I gotta do another one?!

“Malcolm in the Middle” no longer just refers to its title character’s place in his family--it also reflects the sitcom’s positioning in the crucial fall sweeps period.

In an unusual strategy, Fox executives will pepper November with originals of its hit Sunday comedy, running two new episodes each week in hopes of gaining an anchor on Wednesday nights, while keeping Sundays strong.

The quirky comedy about a young genius and his eccentric family came out of nowhere last season to become not only a hit, but Fox’s only clear-cut success out of that season’s new shows.

“Malcolm” also scored major Emmy nominations and awards in its first season--a rarity for new sitcoms. Creator Linwood Boomer won for outstanding writing for a comedy series for the “Malcolm” pilot, and Todd Holland won outstanding directing for a comedy series for the same episode.

The series proved so popular that “Malcolm” clones were developed by the other networks. One such series, “Tucker,” which premiered this season on NBC, has already been given the ax.

Now as “Malcolm in the Middle” launches its second season on Sunday, the series will be put to the test with the weekly double-play strategy making some associated with the comedy a bit nervous.

Fox will now air “Malcolm” in the show’s regular time period at 8:30 p.m. following “The Simpsons,” and drop a second original episode into the vulnerable Wednesday time

slot of 8 p.m., where it will do battle with CBS’ “Bette,” NBC’s “Titans,” the WB’s “Dawson’s Creek” and ABC’s still dominant “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” The hope is that “Malcolm” will be strong enough to draw viewers that might stay with the network to watch its two new shows--”Normal, Ohio,” starring John Goodman, and the Wall Street soap opera “The $treet,” which both premiered last week.

It’s the middle of the afternoon, and Boomer is guiding the cast through a rehearsal of a scene set in the garage of the “Malcolm” family. Everyone in the cast is attentive--everyone, that is, except for the younger cast members--Malcolm (Frankie Muniz), Reese (Justin Gerfield) and, in particular, Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan)--who are still a bit playfully hyper after their lunch break.

Jane Kaczmarek, who plays the fiercely no-nonsense mother, Lois, shoots the boys a warning glance that measures several decibels below the mom-on-the-edge expressions she uses on the series. “Um, are you listening?” she says pointedly to Sullivan, sweetening the barb with a smile that instantly quiets the boys down. The rehearsal continues without further interruption. Despite the exchange, the mood on the set is relaxed even though the “Malcolm” company might be expected to be a little tense given the stakes. The show is still, by most measures, in its infancy.

Said Gail Berman, Fox’s president of entertainment, of the maneuver: “We knew last year that this would be our strategy. I do think it’s a challenge to convey to the audience that we have these original ‘Malcolm’ episodes twice a week. If it’s successful, it will keep Sunday very strong, while introducing new programming on Wednesdays. We didn’t want to start that night with a new show--we wanted the audience to come to something that was familiar.”

Fox ordered four extra episodes of the series for a total of 28 original this year, so the network could schedule the additional airdates in November without shortening the season.

Without “Malcolm,” Fox executives felt the new shows, whose premieres were delayed due to Fox’s broadcast of the World Series, would have a tougher time establishing themselves.

“Our new Wednesday night is opening just when the November sweeps [one of four ratings periods when networks put on their most popular programming to determine advertising rates] is starting,” Berman said. “It’s a difficult position to be in. We’re just hoping that viewers’ familiarity with ‘Malcolm’ brings them to Wednesdays.”

Berman said she is not concerned that she may be jeopardizing Fox’s new comedy jewel by overexposing it: “Since this is limited to just four episodes, we don’t see it as that great a risk. And the shows we’re showing are just excellent.”

Indeed, the comedy, which defies TV sitcom tradition in functioning as a single-camera series without a laugh track--is retaining its cartoonish but heartfelt flavor the second time around. Sunday’s episode picks up from last season’s cliffhanger, which had Dewey chasing a red balloon and winding up in a strange part of town. It remains one of the few shows where an episode that begins with a shopping expedition at a drugstore and ends with a brawl involving clowns at a batting cage can make perfect comedic sense.

Still, Peter Aronson, president of Regency Television, which produces the series, is cautious of the Fox strategy: “I’m wary of the move, just given how young the show is. People are still finding it. We’ll be watching this very closely. We here are extremely protective of this show--it’s such a huge asset for our company.”

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Meanwhile, Boomer is looking a bit frazzled as he oversees the production. Those around the set say that is not an indication of the added pressure. It’s just Boomer’s style of dealing with the orderly chaos that goes into producing “Malcolm.”

Said Boomer: “We’re really too busy here to be tense about this. This is such a visually ambitious show. We have all this stuff happening. We are still finding the show editorially. We want to take this to a higher level of energy. We haven’t exhausted the dynamics of the family. There are plenty of new things to discover.”

He added that the show is painstakingly written and crafted, with about 600 edits within each half hour. “Each one of those edits is argued over. The same with all our music cues. All of the writers here are just hoping we’ll survive the season.”

Boomer said he is grateful that despite the added workload and schedule change, Fox is not looking over his shoulder too much.

“We’re pretty much able to do what we want,” he said. “The success of the show has given us more creative freedom.”

The “Malcolm” parents--Hal (Bryan Cranston) and Lois (Kaczmarek)--are still adjusting to the show’s popularity and their good fortune in starring in a hit.

“I believe what audiences are really responding to is the show’s sense of heart,” Cranston said. “Plus you have this middle-aged couple who still have the hots for each other. They’ll always be together.”

Kaczmarek, who earned an Emmy nomination this year as outstanding actress in a comedy for her role, said she disagreed with critics’ perceptions that the show was the perfect comedic portrait of a dysfunctional family.

“This family is so highly functional,” she said. “They eat dinner together every night. No one gets away with anything. There’s no passive-aggressive behavior, no silent treatments. All this is very healthy to display. People just use the dysfunctional label to describe ‘odd.’ Sure, there’s a sense of craziness. But there’s also a sense of truth.”

They both gave particular praise to the show’s writers.

Cranston said: “This is the quintessential writer-driven show. I’ve never seen this kind of discipline with a program. We never get the scripts before they are very finely honed, word for word, line by line. They know the rhythm of this show so well.”

Still, Kaczmarek admits she is a bit surprised to find herself and the series in this position, “We came into this with such innocence and no expectations, and now all this has happened. It’s astonishing.”

* “Malcolm in the Middle” can be seen Sunday nights at 8:30 and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. The network has rated it TV-PG-L (may be unsuitable for young children with special advisories for coarse language).