17. Hal gasps when he sees an exorbitant phone bill and unsuccessfully tries to hide it from Lois by claiming he choked on a piece of cereal. What cereal, known for its round shape and flavors like Honey Nut and Cinnamon, was Hal eating?
From Quiz 1.7 "Malcolm in the Middle" - "Francis Escapes"
Answer:
Cheerios
Lois asks Malcolm, as she does every morning, what he is learning in his "genius class" (at the beginning of the season, Malcolm was placed in a classroom for gifted children). An annoyed Malcolm responds that it is the same as other classes, but that now he feels ostracized. As Hal is looking at the phone bills, he gasps in shock as he notices a big charge on the bill. He tries to play it off by saying he got a "sharp Cheerio" stuck in his throat, but Lois doesn't believe him and looks at the phone bill. She finds out that there is a $210 charge for a single call, as well as many other long phone calls. Their oldest son Francis, who is at a military academy, is the one making the calls to his girlfriend Beebee.
Cheerios is a brand of cereal that was first released in 1941 as CheeriOats. Cheerios have a round shape with a hole in the middle, similar to other breakfast cereals like Froot Loops and Lucky Charms. The cereal has developed multiple flavors over the years, including Honey Nut, Apple Cinnamon, and Very Berry. In 2019, Cheerios temporarily changed the shape of their cereal to a heart, in an effort to promote the health benefits of whole grains. Since then, the brand has also used hearts as part of their brand image.