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.
The show is funny and fun and I love it! Jerry Seinfeld has many times shared how Seinfeld completely foundered and was low low low in numbers the first 4 years and would have been cancelled had it been made now; that shows these days don’t get the chance to find it’s footing.
I hope Mike and Molly will be a great success!!
FINALLY! A decent, funny, actually hilarious comedy to watch instead of the reality crap and you dare to think about taking it off because people don’t like fat jokes. What’s the difference in this show or The Big Loser where over weight people are running around in shorts and a sports bra, letting it all hang out! We are all human, accept people as they are and the world will be a much better place!
love , love , this show!!!!! not only is it funny, it’s showing the world that overweight people ( and I do mean PEOPLE) are human – they deserve to be loved, treated with respect, and they can and do live productive live’s. Close minded people are the only one’s who should look in the mirror and see that they are not so “PERFECT”, don’t judge because in the end only one person can do that and it isn’t you!!! I’ll watch this GREAT comedy every week and tell my friend’s and family about it.
This show is such a great way to define Comedy. From the mother to the sister to Molly to mike and his partner. the show has me going week in and week out. It puts on a new twist and furthermore hits what the King of Queens did with their comedy. Using obese actors and throwing in a weightloss program was phenominal. What else could have made this show better? im not sure but i love it. <3. Keep up the good work!
I love the show and think its very funny. It’s nice to see a good humor show that is not filleed with smut.
I love this show and think CBS should keep Mike and Molly. It is hilarious. I have never laughed so hard for an entire show. I love Melissa McCarthy from Gilmore girls, where she was funny and she really brings out the character of Molly. So what that they are overweight. The show is funny, entertaining and a success. CBS has another hit on their hands and should definatley keep it. Love watching it each week.
Awesome show haven’t laughed this hard in years!!!!
I love the show. It is a bright spot in my day. It is heart warming, tender and when you look at both Mike and Molly and you watch their eyes, they make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Large people a re the same as everyone else, their weight does not make them any less loving and sensitive than anyone else.
love it love it love it…love the whole cast!!!!!!!!!!
I like the lead characters very much and enjoy the story. What makes me unsure about keeping it is the mother and sister. I know you don’t know me, but I am not a prude. The comments from the mother and sister especially are offensive. It seems forced and like they are trying too hard to be cutting edge or something. I get it that they are suppose to be different than Molly and that is fine, but come on, who talks that way. Is all they do sit on the sofa and make references to sex in unattractive ways.… Read more »
I can only say thank God DWTS has so many long commercials, because I have been able to enjoy almost every hilarious minute of Mike & Molly. I adore the entire cast and hope like heck that because it is against DWTS that it will not faulter by the way. It is one of the funniest new sitcoms out there and I’ve already told all my friends to start watching it. They need to show all the shows so far over a Sat. or Sunday so more people could be exposed to the excellent writing and catch up with the… Read more »
MIKE AND MOLLY is the first sweet, honest love story that I’ve seen in a long, long time. Mike and Molly are “real” people exhibiting the same vulnerabilities and self doubts that most of us experience. I love the show. Thank you for putting it on the air and please keep it on the air.
I happen to love this show, and yes I am overweight. The fat jokes do not offend me, because they are more geared to laughing with than at. What does offend me, are all the people out there that believe that over weight people are second class citizens, that they are not capable of being sexy, loving or should experience all the wonders that people of a normal weight should, and for this they should be ashamed, especially if you have children who you are expressing this harmful sterotype to.My grandaughter is 6 years old and is very aware of… Read more »
I love Mike and Molly and do hope that you keep it. I don’t think the “fat jokes” are offenssive, it’s just a little humor. It shows that we all have something that we can laugh about ourselves. The stories about their relationship is sooo good, but you can do without the vulgarity……it’s not necessary. It actually takes away from the excellent story line. I almost turned it off because of the crudeness of the dialouge. If you cut that out, I believe you’ll have a smashing hit on your hands. You can get your point across with leaving the… Read more »
I love the show- it is a shame that people are against this show- most people in the USA are over weight- I see nothing offencive about it !! I will watch it as long as it is on !!
I think the people that are against it should take a look at their selves- every one doesn’t have a great body !! If you don’t like all you have to do is not watch it !! Great show !!