No one knows their last name or the town in which they live. But the family in the hit Fox show “Malcolm in the Middle” is as American as shaving your back hair in the kitchen.”Malcolm in the Middle” is the story of a middle-class family comprised of two parents and their sons. The ultimate goal of the parents is to “hold on until the last one turns eighteen.” The life of this family is any thing but normal, but they somehow find a way to balance love and dysfunction in each episode.The show is centered around 13-year-old Malcolm (Frankie Muniz), the genius, and how his “normal” childhood is altered when he scores a 165 on his IQ test. With those test scores, he is forced into a class with all of the other “gifted” students. The cast also includes parents Hal (Bryan Cranston), and Lois (Jane Kaczmarek), whose nontraditional parenting styles would make the skin of any child psychiatrist crawl. Francis (Christopher Kennedy Masterson) is the oldest of the boys, whose unruliness got him a permanent residency at military school. Reese (Justin Berifield) the conniving second oldest, who thinks his fists are the answer to any question. Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan) is the youngest brother who doubles as a guinea pig in his brothers’ twisted experiments and daily chaotic schemes.”Malcolm in the Middle” is the brain child of executive producer Linwood Boomer. He incorporates some of his own childhood occurrences into the story line. According to a press release, Boomer had a hard time making his idea for a show comedic. A gifted boy without the support of his friends and family members would depress anyone. Consequently, Boomer decided that the gifted boy needed a friend, someone he could talk to and share ideas with. According to Boomer, that someone would be the audience.”The device of Malcolm talking to the camera gave him a friend, his only real and constant friend,” Boomer said. The format of this show is unique in that it uses a single camera to capture Malcolm’s world instead of multi-camera techniques used by other shows.Todd Holland, co-executive producer and director for “Malcolm in the Middle,” describes the single-camera format as having the ability to be liberating and confining. He also bragged on the talents of Frankie Muniz.”I’ve seen adult actors turn to talk to the camera and come across stiff, like newscasters,” Holland said. “The way Frankie does it is instinctive; it’s exactly right. You really feel he’s talking to you.”The show airs on the Fox network Sundays 8:30-9:00 p.m.