'The Simpsons' to 'House': FOX's 25 best and most important shows of the last 25 years

The received wisdom when "Malcolm" debuted in January 2000 was that single-camera comedies didn't work, particularly not ones centered on a kid who talks directly to the camera and whose family is so deeply weird. You only have to look at the landscape of TV comedy now to know how wrong that thinking was. "Malcolm in the Middle" was a huge part of changing it.