'New' 'Mike & Molly' Season Premiere Sees Melissa McCarthy Unleashed (VIDEO)

'Mike & Molly Premiere Sees Melissa McCarthy Unleashed

CBS has been touting this Season 4 premiere of "Mike & Molly" with the word "new." What was new about it was Molly. Melissa McCarthy's character had a major mid-life crisis in the season premiere, abruptly quitting her job teaching elementary school students by climbing out the window in the middle of class.

“Okay listen up, because this might be the best lesson I ever teach you," she told them on her way out. "Don’t settle, follow your dreams. Wherever they may take you.” Her immediate dreams apparently involved going on a bender and getting into a bar fight. And then, by the end of the half hour she'd realized she didn't really know what her dreams were. Maybe musical theater?

Zap2It's Rick Porter said that the premiere felt like the pilot for a new show -- which was probably on purpose. "CBS has been promoting the show as ‘the new 'Mike & Molly’’ ever since the network announced its return a few weeks ago," he wrote. But HitFix's Alan Sepinwall is concerned with this new approach. "Even if CBS could 'Eternal Sunshine' the entire population into forgetting the existence of the previous three seasons of 'Mike & Molly,’ I'm not sure how much good it would do," he wrote. "You can't just take Movie Star Melissa McCarthy and turn her into TV Star Melissa McCarthy.”

CBS is certainly going to try to do just that, though, as "Mike & Molly" continues on Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.

TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.

Before You Go

TV Critics Picks: 2013-2014 TV Season

Critics Picks 2013-2014

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot