Bob Hearts Abishola will premiere in broadcast syndication this fall on station groups including Nexstar, Sinclair, Hearst, Tegna, Scripps, Weigel, Sunbeam, Gray, Mission, Lockwood and Bahakel, Warner Bros. Discovery Content Sales confirmed Wednesday. The Warner Bros. Television sitcom, which is concluding its five-season run on CBS, is joining its Chuck Lorre-produced siblings – The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon and Two and a Half Men – in syndication.
Bob Hearts Abishola‘s love story is winding down. CBS announced Wednesday that the Chuck Lorre comedy will end with Season 5. Its 13-episode farewell run begins Monday, Feb. 12, while its series finale will air Monday, May 13, at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Of the 13-member series-regular cast of CBS’ comedy Bob ❤️ Abishola, only the two leads, Billy Gardell and Folake Olowofoyeku, will remain series regulars next season. The others can recur in as few as five episodes in Season 5. While reducing episodic guarantees is becoming more common amid industrywide belt-tightening, downgrading the entire cast besides the two leads to recurring is the most dramatic talent cost-reduction move yet and a possible indication of what’s to come as linear ratings continue to slide and the networks’ push to cut license fees continues to grow.
NBC earlier this week picked up all six Wolf Entertainment series — Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime — for next season. The renewals came with an asterisk as casts were told that they will appear in fewer episodes next year. The development comes on the heels of CBS recently renewing veteran drama Blue Bloods for a 14th season after the cast agreed to a 25% pay cut. And, the actors on another recently renewed CBS series, comedy Bob ❤️ Abishola, also had to agree to a substantial, double-digit salary reduction for the show to get a Season 5 renewal. (According to sources, it was less than 25%). Blue Bloods comes from CBS sibling CBS Studios, Bob ❤️ Abishola from an outside supplier, Warner Bros. TV.
Bob ♥ Abishola is the fourth top CBS comedy to be renewed for next season, joining Young Sheldon, Ghosts and The Neighborhood. In its fourth season, Bob ♥ Abishola is averaging 5.99 million viewers in its Monday 8:30 p.m. time period. With Live+35 day multiplatform viewing, the series increases to more 6.9 million viewers. It is also TV’s No. 2 comedy among African American viewers.
CBS is beginning to put its 2021-22 slate together. The broadcast network has handed out early renewals for its Monday comedies, slotting a third season for Chuck Lorre’s Bob Hearts Abishola and a fourth season for Cedric the Entertainer’s The Neighborhood.
Exclusives
CBS is doubling down on all its new shows. The network has renewed Evil for a second season, and handed out full-season orders to its other four freshman series: All Rise, Carol’s Second Act, The Unicorn and Bob Hearts Abishola.
