The Thick of It coincidentally ended up occurring only two days after Peter Capaldi was announced as the new star of "Doctor Who". (Even more coincidental, a cast commentary included as part of a photo gallery featurette for the episode "Rise of the Nutters" included in the DVD set, recorded several years earlier, has several cast members jokingly deciding to start a rumour that Capaldi is to be the next Doctor.) "The Thick of It: The Scripts", a book containing the scripts from the first two series and the 2007 specials, was published on 1 September 2007. A tie-in book, "The Thick Of It:
Pilot (Malcolm in the Middle) was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series in 2001. Pilot (Malcolm in the Middle) "Pilot" is the first episode of the first season of the television series "Malcolm in the Middle", which originally aired on the Fox Network on Sunday, January 9, 2000. It was the first episode written by Linwood Boomer and was directed by Todd Holland. In the episode, the six primary characters are introduced, Malcolm, Lois, Hal, Reese, Dewey, and Francis (who is at military school), and Malcolm's struggles and fears to be placed in the accelerated learning class