I watched the season 3 premiere live which means I was probably on board sooner than most but definitely not from the beginning.
I'm proud to say that I watched every episode on its first showing including the world premier of the pilot episode. I have to admit that it gives me an irrational sense of pride or ownership of the series. Thus, it probably skews my view of it. As it is, it is my all time favorite show.
I didn't really watch Malcolm in the Middle but I thought it was funny.
Surely this has been said before in here but someone should have put together an alternate ending where Walt's cancer goes away and he enters witness protection, becoming Hal of MITM