Confirming the news that began breaking on Wednesday afternoon, CBS has formally announced renewals for Emmy-winning comedies “Mom” and “Mike & Molly,” as well as “2 Broke Girls.”
[In the interest of full transparency and correctness: “2 Broke Girls” is also an Emmy-winning comedy. It won in 2012 for Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series.]
None of these comedy renewals counts as a surprise.
In addition to winning an Emmy in August for Allison Janney, “Mom” has received some of CBS' best reviews on the comedy side and it continues to be a solid ratings performer bouncing around the network's schedule from Mondays to a variety of Thursday time periods. Thanks to airing post-“Big Bang Theory” for the early part of its season, “Mom” is up 42 percent over last season in total viewers, up 16 percent in the 18-49 demographic and up 31 percent in the 25-54 demo.
In addition to its previous Emmy win for Melissa McCarthy, “2 Broke Girls” has been a reliable utility player for CBS, often shifting Monday slots and proving resilient with late-season premieres, launching in November last year and December this year filling in for failed September premieres in both cases. [“Mike & Molly” also allowed me to set Donald Trump straight on incorrect claims that “Celebrity Apprentice” was regularly winning its time period. Thanks, “Mike & Molly.”]
Meanwhile, “2 Broke Girls” remains steady and has actually been outdrawing “How I Met Your Mother” in total viewers from last season.
“The Big Bang” was previously given an extensive multi-season renewal through 2016-2017.
Among other CBS comedies, “The Millers” is dead, “The McCarthys” is all-but-dead and “The Odd Couple” has been holding onto its “Big Bang Theory” audience reasonably well through three episodes, but it's still too soon to tell.