Last May, CBS announced a bold move, to take their hit The Big Bang Theory off of the Monday night schedule and shift it to Thursdays, to take on NBC’s traditional night of comedy. In its place, the programmers put another show co-created by Chuck Lorre, the creator of Two and a Half Men. On paper, it sounds like a brilliant move. Now that the Mike & Molly’s premiered, how do things look?
Mike & Molly follows Officer Mike Biggs (Billy Gardell) and Molly Flynn (Melissa McCarthy), a fourth grade teacher. They meet at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting and soon fall for one another. Others in the cast are Reno Wilson, Nyambi Nyambi, Katy Mixon, and Swoosie Kurtz.
The new sitcom debuted to a 3.9 rating in the prized 18-49 demographic and 12.2 million total viewers. That was enough to tie with NBC’s The Event for second place in the demo and have the second most number of viewers.
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Historically, the CBS sitcoms who get the post-Two and a Half Men timeslot have done very well. CBS has high expectations however and has ended up cancelling several sitcoms that performed okay on this night. While the sitcom has good initial numbers, it’s not a positive sign that Mike & Molly lost 20% of the lead-in’s demo audience. Last year, Big Bang Theory was building on the lead-in and frequently outperformed Men in the demo.
There was a loss of about 7% of the audience midway through the Mike & Molly first episode so its seems likely those people won’t be back next week. It remains to be seen how many people will. This is a show whose fate will likely be decided over the next several weeks. Right now, things could go either way. Some critics and viewers have wondered how long it will be before the show runs out of material.
What do you think? Is Mike & Molly worth watching? Did you find the fat jokes offensive? Would you cancel or keep it?
Image courtesy CBS.
Keep it! This show is really entertaining. My husband and I absolutely loved King of Queens and while Mike and Molly isn’t quite as funny as that, it is nice to see “normal” people on a sitcom. The romance is realistic and heartwarming. It’s a nice change and I look forward to watching it for as long as CBS will air it.
I love it. I’m fat and I don’t find it offensive at all. first show I really want to watch in a long time
Please keep this show CBS, IT’S AWESOME!! Love the characters and the parts they play. My husband & I are in our early 20’s and it’s a show we looked forward to seeing every Monday night. We’ve missed this past two Mondays, what happened? Where’s “our” Mike & Molly?!?! We want to see it!!! PLEASE KEEP THIS SHOW!!!! Super hilarious!!
Please keep this show on. I am overweight and think it is hysterical. This is the first show I have got my husband to watch with me in YEARS.
I started watching the show because I was curious to see a show with people who actually looked like me and my friends….lol…. I keep watching it because it’s GOOD! I love the interaction and relationships between the characters! The two cop buddies and especially the mother daughters. I have a ‘few extra pounds’ and my sister is EXACTLY like the one on the show!!! I love their interactions! I hate to be obvious, but it’s nice to see someone like me treated as a normal person on television….it’s strangely validating. But all that aside….The show is just GREAT bottom… Read more »
I liked the show …. then your episode on 10/18/01 ruined it ……. thanks a lot
CBS is the comedy network and this crisp, creative, often hilarious, new addition should be kept. I love “Mike and Molly.” They’re not “fat.” They’re “phat.”
Agree this show has to stay. This along with Rules of Engagement and Big Bang Theory make CBS the best for Sitcoms. Who cares if the jokes are fat, skinny, loser, ego- Whatever, the whole point of sitcoms is to not take them serious and let us just let loose for 30 minutes and laugh. Thats what this show does. The fat jokes here are no worse than the Female jokes/comments by David Spade in Rules of engagement. It’s all in fun and to make us laugh. Keep up the good work CBS
Love the show!!!! I only have so much time to watch TV and I make time for this show. It is more close to real life then any other show! KEEP IT ON PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
those two cops are the same hide and seek players from a Vegas show at the Montecito back in 2007. Also what’s up with the homophobic blag at the end of the show…
I love and adore Mike and Molly and so does my mother. I am 21 and I think my mother would rather I not say what her age is. We are both overweight and don’t find the fat jokes offensive at all. We both use comedy to deal with our weight. The fat jokes are not uncalled for or offensive mainly because Mike and Molly are the ones making them. I hope that CBS will give this show a real shot, especially since they put me through Accidentally on Purpose last season. I love CBS. I think they have always… Read more »
We laugh so hard we have tears in our eyes! Love IT!
EXCELLENT..GOOD SHOW
love love love it..great writing, excellent delivery..the comic support with his partner, the diner owner, swoozie kurtz and the sister are brillant..KEEP THIS SHOW!!!
Love Mike and Molly. It’s laugh right out loud comedy. I’m 55 and love it……..and my 25 year old son loves it. Great lines! Pleeeeeeeeease, cbs, keep it on!