Image Credit: Art Streiber/CBS; Roger Walsh/LandovAs heated, personal discussions continue online about the Marie Claire blog post “Should ‘Fatties’ Get a Room? (Even on TV?),” in which the writer admits she doesn’t want to watch the leads on CBS’ Mike & Molly kiss or do anything else on her television or in real life, EW chatted Thursday with the show’s creator Mark Roberts. “I’m really not that angry. I’m hurt for my two friends [stars Melissa McCarthy and Billy Gardell] who had to read horrible things that some woman said about them,” he told us. “I feel more sad. That’s pretty much the predominant feeling.”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The cast isn’t commenting on the Marie Claire post. Is it something that, as the show’s creator, you felt the need to address with them and the crew?
MARK ROBERTS: I made a joke about it this morning at the table read, and then we moved on to more important things, like the fact that we just got picked up for a back 11 [giving it a full season order] and we’re the No. 1 new comedy of the season. We wanted to talk about good things. [Laughs]
Reading the comments on our take on the blog item, a secondary debate has emerged: Some fans think the show focuses too much on the weight issue or “fat jokes.” Though this week’s episode did seem to be moving away from that with Mike and Molly taking their relationship to the next level and becoming intimate.
These folks met at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting, and so there were the jokes about weight. We always envisioned that those will go away. The show is essentially, and has always been in mind, about two people falling in love and the value of putting the message out there that anybody can find someone. That’s what the show is about: Accepting each other, accepting each other’s differences. We all deserve love, and we’re all just human beings with our own struggles and our own problems. So to have somebody come out and say something like this woman said, she just sort of doesn’t even get the show and is kind of the exact opposite of the kind of person we’re trying to reach. Controversy is one thing, but at a certain point, you just have to say: Let’s not dwell too long on what stupid people say. READ FULL STORY »
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Good thing we can still use it on EW.com! The Oprah Winfrey Network will be “fun and entertaining without tearing people down and calling them bitches,” Oprah said at Maria Shriver’s Women’s Conference yesterday. “Imagine that. Imagine.” Well, s—. Now now one will want to be on her f—ing show.
Rejoice, Team Coco! Conan O’Brien will webcast “Show Zero” this Monday at 11 p.m. to whip fans into a frenzy (or at least a polite chatter) before Conan premieres for real on Nov. 8. “Show Zero” will stream on 
