Bob Hearts Abishola

**Bob Hearts Abishola** (stylized as **BOB❤ABISHOLA**) is an American sitcom television series created by Chuck Lorre, Eddie Gorodetsky, Al Higgins and Gina Yashere. It premiered on September 23, 2019 on CBS.

The series stars Billy Gardell and Folake Olowofoyeku as the title characters, with Maribeth Monroe, Matt Jones, Vernee Watson, Shola Adewusi, Barry Shabaka Henley, Travis Wolfe Jr., and Christine Ebersole in supporting roles.

## Premise

After having a heart attack, a middle-aged sock businessman from Detroit unexpectedly falls for his cardiac nurse, a Nigerian immigrant, and sets his sights on getting her to give him a chance.

## Cast

### Main

* Billy Gardell as Bob Wheeler
* Folake Olowofoyeku as Abishola Bolatito Doyinsola Oluwatoyin Adebambo Wheeler

### Recurring

* Maribeth Monroe as Christina Wheeler
* Christine Ebersole as Dottie Wheeler
* Matt Jones as Douglas Wheeler
* Vernee Watson as Gloria Tyler
* Shola Adewusi as Oluwatoyin Ifedayo "Olu" Olatunji
* Barry Shabaka Henley as Tunde Olatunji
* Travis Wolfe Jr. as Dele Adebambo
* Gina Yashere as Kemi
* Bayo Akinfemi as Goodwin Olayiwola
* Anthony Okungbowa as Kofo Olanipekun

* Tony Tambi as Chukwuemeka

### Guest

* Missi Pyle as Liz
* Kimberly Scott as Ogechi
* Vishesh Chachra as Dr. Sanjiv Chakraborty
* Wendie Malick as Jen Davenport
* Marilu Henner as Trish Dolan
* Nicole Sullivan as Lorraine Wheeler
* John Ratzenberger as Hank

## Production

### Development

On October 5, 2018, it was announced that CBS had given the production an early pilot order. The pilot was written by Chuck Lorre who executive produces alongside with Eddie Gorodetsky, Al Higgins and Gina Yashere. Production companies involved with the pilot include Chuck Lorre Productions and Warner Bros. Television. On May 6, 2019, it was announced that the production had been given a series order. A day after that, it was announced that the series would premiere in the fall of 2019 and air on Mondays at 8:30 p.m. The series is set to debut on September 23, 2019. On October 22, 2019, it was announced that CBS had ordered an additional nine episodes of the series, bringing the first season total up to twenty-two episodes. On March 13, 2020, it was announced that Warner Bros. Television had suspended production of the series due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "Randy's a Wrangler" was the final episode to be filmed.

On May 6, CBS announced the show had been renewed for a second season.

On October 13, 2020, it was announced that the second season of *Bob Hearts Abishola* would premiere on November 16 of the same year.

On February 17, 2021, it was announced that *Bob ♥ Abishola* had been renewed for a third season.

On July 12, 2021, it was announced that the third season of *Bob ♥ Abishola* would premiere on September 20, 2021.

On January 24, 2022, it was announced that *Bob ♥ Abishola* had been renewed for a fourth season.

The fourth season premiered on September 19, 2022.

On January 25, 2023, it was announced the *Bob ♥ Abishola* had been renewed for a fifth season, which is scheduled to premiere on February 12, 2024.

On April 26, 2023, CBS mentioned that of the 13-member series-regular cast only the two leads, Billy Gardell and Folake Olowofoyeku, will remain series regulars this season. The others can recur in as few as five episodes in Season 5. And as the actors are switching from series regular to recurring, the studio is waving exclusivity, so they can take on other TV jobs while being asked to notify producers of their availability so the writers can write the scripts accordingly. According to sources, *Bob ❤️ Abishola* has received a 13-episode Season 5 renewal from CBS, so the actors — except for the two leads — are guaranteed to appear in five of the 13, but there is conflicting information about what happens beyond the initial 13 episodes. According to some sources, there is a possibility for CBS to order a Back 9, bringing Season 5 in line with the 22-episode Seasons 3 and 4. If that happens, the guarantee for the bulk of the cast will remain at five episodes. Also according to others, there is expectation that Bob ❤️ Abishola would end with a 13-episode fifth season. CBS has not said whether Season 5 will be the series’ last and did not reveal the size of the order when it announced the renewal in January.

On November 29, 2023, it was announced that the upcoming fifth season of *Bob ♥ Abishola* would be the series' last, and the finale would air on May 13, 2024.

### Casting

On December 17, 2018, it was announced that seven co-leads opposite Billy Gardell and Folake Olowofoyeku as the title characters, including Maribeth Monroe, Matt Jones, Shola Adewusi, Barry Shabaka Henley, Travis Wolfe Jr. and Christine Ebersole had been cast in the pilot's lead roles.

This is Gardell's second starring role in a CBS sitcom, after *Mike & Molly*, which ran from 2010 to 2016 and was also executive produced by Lorre; in addition, Gardell has a recurring role on *Young Sheldon* as Herschel Sparks, a neighbor of the title character. In addition, Matt Jones is an alum of fellow Lorre/CBS series *Mom*.

## Reception

### Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 55% approval rating with an average rating of 6/10, based on 11 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Groundbreaking, but unfortunately grating, *Bob (Hearts) Abishola* undermines its own progressive premise with underwhelming humor that relies too heavily on outdated stereotypes." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 57 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

### Ratings

Based on average total viewers per episode of *Bob Hearts Abishola* on CBS:

## External Links

* Bob Hearts Abishola on Wikipedia
* Bob Hearts Abishola on Television Wiki
* Bob Hearts Abishola on CBS Fandom
* Bob Hearts Abishola on IMDb
* Bob Hearts Abishola on Facebook

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 ‘Bob ❤️ Abishola’ Reduces Most Of Series Regular Cast To Recurring In Possible Glimpse Of Future
2. ↑ https://deadline.com/2020/03/coronavirus-tv-shows-production-delayed-1202881997/
3. ↑ https://twitter.com/TheFolake/status/1249785589240492032
4. ↑ CBS Renews 18 Series, Including Freshmen ‘FBI: Most Wanted’, ‘Bob ♥ Abishola’, ‘All Rise’ & ‘The Unicorn’
5. ↑ http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2020/10/13/cbs-announces-primetime-premiere-dates-for-10-scripted-series-across-five-nights-507112/20201013cbs03/
6. ↑ http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2021/02/17/cbs-renews-popular-monday-night-comedy-block-for-the-2021-2022-broadcast-season-224214/20210217cbs02/
7. ↑ http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2021/07/12/cbs-announces-fall-2021-2022-primetime-premiere-dates-561213/20210712cbs04/
8. ↑ http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2022/01/24/cbs-renews-televisions-number-1-new-hit-comedy-ghosts-plus-its-popular-monday-night-block-of-the-neighborhood-and-bob-hearts-abishola-for-the-2022-2023-broadcast-season-483113/20220124cbs02/
9. ↑ https://deadline.com/2023/01/bob-hearts-abishola-renewed-season-5-cbs-1235240941/
10. ↑ http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2023/11/29/bob-hearts-abishola-series-finale-to-air-on-may-13-862215/20231129cbs05/