For a Chuck Lorre sitcom, Bob Hearts Abishola is surprising for its total and complete earnestness

Variety

"There are so many ways Bob Hearts Abishola could have gone wrong," says Carline Framke of the sitcoms starring Billy Gardell as a divorced socks salesman who falls for his Nigerian nurse, played by Folake Olowofoyeku. "It could have treated Bob’s crush on Abishola as a one-sided obsession, rendered her Nigerian family as wacky oddities, and spent all its time on basic (or flat out xenophobic) punchlines....And yet it’s laudable that the first three episodes make the most of their abbreviated runtimes to treat the rest of the story, particularly that between Bob and Abishola themselves, with more heart and nuance. Abishola is wary of pursuing a romance for completely logical, understandable reasons; Bob explicitly says that he doesn’t want to push her to do anything she doesn’t actually want to do; both are lonely in ways neither wants to fully admit. The show probably can’t keep them from a relationship for too long without stretching its premise too thin, but for now, their dynamic is a refreshingly unique one for a broadcast network sitcom." Part of the credit for that goes to Lorre having Gina Yashere, a British-born comedian of Nigerian descent, as a co-creator, executive producer and co-star. Framke adds: "It’s also frankly something of a shock to watch a CBS multi-cam comedy that can include scenes between multiple black women, each with a different point of view and experience, without making them the butt of the joke. If this is the kind of material Lorre wants to use his influence to promote in a space that might otherwise balk, it’ll be exciting to see what comes next." ALSO: Bob Hearts Abishola starts off with more heart than most hit Lorre sitcoms.