TCA: Chuck Lorre On 'Big Bang' Moving To Thursday & 'Mike & Molly' Tackling Obesity

Chuck Lorre, who has 3 comedy series on CBS next season, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory and newcomer Mike & Molly, did panels on two of them, Big Bang and Mike & Molly. Here are some highlights of what he said: Noting that this fall Big Bang will move into its fourth time slot in 4 years, Lorre said that he was surprised by CBS’ decision to put the show on Thursdays and that he wasn’t consulted in any way. “It’s not my job, and nobody asked my opinion, and, frankly, one assumes they’ve given it a lot of thought. Given where we are now after three seasons, I’d be crazy to argue with the choices that CBS has made along the way. So if they think this is a good call, then that’s great. Our job is to make a good show.  It’s not to program the show. You know, we grow the crops. We don’t have the truck that brings it to market.”

He dismissed suggestions that Mike & Molly is political incorrect for featuring overweight people and a lot of fat jokes or that the show deals with a subject that is a taboo. “It’s about real people with real issues trying to have a relationship,” he said. Confronted with the fact that such characters are normally never seen on TV, Lorre replied, “that television would normally have cast Chris O’Donnell and Courteney Cox as the people who meet at Overeaters Anonymous. But in this case we had the courage and, the wisdom to just cast people that are trying to make their lives better and find someone that they can love and be loved by. It may be odd for television, but I hope it’s reflective of some kind of reality that people will experience.”

On the prospect of the main characters on the show slimming down: “Absolutely.  I mean, they go to OA because they’re on a journey.  They want to make a change in their lives. They’re not at the end of the journey.”

On the experience of running 3 series: “It’s really gratifying and rewarding at times and — but mostly it’s terrifying.”