The process whose specific outcome is the progression of the medullary reticular formation over time, from its formation to the mature structure. The medullary reticular formation is a series of brain nuclei located in the medulla oblongata. [ GOC:cjm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhombencephalon http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/go/references/0000021 GOC:dgh GOC:curators GOC:cls https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556102/ GOC:jid GOC:dph ]