Chuck Lorre Fought CBS Over Melissa McCarthy Mike & Molly Casting, Weight

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While casting his hit 2010 show Mike & Molly about a couple who have their meet-cute at an Overeaters’ Anonymous meeting, the series creator revealed that CBS “hated” the comedian for the titular role of Molly Flynn.
As Lorre put it in his new memoir Sitcom, out now, “Believe it or not, they wanted a hot young woman to play a woman struggling with her weight. It was even suggested by one exec—a female exec—that I consider casting a more attractive actress and put her in a fat suit.”
However, the 73-year-old—also creator of Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory—decided to go to bat for McCarthy.
“CBS’ reluctance was quite something,” Lorre told E! News in an exclusive interview. “But by that point in my career, I’d finally grown a pair and said, ‘No, that’s my Molly, and I can live with your unhappiness. That’s Molly.’”