A Man Called Hal

Why I love Hal.
Hal takes up race walking. Hal built the equivalent of a grown up fort in his garage. Hal has a rich fantasy life. Hal fills the house with the most elaborate Domino display ever. Hal stops going to work because he's rented a steamroller and is busy crushing things for fun. Hal sneaks the boys out to stock car races. Hal loves to roller disco. Hal builds a fighting robot with the nerd kids. Hal dreams of buying a Porsche. Hal leaves a couch on train tracks. Hal is a militant soccer coach. Hal gets carried away with poker bets. Hal gets drunk and tears down walls to put on an addition to the house. Hal is delusional and has beautiful visions of grandeur. Hal takes a baby and daddy class and bets on the babies, such as which baby can fill a diaper the most, baby shuffle board, baby drool-off. Hal has a Christmas tree selling scheme. Hal buys a hot tub. Hal starts a pirate radio station. Hal makes the boys build him a Tiki Hut in the garage. Hal gets caught up in the world of motivational speaking. Hal makes an elaborate pitching machine in the driveway out of toys and garage junk.

But my favorite HAL episode ever is when Dewey has to sell magazines for school, one of the prizes are "Pogo Shoes", Hal then has dreams of himself a neighborhood hero, bouncing around the hood in his pogo shoes, to the envy of all the other neighborhood dads.

This is why I love Hal, he's the dreamer of the family. He's rarely the center of the episode, but for me always the best part. He has a rich fantasy world in his head, he is the ultimate dreamer. Its not that he's a bad dad, in fact he often bonds with his boys over his own crazy schemes and dreams. Malcolm in the Middle is all about Hal. Bryan Cranston, pure genius.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUN_5fecL8Y