Melissa McCarthy’s career has often turned on the gap between Hollywood’s idea of a leading woman and what she can do with a role. Before studio comedies and awards-season dramas made her a familiar face, she developed her craft through character work and improvisation.

Her appeal was never confined to a particular silhouette: she could make a scene unruly, vulnerable, or unexpectedly precise. For a sitcom about two people who meet at Overeaters Anonymous, that distinction mattered from the start of casting itself.

But when showrunner Chuck Lorre tried to bring McCarthy into Mike & Molly, the network’s idea of the character reportedly looked very different from his.

In his memoir, Sitcom, released October 13, Chuck Lorre describes a “torturous journey” to cast Molly Flynn. Mike & Molly follows teacher Molly and police officer Mike Biggs (Billy Gardell), who meet at Overeaters Anonymous. Lorre has credited casting director Nikki Valko with bringing him Melissa McCarthy. But he writes that the very network that would house the sitcom had a very different idea of who should be portraying the struggles Mike & Molly did, on screen. 

“Once again, my brilliant casting director, Nikki Valko, brought in a comic genius. Melissa McCarthy. And once again, CBS hated her," he wrote.

Lorre says executives wanted “a hot young woman to play a woman struggling with her weight.” One female executive suggested casting “a more attractive actress” in a fat suit (via Deadline). He believed McCarthy offered more than a visual punchline to the six-season comedy, now housed by Netflix. He writes he had stopped “folding” under pressure: “Melissa was going to be my Molly. End of discussion.”

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McCarthy’s career soon gave Lorre reason to feel vindicated, beginning with a film that changed her place in Hollywood.

Melissa McCarthy’s Emmy win for Mike & Molly in 2011 was an early indication that Chuck Lorre’s faith in her had paid off. But it was Bridesmaids, released the same year, that changed the scale of her career. Her performance as Megan, the unapologetically eccentric future sister-in-law, earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, alongside recognition from the BAFTAs, Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild.

Chuck Lorre, on the other hand, was hardly going to let the moment pass without revisiting the casting battle.

“Forgive me for being a little smug, but when Bridesmaids came out, I felt pretty goddamn smart,” he writes in his memoir.

Looking back, Lorre's satisfaction is understandable. McCarthy's career moved from a familiar face on Gilmore Girls to an Emmy-winning sitcom lead, an Oscar-nominated film performer and a star capable of moving between broad comedy and character-driven drama. Mike & Molly gave her a platform, and Bridesmaids turned the recognition into currency.

The success that followed made Lorre's decision look prescient, and effectively turned the network's reported objections into a footnote.

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Do you think anyone could have filled Molly's shoes other than Melissa McCarthy? Let us know in the comments.