Mike & Molly

Did You Know?

• The series follows Mike and Molly from couplehood to engagement to marriage, dealing with challenging relatives and friends.
• On Rotten Tomatoes, the show holds a 69% rating with an average of 5.46/10 based on 29 reviews.
• The first season was released on both DVD and Blu-ray in the United States; subsequent seasons received only DVD releases.

Cast

Billy Gardell plays Officer Michael "Mike" Biggs, a Chicago police officer trying to lose weight. He is good-hearted and humorous but often gives in to his mother's demands, though his relationship with Molly makes him more independent. Melissa McCarthy portrays Molly Flynn, a fourth-grade teacher also attempting to lose weight. She is cheerful, intelligent, and the most rational member of her family, but has a quick temper and significant debt from shopping and travel.

She keeps her maiden name after marriage and quits teaching in Season 4 to become a writer. Reno Wilson plays Officer Carlton "Carl" McMillan, Mike's partner and best friend. He tends toward self-pity due to his mother abandoning him and struggles in relationships. He had a steady relationship with Christina in Season 2, but she broke up with him in Season 3 to try to reconcile with her ex-husband.

He later begins a relationship with Victoria at the end of Season 4, which ends badly in Season 5 before they reunite in the series finale. Katy Mixon plays Victoria Flynn, Molly's dimwitted, kindhearted, party-girl sister who works as a funeral home beautician and often uses marijuana. She dates Carl from the end of Season 4 until Season 5, then gets back together with him in the finale. Swoosie Kurtz plays Joyce Flynn-Moranto, mother of Molly and Victoria.

Widowed young, she dates Vincent Moranto from Season 1 and marries him in Season 3. She is modern, drinks heavily, and has a hair-trigger temper.

Production

In December 2009, CBS placed a pilot order for Mike & Molly. Mark Roberts wrote the pilot, directed by James Burrows, with Roberts and Burrows serving as executive producers alongside Chuck Lorre, Don Foster, and the production companies Chuck Lorre Productions and Warner Bros. Television. CBS ordered the series on May 13, 2010. It was renewed for a second season on May 15, 2011, and for a third season on March 14, 2012.

The third season finale, titled "Windy City," was pulled from its May 20, 2013 broadcast because it featured a tornado descending on Chicago on the same day as the 2013 Moore tornado; it was rescheduled for May 30, 2013. On March 27, 2013, CBS announced a fourth season. Mark Roberts stepped down as showrunner on May 17, 2013, and Al Higgins replaced him. The fourth season received a 22-episode order and premiered on November 4, 2013 at 9:00 pm ET, replacing the canceled sitcom We Are Men.

CBS billed the season as "the new Mike & Molly," referring to Molly quitting teaching to become a writer. The fifth season was announced on March 13, 2014, and began airing December 8, 2014. The sixth season was announced on March 12, 2015. On January 12, 2016, it was announced the series would end after six seasons; the finale aired May 16, 2016.

Controversies

In 2010, a Marie Claire blog post by Maura Kelly referred to the actors as "fatties," questioned if the show endorsed obesity, and said she would be repulsed by overweight actors kissing. Show creator Mark Roberts called the comments "very high school" and stated they were about hateful responses to the actors' appearances. Billy Gardell addressed the matter on The Talk on November 1, 2010. Marie Claire stood behind the blog, but Kelly later apologized for insensitive comments. In the Season 3 episode "Molly's New Shoes," a character's line about Arizona being "a furnace full of drunk Indians" prompted calls for an apology from the Native American Journalists Association, among others.

Broadcast

The Canadian broadcast of Mike & Molly began on September 20, 2010, across CTV, CTV Two, City, and M3. Across the Atlantic, Comedy Central UK introduced the show on October 4, 2010, with Channel 4 picking up reruns starting September 10, 2018. Since January 14, 2026, TLC UK has held the rights for the United Kingdom and Ireland. Australia’s Nine Network first aired the series on February 9, 2011.

In New Zealand, TV2 launched it on April 29, 2011, and since March 2023, TV One has been showing it weekdays at 4:30 pm. South Africa’s M-Net began its run on April 8, 2011. Off-network rights were acquired by FX in 2012, with episodes airing from 2014 through 2021. That same year, Nick at Nite purchased the syndication rights, premiering the series on October 5, 2021.

Sister channels TV Land followed on October 15, 2021, and CMT debuted it later that month, with both continuing until 2025. A broader off-network syndication rollout occurred in fall 2014, placing the show on NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, The CW, MyNetworkTV, and various independent stations nationwide.