Lorre: CBS Wanted Fat Suit Instead Of Melissa McCarthy — SkimNews
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- Chuck Lorre revealed in his memoir "Sitcom" that CBS "hated" the casting of Melissa McCarthy as the lead of Mike & Molly, calling the approval process a "torturous journey."
- CBS executives wanted "a hot young woman" to play Molly, a character described as struggling with her weight, and one female executive suggested casting a more attractive actress and putting her in a fat suit.
- Melissa McCarthy was the last actor cast in the series opposite Billy Gardell; the show ran for six seasons starting in 2010 and earned her an Emmy in 2011.
- Lorre compared the network's resistance to his earlier fight to cast Jon Cryer in Two and a Half Men, crediting casting director Nikki Valko with finding McCarthy.
- Lorre pushed back on the network, writing: "I was no longer an origami showrunner, ready to fold at first push. Melissa was going to be my Molly."
- McCarthy went on to star in Bridesmaids and earn an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, which Lorre called personal vindication: "when Bridesmaids came out, I felt pretty god-damn smart."
Why it matters: Lorre's account exposes a documented network bias against casting a plus-sized actress as a romantic lead — CBS wanted conventional attractiveness over authenticity, and it took a showrunner willing to fight to override that. The payoff proved the network wrong: an Emmy, a six-season run, and a subsequent Oscar-nominated film role for McCarthy.
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