'Bob Hearts Abishola' ends CBS run but says there's still more to say

LOS ANGELES – The final episode of “Bob Hearts Abishola” isn’t going to put a bow on five years of television.

“There could be 50 more stories to tell,” says Executive Producer Matt Ross. “It’s not our job to say, ‘And bon voyage, they’re done learning and they’re done being interesting.’ It’s our job to have fun with them and to entertain the audience as long as we have the privilege to do so.”

The decision to end the series rests in the hands of CBS, says Executive Producer Gina Yashere. “The industry’s in flux right now. So, the money that was there 10 years ago is definitely not here anymore. If we’re using a character, we make sure to build a story around them and make that the center of the episode. That’s what we did with the budget.” Some actors, as a result, were “recurring” characters during the final year, not regulars.

Still, Yashere says, there’s plenty more to cover in the lives of Bob and Abishola. “I wanted to create something where you got to see (Nigerians) as people – that we love the same, we live the same, we laugh, we eat food. We do all the same things. That was important to me.”

For Folake Olowofoyeku, who plays Abishola, the series provided an opportunity to rework Americans’ impression of Nigerians. “As a Nigerian girl, I was offended by quite a few productions that depicted us like caricatures that didn’t have the appropriate language,” she says. “The authenticity is something that’s being celebrated.”

The show’s impact, she adds, “will begin to reveal itself more and more for many years to come. I don’t think we fully comprehend the work that we’ve done here. I feel extremely grateful.”

Co-star Billy Gardell says “Bob Hearts Abishola” boils down to “love wins no matter what. It doesn’t matter what you look like, where you’re from. I think that’s what’s vital and we captured that. And, it’s a reminder that when you marry someone, you marry their family.”

In those final episodes of the series, Bob and Abishola have dealt with family weddings, their son’s career plans and Abishola’s medical future.

“She’s taught him how to be more stoic and more focused and he’s taught her to lighten up,” Gardell says. “In any good relationship if it’s a give and a give, it’s a win. I think we’re there. I’m trying to treasure these last episodes because I think we’re playing at our highest level right now.”

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Olowofoyeku agrees. “In the beginning, Bob was chasing Abishola down with socks and now they’re married…and they’re talking…and they’re parenting Dele and dealing with that together. It’s evolved in a way that (I have been) so happy to see unfold.”

For Yashere, who was brought in to advise, “Bob Hearts Abishola” was an opportunity to correct mistakes others had made. “When I saw Africans or Black people (on television), it just felt like we were never three-dimensional.,” she says. “It was always through the lens of someone else and how we were perceived, not how we actually saw ourselves.

“I just wanted to create something where you got to see us as people.”

In the process, the series taught other lessons.

“We had an episode where Abishola helps decipher that Dottie (her mother-in-law) is having a stroke and there were fans of the show who actually saved a loved one based on those instructions,” Olowofoyeku says.

Now, the cast and crew are like Abishola when the series first started. “It’s all about seeking opportunity,” Yashere says. “And that’s basically what most of us are trying to do. My parents left Nigeria for England to give us better opportunities and I left England for America. That’s basically the journey everybody makes in life – to have the best life they can possibly have. That’s what the journey of this show is. It’s the freedom of people to follow what they want to do and follow their dream.”

The final CBS episode of "Bob Hearts Abishola" airs May 6.