Mike & Molly is an American sitcom created by Mark Roberts, which premiered on CBS on September 20, 2010.^[1] The series stars Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy as the title characters. On March 14, 2012, CBS renewed Mike & Molly for a third season.^[2]

Premise[link]

Set in Chicago, Illinois, the series follows Mike Biggs (Billy Gardell), a police officer who's looking to shed some pounds, and Molly Flynn (Melissa McCarthy), an obese fourth-grade teacher, who meet at an Overeaters Anonymous group and become a couple. However, they also have to deal with the comments, jokes, and criticism from Mike's fast-talking partner Carl McMillan (Reno Wilson) and sarcastic mother Peggy (Rondi Reed), and Molly's mother Joyce (Swoosie Kurtz) and sister Victoria (Katy Mixon), Carl's Nana (Cleo King), Carl's girlfriend Christina (Holly Robinson Peete) and Abe's restaurant employee Samuel (Nyambi Nyambi).

Cast[link]

• Billy Gardell as Officer Michael "Mike" Biggs, a Chicago Police officer attempting to lose weight. He is humorous and thoughtful. He often caves into his mother's demands, much to Molly's dismay, but becomes more independent as the series moves forward.
• 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.
• Reno Wilson as Officer Carlton "Carl" McMillan, a Chicago Police officer and Mike's partner and best friend/surrogate brother. He lives with his grandmother and often feels sorry for himself. 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.
• 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, Molly's mother. She is a widow and has been dating Vincent Moranto. She attempts to stay in her youth and is very modern, while she also drinks heavily and has a hair-trigger temper.
• 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.
• Louis Mustillo as Vincent "Vince" Moranto, Joyce's on and off boyfriend (later her fiancee). 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. Mike made him pay his "wife" $5,000 in exchange for signed divorce papers, and in the Season 2 finale, Vince was shown living with Joyce again.
• Cleo King as Rosetta McMillan, Carl's grandmother. She is very traditional and has professed deep love for her grandson, but is outwardly annoyed by Carl's behavior. She has a big heart and treats Mike, who calls her "Nana", like a second grandson. She often gives Mike advice on his relationship with Molly, much of which points out how great she is and how much his life sucked before he met her.
• Rondi Reed as Margaret "Peggy" Biggs, 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 little dog "Jim" (a Brussels Griffon mix), who she treats more like a son than a pet. She also works as a lunch lady at Molly's school.
• Holly Robinson Peete as Christina (Season 2-), Carl's girlfriend who is a single parent with a young son and works as an optometrist. Christina also becomes good friends with Molly.

Reception[link]

Critical reception[link]

The show has received mixed reviews from critics. It achieved a favorable score of 63 out of 100 on the review aggregator site Metacritic.^[3] Critic Randee Dawn gave the show a negative review, stating the cast is likable, but the jokes are old and bland.^[4]

Ratings[link]

[edit] Marie Claire commentary

On October 25, 2010, a blog commentary about the series was posted by Maura Kelly on the Marie Claire website.^[14] 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."^[14] Kelly's remarks sparked much discussion and debate.^{[15][16][17][18][19][20]} The blog had over 3,800 comments posted, and Marie Claire received over 28,000 emails regarding the blog.^[21]

Show creator Mark Roberts spoke out regarding Kelly's blog post, calling the comments "very high school."^{[6][22][23][24]} 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."^[6] Billy Gardell also addressed the matter when he appeared on the daily talk show The Talk on November 1, 2010.^[25][26]

Marie Claire has stood behind the blog.^[27] Kelly has since apologized regarding her comments, stating that she "sorely regret[s] that it upset people so much."^[14][21]

Awards and nominations[link]

International broadcasts[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Mike & Molly at the Internet Movie Database
• Vanity cards archive for Mike & Molly

Country	Network	Start date
Canada	CTV [28]	September 20, 2010
United Kingdom	Comedy Central UK	October 4, 2010[29]
Ireland	TV3 Ireland	October 4, 2010[29]
Peru	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010[citation needed]
Bolivia	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010[citation needed]
Argentina	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010[citation needed]
Chile	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010[citation needed]
Costa Rica	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010[citation needed]
Guatemala	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010[citation needed]
Mexico	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010
Uruguay	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010
Brazil	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010
Colombia	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010[citation needed]
Venezuela	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010[citation needed]
Ecuador	Warner Channel	November 1, 2010[citation needed]
Australia	Nine Network	February 9, 2011 [30]
Poland	Comedy Central Polska	February 23, 2011[citation needed]
Belgium	VT4	March 7, 2011[31]
New Zealand	TV 2	April 29, 2011
Israel	Comedy Central Israel	April 26, 2011
South Africa	M-Net	April 8, 2011[32]
Italy	Steel	May 29, 2011
Norway	TV3 (Norway)	June 9, 2011[33]
Sweden	Kanal 5	June 20, 2011[34]
Hungary	Viasat3	September 2, 2011[35]
Croatia	Doma TV	September 5, 2011[32]
India	Zee Cafe	September 13, 2011[36]
Iceland	Stöð 2	September 13, 2011[37]
Slovakia	Markíza	November 25, 2011
Latvia	Fox Life	February 2012
Germany	Kabel eins
The Netherlands	Veronica	January 2012
v t e Mike & Molly Episodes Season 1 · Season 2 Characters Mike Biggs · Molly Flynn · Carl McMillan · Samuel · Joyce Flynn · Victoria Flynn · Vince Moranto · Peggy Biggs · Rosetta McMillan Crew James Burrows · Chuck Lorre · Mark Roberts · Don Foster Related articles "I See Love"