Mike & Molly Information

Mike & Molly is an American sitcom created by Mark Roberts, which premiered on CBS on September 20, 2010. The series stars Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy as the titular Mike and Molly, a couple who fall in love after they first meet in a Chicago Overeaters Anonymous group.

Plot

See List of Mike & Molly episodes for more information

Cast

See List of Mike & Molly characters for more information

• Billy Gardell as Officer Michael "Mike" Biggs, a Chicago Police officer attempting to lose weight. He is humorous and good-hearted, though he doesn't appear to be a deep thinker. He often caves into his mother's demands, much to Molly's dismay, but his relationship with Molly has made him much more independent.
• Melissa McCarthy as Molly Flynn-Biggs, a fourth-grade teacher at Walter Payton Elementary School, also attempting to lose weight. She is sweet, happy, intelligent and caring. She is the rational member of her family, but is known to have a quick temper and has built up a lot of debt from lavish shopping and traveling.
• Reno Wilson as Officer Carlton "Carl" McMillan, a Chicago Police officer and Mike's partner and best friend. He tends towards self-pity and lived with his grandmother for a long time until she made him move into his own apartment. He struggles in relationships with women and is depicted as lonely. He also is a big fan of soul and gospel music and openly dislikes bluegrass. He begins a steady relationship with Christina, a single mother with a young son, in season 2. This relationship proved to be short lived when Christina broke up with Carl in order to try and work out things out with James, her famous football player ex-husband and the father of her son, in season 3.
• Katy Mixon as Victoria Flynn, Molly's dimwitted, kindhearted, party girl sister who is often high on marijuana. She is employed as a beautician at a funeral home. She likes to have fun and sleeps around, frequently with married men.
• Swoosie Kurtz as Joyce Flynn-Moranto, Molly's mother. She is a widow who began dating Vincent Moranto in Season 1. She attempts to stay in her youth and is very modern, while she also drinks heavily and has a hair-trigger temper. As of the Season 3 episode "Thanksgiving Is Cancelled", she is married to Vincent.
• Nyambi Nyambi as Samuel, a sarcastic waiter at the restaurant where Mike and Carl eat. He is also a close friend to Mike, Carl, and eventually Molly. He is from Africa and often refers to the suffering in his home country of Senegal. As such, he does not sympathize with the "petty" problems of his restaurant patrons. In Season 3, he and Carl become roommates.
• Louis Mustillo as Vincent "Vince" Moranto (Episode 14-present, recurring previously), Joyce's on and off boyfriend (later her fiancee, and now husband) and Molly and Victoria's step-father. He is a widower and tends to be very flirty, chauvinistic and sarcastic. He is also a high school dropout and is not very intelligent, but cares deeply for Joyce. He has occasionally shown a father's care towards Molly and Victoria. (Despite his meeting Molly after being set up on a blind date with her, and his constant comments regarding Victoria's great "rack".) He once married a much older and very unpleasant woman from whom he fled after borrowing $2,000. He didn't officially end the marriage until the truth came out, leading Joyce to toss him out of her house until Mike convinced his "wife" to sign the divorce papers in exchange for $5000 and a sharp kick in the nuts.
• Cleo King as Rosetta McMillan (Episode 5-present, guest previously), Carl's grandmother. She is very traditional and has professed deep love for her grandson, but is outwardly annoyed by Carl's behavior and made him move out in Season 3, saying she still loves him and looks forward to him visiting but wants him to finally become a responsible adult on his own. She has a big heart and treats Mike, who calls her "Nana", like a second grandson. She often gives Mike and Carl advice (mostly regarding relationships with women). She once recalled that when Carl was young he could quote the entire speech of Martin Luther King, Jr as well as every episode of The Dukes of Hazzard.
• Rondi Reed as Margaret "Peggy" Biggs (Episode 15-present, recurring previously), Mike's mother. She is very controlling and traditional, as well as grumpy and cranky. She often refers to her husband, Jack, leaving her and running away to Florida with a prostitute. Peggy is also very fussy over her dog "Jim" (a Brussels Griffon mix), who she treats more like a son than a pet. In season 2 Peggy begins working as a lunch lady at the elementary school where Molly teaches. In Season 3, she has started dating a CPD Captain who is Mike's supervisor.
• David Anthony Higgins as Harry (Season 3-present, recurring previously), a friend of Mike and Molly's, who attends the same Overeater's Anonymous meetings. He is a nice, very socially awkward man who tends to say whatever he is thinking even though many of his thoughts make him seem pathetic. He has been shown to have an almost obsessive crush on Victoria.

Production

In December 2009, CBS placed a pilot order for Mike & Molly. Mark Roberts wrote the pilot, which was directed by James Burrows, with both Roberts and Burrows serving as executive producers alongside Chuck Lorre, Don Foster and the production companies Warner Bros. Television and Chuck Lorre Productions.

