This story contains details from the series finale ofBob AbisholaonCBS.
DEADLINE:Talk about the decision to employ a time jump in the finale.
Why did you do it?
Folake Olowofoyeku and Billy Gardell in ‘Bob ❤️ Abishola’Michael Yarish/Warner Bros. Entertainment
Is Abishola going to go to Johns Hopkins?
And then throughout Season 4, we never really touched on the subject again.
Abishola accomplishes a dream of becoming a doctor.
Kemi [played by Yashere] gets her own business.
Goodwin [Bayo Akinfemi] buys the company.
But theyre all still orbiting each other because their connection wasnt a circumstance.
It was because they care about each other.
We made sure that were using the characters.
They got a full story a full arc.
That was the silver lining of this rough budget cut and demotion of all of our wonderful actors.
But, the heart of it had to be Bob and Abishola.
DEADLINE:Gina, did you have special plans for your character, Kemi?
YASHERE:Kemi throughout the seasons has always shown sparks of ambition in business.
Nigerians are known to be super ambitious, super hardworking and super overachieving.
So there was no question of Kemi remaining in the same job seven years down the line.
Then at some point, we introduced the fact that they owned the entire building they lived in.
So we always liked to push those guys stories forward.
It was a no-brainer that Kemi was going to have a run business at some point.
DEADLINE:What was that last day on set like?
YASHEREVery, I cried a lot.
Definitely after the final table read, I was like, Im not gonna cry!
There were a lot of hugs and lots of tears.
It got better and better.
We were like a big family in the end.
DEADLINE:What do you hope your comedy achieved?
YASHERE:It doesnt matter where the characters come from.
A good story is a good f*cking story.
I mean, CBS is not exactly the trendiest, youngest, coolest connection in the game.
Its mainly old white people watching.
And yet this Nigerian family got into their psyche and grabbed a place in their hearts for five years.
A lot of people have learned about a different culture while having a laugh at the same time.
So Im hoping that going forward, well be able to sell more stories like that.
I will be able to tell more stories.
DEADLINE:If there were any misconceptions about your comedy, what do you think they were?
YASHERE:Even the name Abishola.
Americans can barely pronounce John.
There was a lot of that.
There were a lot of misgivings as to how this family was going to be represented.
I feel like we settled all those misgivings when the show came out.
We showed that all of these characters were three-dimensional with real feelings.
I was very true to the culture and kept it as authentic as possible.
ROSS:Early on, we had some pretty frank conversations in the writers room.
I think some people needed to hear about the responsibility of representation.
You have to, otherwise this show is dead in the water.
Thats why the show was successful.
DEADLINE:Whats next for both of you?
YASHERE:Whatever people want to buy!
Im gonna be on the road if I need money.
Whatever happens I will go where the good work is, but Im currently working on other IPs.
ROSS:Ill go wherever Gina tells me.
Im like, hey, what would you do if you were me?
And shes like, This, not this, and Im like, All right, great.
He didnt want to do loves because there was Everybody Loves Raymond.
So we were like, how can we do it without using loves and and?
We came up with the emoji and called it Hearts.
But we stuck with our guns.
People still often mis-name the show asBob Loves Abishola.
But I think it looks better on posters.
ROSS:I think everybody was won over, apart from the script coordinators.
