Swoosie Kurtz on Mike and Molly, a Pushing Daisies Film and Finding Herself Onstage

Swoosie Kurtz has enjoyed a rich career that has spanned three mediums, netted one Emmy, garnered Broadway's coveted "Triple Crown" and afforded her a trip into Bryan Fuller's fantastically whimsical Pushing Daisies world, where she played a heavy-drinking, gun-toting, agoraphobic aunt who lost an eye while cleaning a litter box. This fall, nearly three decades after starring alongside Tony Randall in the sitcom Love, Sidney, Kurtz returns to the half-hour arena in Mike and Molly.

In the new series, Kurtz plays the sassy mother to Molly's (Melissa McCarthy) plus-size teacher. While promoting the new CBS show in Beverly Hills last week, Movieline met the actress to discuss her acting "eureka" moment, her new gig and her attraction to the Mike and Molly creator.

First off, what are the chances of a Pushing Daisies reunion?

There hasn't been really any talk, at least that I've heard. Bryan Fuller, the show's genius creator, is putting out a comic book, and he has always talked about doing a film of it, so who knows?

Sitcoms used to have a reputation for creating broad characters -- certainly more broad than in hour-long dramas. Do you find that still to be the case?

I think that used to be true. I think maybe it's generally more true that in an hour drama, without a laugh track, you have a more chances to be serious. But I think the half-hours have gotten very, very sophisticated and refined. I think a lot of that is due to [Mike and Molly creator] Chuck Lorre, who really refined the art. There is always someone who might say that these character are really broad. In this show, everyone's characteristics are heightened -- but so brilliantly. It all depends on how it's done. The subtlety depends on the writing and we are really lucky on this show to have Mark Roberts and Chuck Lorre writing this great stuff that is genuinely touching and funny.

Were you more attracted to the Mike and Molly script or the fact that Chuck Lorre was producing?

Well, it's hard to get around the Chuck Lorre attraction. You love to be in good hands as an actor. I come from the theater where the actor has so much more onstage responsibility but on television, the [writers and producers] hold more of the responsibility. So it's important to be in good hands. It's also crucial to me, when I read the pilot, to be moved and this really touched my heart.

What part of the script moved you most?

You see [Billy Gardell's character] try to ask Molly out, and he is so awkward about it. She wants him to ask her out, too, but he just can't. He keeps failing. But I read the pilot and then met with Chuck. It was kind of love at first sight for me, and obviously I did something right because he wanted me. But it's just something I am very, very glad to be a part of. What's really important to me, too, is that I am playing someone I haven't played before.

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