Casting announcements began in February 2010, with Katy Mixon and Reno Wilson being the first actors cast in the series. Mixon portrays the role of Victoria, Molly's sister, while Wilson portrays Carl, Mike's partner. Billy Gardell was the next actor cast in the series, as the titular Mike. Swoosie Kurtz then joined the series as Molly's mother, Joyce. Following Kurtz, Nyambi Nyambi boarded the series as Samuel, a regular waiter at Abe's Hot Beef, where Mike and Carl frequent. Melissa McCarthy completed the cast when she signed on to play the role of the titular Molly.

On May 13, 2010, CBS placed a series order on Mike and Molly. On May 15, 2011, Mike and Molly was renewed for a second season. On March 14, 2012, CBS renewed Mike & Molly for a third season, which premiered on September 24, 2012. The off-network rights to Mike & Molly have been sold to FX, which will begin airing the series in 2014.

The light bar on the top of Mike's police car are blue, red, and white. Official Chicago Police vehicles have a blue and white strobe bar. Red is reserved for the Chicago Fire Department.

Reception

Critical reception

The show has received mixed reviews from critics. It achieved a favorable score of 63 out of 100 on the review aggregator site Metacritic. Critic Randee Dawn gave the show a negative review, stating the cast is likable, but the jokes are old and bland.

Ratings

Season	Time slot (ET)	Episodes	Premiered		Ended		TV season	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
			Date	Viewers (in millions)	Date	Viewers (in millions)
1	Monday 9:30 pm Monday 9:00 pm (April 11, 2011)	24	September 20, 2010	12.23	May 16, 2011	8.64	2010"11	35th	11.14
2	Monday 9:30 pm	23	September 26, 2011	13.86	May 14, 2012	11.79	2011"12	31st	11.51
3		22	September 24, 2012	9.45	TBA	TBA	2012"13	TBA	TBA

Controversy

On October 25, 2010, a blog commentary about the series was posted by Maura Kelly on the Marie Claire website. In the article, titled "Should 'Fatties' Get a Room? (Even on TV?)", the writer took issue with the new sitcom because it focuses on an overweight couple, stating that she would be "grossed out if I had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other." Kelly's remarks sparked much discussion and debate. The blog had over 3,800 comments posted, and Marie Claire received over 28,000 emails regarding the blog.

Show creator Mark Roberts spoke out regarding Kelly's blog post, calling the comments "very high school." He also stated, "This wasn't about the show, this wasn't about the writing, this wasn't about the acting. This was about someone's hateful response to how these two human beings look." Billy Gardell also addressed the matter when he appeared on the daily talk show The Talk on November 1, 2010.

Marie Claire has stood behind the blog. Kelly has since apologized regarding her comments, stating that she "sorely regret[s] that it upset people so much."

In the Season 3 episode "Molly's New Shoes," the character of Peggy reacts to her fiancee's plans to retire and move to Arizona with the line: "Arizona? Why should I go to Arizona? It's nothing but a furnace full of drunk Indians." This prompted calls for an apology by the Native American Journalists Association, among others.

Awards and nominations

Year	Presenter	Award	Result
2011	People's Choice Award	Favorite New TV Comedy
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Melissa McCarthy
2012	Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Melissa McCarthy

International broadcasts

Country	Network	Start date
Canada	CTV	September 20, 2010
United Kingdom	Comedy Central UK	October 4, 2010
Ireland	TV3	October 4, 2010
Peru	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010
Bolivia	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010
Argentina	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010
Chile	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010
Costa Rica	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010
Guatemala	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010
Turkey	ComedyMax, CNBC-e	2011
Mexico	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010
Uruguay	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010
Brazil	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010
Colombia	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010
Venezuela	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010
Ecuador	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010
Australia	Nine Network	February 9, 2011
Poland	Comedy Central Poland	February 23, 2011
Belgium	VT4	March 7, 2011
New Zealand	TV2	April 29, 2011
Israel	Comedy Central Israel	April 26, 2011
South Africa	M-Net	April 8, 2011
Italy	Steel	May 29, 2011
Norway	TV3	June 9, 2011
Sweden	Kanal 5	June 20, 2011
Hungary	Viasat3	September 2, 2011
Croatia	Doma TV	September 5, 2011
India	Zee Café	September 13, 2011
Iceland	Stöð 2	September 13, 2011
Slovakia	Markíza	November 25, 2011
Latvia	Fox Life	February 2012
Netherlands	Veronica	January 2012
Slovenia	Planet TV	September 2012
Germany	Sat.1	6 September 2012
Bulgaria	bTV Comedy	2 October 2012
Austria	ORF eins	September 23, 2012
Denmark	Kanal 5	December 3, 2012
Greece	Star Channel	January 20, 2013