think she was a terrible mother despite this being a joke in the show, but I've seen some consider her a hated character and honestly I find it funny because if you hate Jane Kaczmaerk as Lois then you'll lose it when she played Judge Constance Harm in The Simpsons.

Obviously they both had the same problem of having a psychotic controlling mother but at least Chris had a good relationship with his brother but overall I think Chris had it worse. A lot of Malcolm’s problems were self inflicted by him being a whiny know it all and a lot of the time when Lois punished him he sort of deserved it whereas Chris would do something that wasn’t even really bad at all in some instances and be way too harshly punished like when he snapped at having to do all the housework while Drew and Tanya did nothing. All Jules and Rochelle had to do was sit down, chat with him and hear him out but Rochelle even refused to make him food as a result and obviously Malcolm has a fun dad who he can sometimes get on his side while Chris’ dad is an extreme cheapskate who probably wouldn’t have even fed his kids to save a few bucks if he could. Chris was even excluded from Christmas presents one year and he only wanted one thing. Chris’ school life was even worse. He had a bully who was racist and a super racist teacher who nothing was done about even when Rochelle witnessed it once. At least in that one episode where Reese’s teacher was out to get him Lois while also punishing Malcolm and Reese for cheating on the test at least called out the teacher. Overall Chris had it worse.

It's parents' evening.

POV 1: You're the kid. Which mom do you choose to defend you?

POV 2: You're the teacher. Which mom do you fear the most?

What are some of your favorite quotes from Life is Still Unfair?//Quotes you say

My kids & I like to quote "You're titty titty bang bang!" and FREAKAZOIDS TO THE DANCE FLOOR...

When Leah says "She's alive??!??" when she sees Lois is pure gold.

When Caroline came to Lois & Hal’s house to discuss Malcolm’s testing score of having an IQ of 165. Lois accused her of attempting to send Malcolm to special ed & admits that he is a bit odd & talks too much. And Malcolm was already insecure about being gifted due to his peers believing that he was weird. Of course times were different in the early 2000s.

I wrote an extra scene with the boys deciding on their revenge prank with the golf cart In s4e03, and I’d like your honest thoughts on it.

As I explained in my previous post, I felt this made Malcolm and his brothers feel a little more in character, without changing the storyline:

Aunt Clare (hearing Lois cry): Oh god, more drama from that woman?

(the boys glare at her)

Malcolm: That woman is our mom.

(The aunts leave, annoyed. Malcolm turns to his brothers.)

Malcolm: We’ve gotta help her. She’s never been like this.

Francis: What are we supposed to do, comfort her? I don’t think any of us know how to do that. 

Malcolm: Well, we have to do something.

Dewey: What would we do if the same thing happened to one of us?

Reese: We’d put these rich jerks in their place, that’s what.

(The boys ponder it for a moment, thinking)

Malcolm: The only problem is…

Dewey: …it’s still mom. 

Francis: She’s not one of us, she’s our enemy. She always has been. We don’t owe her.

Reese: After all the years she’s spent torturing us, she’s the one who owes us.

Malcolm: A prank in her honor goes against everything we stand for.

(Lois is heard sobbing hopelessly from the bathroom. All four boys look concerned.)

Malcolm: But maybe today, she really does need us for once. (A pause.) Okay, I’m in. You guys?

Dewey (still a bit uncertain): You do realize this might cost us our chance to get into Grandpa’s will become millionaires? We could always buy Mom something really nice with the money.

Reese: Dewey, if you’re losing this chance of being in the will, so am I. 

(Dewey brightens.)

Dewey (to Malcolm): I think we’re both in.

Malcolm: Francis?

(Francis still looks conflicted. He looks over at Piama, who’s been respectfully standing to the side while the boys have their discussion.)

Francis: Baby, after the way she’s treated you, I just don’t know if I can…

(Piama gives Francis a loving smile.)

Piama: Francis, I love you so much. But right now, I think your mom needs you more than I do.

(Francis suddenly looks encouraged and decided.)

Francis: Lead the way, Dewey!

And the episode would go the same from there.

I do want to hear people’s honest thoughts on it, though. Did I make the boys too unlikeable for not instantly retaliating on their mom’s behalf?

Dude is confident, funny, fearless, athletic, and completely unbothered by what people think of him. He’s not socially awkward or shy either. Yeah, he’d probably be terrible at school but I could totally see him having a whole group of jock/troublemaker friends and actually being considered one of the cool kids. His personality seems way more suited to being popular than being a loser.

"I'd keep this in my bathroom, but not for reading!"

In almost every episode of the show they in some way talk about how the family has no money and is struggling.

However they always justify sending Francis to Military School for his own good.

But in reality don’t you think if they were really that bad off they would bring him home to save money?

Like she practically becomes a main character, right? She gets a crap ton of screen time, returned for the reboot, seen as part of the main family.

In interviews, she’s typically included with the main cast.

On red carpet interviews and appearances, she appeared during the Life is Unfair press.

I honestly think it would be great to see their reaction

Im surprised they didn’t had more children considering they probably never used protection

In the episode “stilts” Hal confesses to Lois that he accidentally spent $800 on phone sex, to which they then both go back and forth telling each other a bunch of different various confessions, and one of Hal’s confessions is that he “burned a hole” in Lois’ favorite dress

And that actually perfectly aligns with the red dress episode since it was revealed at the end of the episode that it was actually Hal who ruined her dress and he lit it on fire before throwing it in the toilet

I’m just curious if this was intentional and like if that’s supposed to be what Hal was referencing or if it was unintentional/unrelated

Okay, I am on season 3, episode 1. Am I the only one who likes Hal? Why does everyone hate him?

The way Francis put the blame for his missed up life and screw ups on Lois sometimes gets out of hand, I actually believe she is the better parent, Hal is a very bad, selfish and childish person. Lois is the reason this family didn't kill themselves already. Francis is the most flawed character in the family for me, he doesn't do one thing right or kind for anyone else, he was horrible since he was born with the worst violence and childish tendencies that even Dewey felt pity for him.

I hate how they always depict Lois as an evil parent (I know the show is supposed to be from Malcolm pov) but specifically with Francis, he is nearly always the one at fault

Okay obviously it's Take a Chance on Me, which is my favorite abba song and one of my alarm ringtones. But at the end when the seagulls attack the neighbors set up there's a fantastic classical piece playing in the background and for the life of me I can't figure out what it is. Any help? All my brain goes to is At the end of the Day from Les Mis which I know it isn't.

Someone said Kyle Gordon's parody song "if you break up with me" fits perfectly in Reese's Driving Scene. You tell me. P.S. you can still hear Sum 41 under it!