CHAT WITH ROBERT
USA TODAY’s Robert Bianco chats with readers Mondays at 2 p.m. ET at ccchat.usatoday.com. Read edited excerpts of recent chats below, or tweet early questions to @BiancoRobert and visit him live online.
Q Why does CBS keep messing around with Mike & Molly? It does well in the ratings despite the fact it keeps getting jerked around the schedule. Now it appears it’s going to be canceled.
A Well, to be fair to CBS, it didn’t really begin shifting Mike & Molly around until it became clear that, while the show was popular, it was not going to be as popular as the network hoped, given star Melissa McCarthy’s big-screen success. And yes, it has been canceled, which is a shame mostly because we’re unlikely to see McCarthy, Swoosie Kurtz and Katy Mixon — who were, to me, the best part of the show — together in a TV show again. And I’d be surprised if we see McCarthy again in any show anytime soon; movie work seems to be going very well for her.
Q Was surprised by the final words of The People v. O.J. Simpson in Episode 3. Was that a first for FX to your recollection? (Didn’t bother me, to be clear.)
A According to CBS News, the show’s use of a certain two-part profanity that begins with “mother” and ends with, well, you know, was most probably the first time that word has ever been heard in prime time. It’s certainly the first time I can remember FX using it, and the first time I can remember hearing it in prime time outside of a premium cable network.
Now, before anyone asks, there will be no FCC action because the FCC doesn’t regulate cable networks — only broadcast. As for whether it bothered me: no, but that doesn’t exactly mean I liked it, either. Still, I’m reminded of a probably apocryphal story involving Clark Gable and his then-shocking use of “damn” at the end of Gone With
the Wind. When a woman complained to him, he supposedly answered: “I know what you mean, madam. We’re up to our ass in vulgarity.” And so we are — it’s just the vulgarities that change and grow.