For the past month, we’ve known that our time with Mike & Molly would be limited to the entirety of Season 6, which will be its last. But instead of learning that bit of bad news from CBS, the network in charge of the show, it came from the show’s stars themselves. Now, CBS has decided to come out of the shadows to let everyone in on it by formally announcing that Mike & Molly has been canceled. It’s nothing if not timely.
Perhaps there were those still out there holding out hope that CBS would listen to pleas on social media for the sitcom to get renewed for another year. After all, when an announcement as big as that gets leaked, a network is usually quick to either confirm or deny the claims. That wasn’t the case here, though CBS’ entertainment president Glenn Geller probably had the biggest audience possible, as he legitimized the show’s doomed fate at this year’s TV Critics Association’s winter press tour, according to THR.
Admittedly, news of the show getting axed wasn’t all that surprising when it came out. After all, CBS shifted Mike & Molly in the schedule, cutting its episode order and pushing it out as midseason programming. Not a lot of shows get demoted and then get renewed for more seasons, but it would have been a reasonable way to keep it on the air if money issues were part of the reasoning behind canceling the sitcom.
Though Melissa McCarthy claimed she would love to continue working on the show for years, the stars’ contracts are up this year, and Melissa McCarthy’s A-list fame on the big screen would likely have inspired a case for more money. Even with Billy Gardell not rocketing to the celebrity stratosphere, CBS execs still probably didn’t think it was worth it. Mike & Molly drew good ratings, even though they’ve dipped as the years went by, but other CBS shows have the kind of massive audiences that make shows with “good” ratings expendable.
Mike & Molly’s exit will be the second Chuck Lorre show to bid farewell to CBS in two years, with Two and a Half Men coming to an end last year. The network could also be putting CSI: Cyber out to pasture now that Ted Danson has found a new show, and The Good Wife’s creators and showrunners Robert and Michelle King are leaving the show after Season 7, which doesn’t bode so well for that show’s future.
One of many shows that will be coming to an end in 2016, Mike & Molly just kicked off Season 6 last week, and you can watch it every Wednesday night on CBS. To see when everything else is premiering and returning over the next few months, check out our midseason TV schedule.
