PASADENA, Calif. – It’s the end of the road for two prime-time broadcast series starring Western Pennsylvania natives. Billy Gardell’s CBS sitcom “Bob (Hearts) Abishola” and Paige Spara’s ABC drama “The Good Doctor” will call it quits by the end of the strikes-shortened 2023-24 TV season in May.
‘Bob (Hearts) Abishola’
“Bob (Hearts) Abishola” (8:30 p.m. Monday, KDKA-TV) executive producer Gina Yashere did not hesitate when asked why the comedy – which returned Monday up 17% in average viewers compared to its September 2022 season premiere – will end.
“CBS!” she shouted, pinning the blame for the cancellation on the network that also required producers to reduce the number of cast members appearing in each episode.
“There were definite budget changes that went right across the industry,” Yashere said. “The money that was there 10 years ago is not there now. What we did was make sure when we work with a character rather than crowbarring them into an episode to give them a line, we concentrated the stories and we make sure we build a story about them, make them the center of an episode.”
“Bob (Hearts) Abishola” chronicles the love story of middle-aged Detroit sock businessman Bob (Gardell) and his cardiac nurse, Nigerian immigrant Abishola (Folake Olowofoyeku).
“What I love most about this show is it’s a reminder that when you marry someone, you marry their family, and that’s a gift,” said Gardell, a Swissvale native. “If you can do it right it brings you closer together as a couple. …We’re trying to treasure these last episodes because I really do think we’re playing at our highest level right now.”
Gardell said he’s grateful for what the show has taught him about Nigerian culture.
“I learned to eat very hot food – even the water is hot with Nigerians – but the great thing about coming here every day and putting a show on, especially in this time, is that [it says] love wins no matter what,” he said.
Gardell’s physical appearance changed dramatically through the show’s run.
“I lost a baseball team,” he said of his weight loss, which included bariatric surgery. “I was in a place with my health where I needed to make a severe change.”
Upcoming Local Events
He praised executive producer Chuck Lorre for his support and willingness to make Gardell’s weight loss Bob’s weight loss on the sitcom.
As for what comes next, Gardell said he’s game to make a third series with Lorre following “Bob” and “Mike & Molly” before it.
“I don’t think I’ll be doing standup,” he said. “I’ve gotten too soft. You’re sitting on a set and somebody comes by and goes, ‘Want a grilled cheese sandwich while you’re waiting?’ It’s a little tough to go to Cleveland [after that pampering]. [Lorre] put me in two Super Bowls and I’ll go for a threepeat if he wants me to. At this point, I’d do anything for him.”
‘The Good Doctor’
From the audition filmed in the bathroom of her parents’ Washington, Pa., house to her character Lea’s marriage to Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) and giving birth to their baby Steve, actress Paige Spara got to experience something rare for a working actor: Stability.
“I’m so grateful that I got to experience this era of television that is history,” Spara said, referring to the end of the broadcast network TV era before a final “Good Doctor” (season premiere 10 p.m. Feb. 20, WTAE-TV) press conference during ABC’s portion of the Television Critics Association winter 2024 press tour. “I’m, of course, devastated that I have to say goodbye to people I’ve worked and lived my 20s and 30s out with for seven years.”
“Good Doctor” producers were mum on how the series will wrap up its seven-season run. Spara, a 2008 graduate of Washington High School who started acting as a child in Washington community theater productions, said the actors have never been given many hints about where their characters’ stories will go, unlike staging a play where an actor knows a character’s beginning, middle and end.
“What’s really beautiful about this type of work is it makes you become very present,” Spara said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. And I don’t know where I’m gonna go, just like in real life. I love that because that helps me be impulsive on set. It helps me respond in a different way than maybe subconsciously — if I know where my character is gonna go — maybe I would play another emotion too soon.”
As for where Spara and the series will leave Lea, the actress expresses what she hopes to see in the series finale.
“I do hope she and Shaun continue to support each other’s honesty and vulnerability and lifestyle decisions and parenting decisions,” Spara said. “These characters taught me so much about relationships — and even in my own personal life — how to show up as my authentic self and have the hard conversations and tackle the hard, big emotions while being authentic to myself and the person who’s sharing and hearing on the other end of that. I hope they continue to nurture that.”
Spara was back in Washington for Christmas (“I never miss it,” she said. “We still chop down our own tree”) where she does get recognized.
“Because I’m from a small town — they’re so supportive, it’s so lovely — I’ll go down to the Giant Eagle and I’ll see somebody from high school or my [dental hygienist] mom’s patients or my neighbors,” she said. “So I don’t hate it! It’s very nice.”
Channel surfing
CBS’s “NCIS” will pay tribute to the late David McCallum’s Ducky Mallard in a new episode airing at 9 p.m. Monday on KDKA-TV. … Hulu canceled “This Fool” after two seasons. … Paramount ’s “Evil” will end with its fourth season premiering in May with four additional episodes ordered to wrap up the show’s storylines. … Netflix’s “Umbrella Academy” returns for its fourth and final season Aug. 8. … “Trolls Band Together” streams on Peacock March 15.