TV Review - Bob Hearts Abishola

Unfortunately, the premise to this series feels uncomfortable. First, the title of the series suggests a one-sided relationship. The first episode in particular suggests the same. A man develops feelings for a woman and those feelings might not be reciprocated. So far, it's all about the man pursuing the woman when there doesn't appear to be any or not much interest from the woman. In fact, the man almost comes across as a stalker than a potential love interest. She doesn't seem all that attracted to him. She doesn't seem hot for him or even all that impressed. Right now, I don't see any chemistry between the two titular characters. Obviously, the series is intending to build a relationship between the two slowly and over the course of an extended period of time, but I just don't feel any sparks between the two. Not all successful relationships begin with sparks, but it's certainly a tougher hill to climb if there are no sparks or chemistry.

What's great is that the series puts on screen a Nigerian family as a significant presence. If this series was just about the Nigerian family, it would be vastly more interesting than what will most likely be a lame romance. If this series were an examination of an immigrant family, it could have the potential of something like Good Times (1974) or The Jeffersons (1975), which was the subject of an Emmy-winning production this year. Maybe the series will be a slight version of Good Times but with this NIgerian family. I call it slight because the white family also featured will suck up a bit of the oxygen here. Sadly, CBS isn't in the habit of producing an all-black TV series. The Tiffany network's push for more diversity on its air is commendable though.

Billy Gardell (Mike & Molly and Young Sheldon) stars as Bob, a businessman who owns a sock-making company in Detroit. He's seemingly middle-aged. He's overweight. He's single and he's suffered a heart attack. Musician-turned-actress Folake Olowofoyeku (Transparent) co-stars as Abishola, a Nigerian nurse who attends to Bob during his hospital stay. She's just doing her job, but Bob starts flirting and begins pursuing her for a date. There is perhaps a rule that discourages medical professions from dating their patients. Obviously, once he's out of the hospital, they're free to do whatever. She probably thinks he's nice, but she doesn't seem that moved or even intrigued by him.

As mentioned before, the relationship feels one-sided. The series will eventually have to find a way to turn things, so that she does show interest and in some way pursues him or reciprocates. The fact that she doesn't explicitly tell him no or go away is maybe a sign of some interest in her. Yet, she's probably just being polite. His advances and inserting himself in her life are meant to be endearing and silently she's probably taking small steps in falling in love with him, but it's not coming through strong enough at least initially to overcome my discomfort with Bob's advances.

This series was created by Chuck Lorre, Alan Higgins, Eddie Gorodetsky and Gina Yashere. Of the four of them, three of them are white men, two of whom look like Bob and only one of them is a black woman. This imbalance is subsequently felt in the writing of the series. It feels like it's a series that favors Bob and depicting his advances as charming instead of creepy, which some if not many woman might also interpret. Yashere's presence feels like mostly as a consultant, as well as occasional actress who provides some credibility to Lorre, Higgins and Gorodetsky being the principal voices here.

In real-life, Yashere is a black lesbian. If her real voice were allowed to be heard here, Abishola wouldn't be going for a middle-aged, overweight, white man. However, the second episode turns things around and makes Bob the person who is being pursued. The problem is that the people pursuing Bob are Abishola's aunt and uncle, not her. The reason they pursue him is because they like that he has a good amount of money. It's a weird bit of comedy, but it doesn't help to sell the romance between Bob and Abishola. This series will likely have a dozen episodes or more to get to that romance and the makers here are slow rolling it, but some might not be so patient to wait.

Rated TV-PG-L.
Running Time: 30 mins.
Mondays at 8:30PM on CBS.