S04.E22: Uncharted Waters of Mediocrity

[jewel21]

Quote

Doubts begin to creep in as Abishola awaits her acceptance letter to the medical school of her dreams in Baltimore. Also, Bob battles his subconscious when he realizes he doesn’t want to leave Detroit.

Airdate: May 22, 2023

Season finale!

[DanaK]

Knowing that everybody but Bob and Abishola won’t be seen much next season kind of cast a pall over this finale but I mostly enjoyed it

[shadeseeker]

I was wondering why Bob’s dad looks so young.  Is he portrayed at the age he was when he died?

[greekmom]

1 hour ago, DanaK said:

Knowing that everybody but Bob and Abishola won’t be seen much next season kind of cast a pall over this finale but I mostly enjoyed it

The can cut out Abishola's mom, pair down Goodwin, Kofo and Kemi.  I know they won't with Kemi because she is one of the show's writers or producers.  But she does grate on my nerves alot.

Not happy about the John Hopkins move. I wish they would have made up some fake Ivy league school in Detroit that Abishola got in.

[HurricaneVal]

I really like how Bob stayed honest there in the end.  This episode got back to the core of the show: how much Bob loves Abishola, and that she loves him right back.

I don't know what the next season will bring.  If cutting characters is what will happen, I'll be extra sad to lose the church scenes.  Those are often the best. 

It has struck me before, but I just wanted to mention that the actress who plays Ebun is really good.  It takes talent to portray an insufferable person who isn't entirely irredeemable, and really be equally believable on both sides even when you must turn on a dime.  She's also really beautiful too.

[shapeshifter]

Having Bob and Abishola move to Baltimore is an organic way to cut the other characters' appearances down without actually getting rid of any. That's the ostensible goal, right? Make the others give up full time work for half time and then phase out some altogether? That happened at my workplace too, so I'm familiar with that particular budget balancing scheme.😠

But if Dele goes to college in Boston, might Travis Wolfe Jr. get a bigger role? I guess it could go either way.

Does this mean they'll be making new sets? 

[Harvey]

The vanity card at the end of this episode was quite ironic. The show creator implies that writing is not real "work" but still wants to get more compensation for it. Did he think this through?

[shapeshifter]

11 hours ago, Harvey said:

The vanity card at the end of this episode was quite ironic. The show creator implies that writing is not real "work" but still wants to get more compensation for it. Did he think this through?
http://chucklorre.com/images/cards/1683782647.jpg

I think Lorre's feeling a little defensive about being on strike because he's become obscenely wealthy by writing while undocumented ditch diggers are literally breaking their backs for a few dollars per hour, as are the majority of workers throughout the world, including those providing child care, doing food preparation, and cleaning, both paid and unpaid. 
So it's one of those jokes that's not hah-hah funny. 
All that to say: You're right. He's playing with irony.

 

Edited May 23, 2023 by shapeshifter

[Yeah No]

Agreed 100%, about Chuck Lorre, @shapeshifter, you hit that nail on the head!

Yeah, I'm not feeling especially optimistic about how next season is going to pan out what with an ill-timed potential move to Johns Hopkins.  It hits close to home for me as one of my nephews' long term live-in girlfriends got accepted there a few years ago for nursing and he went to live there with her part time.  It was just circumstance that he was able to work from home for a long time because this happened at the start of the pandemic when everyone was working from home, so he didn't have to give up his job in NYC.  But he basically had a desk job, he didn't run a division of a company at a time when things are in a state of change.  I think Bob is going to have to run back and forth a lot and he and Abishola may at times have to have a long distance relationship.  All of that on the backdrop of fewer cast members per episode might be tricky to pull off and wreck up the show altogether.  I'm just glad it's coming back because my TV situation in general right now is going from bad to worse.  A lot of stuff I watch has either been shelved, delayed, affected by the strike or cancelled in the past year or so and not much has come along as a replacement.  In the scheme of things this show is pretty good so it would be especially sad to see it go down the drain.

[floridamom]

What are they doing to this show? I agree that there are too many cast members but having them move away will change the show very much. I'm not on board with this. Perhaps this will be their last season with a development like this.

[Notabug]

4 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Agreed 100%, about Chuck Lorre, @shapeshifter, you hit that nail on the head!

Yeah, I'm not feeling especially optimistic about how next season is going to pan out what with an ill-timed potential move to Johns Hopkins.  It hits close to home for me as one of my nephews' long term live-in girlfriends got accepted there a few years ago for nursing and he went to live there with her part time.  It was just circumstance that he was able to work from home for a long time because this happened at the start of the pandemic when everyone was working from home, so he didn't have to give up his job in NYC.  But he basically had a desk job, he didn't run a division of a company at a time when things are in a state of change.  I think Bob is going to have to run back and forth a lot and he and Abishola may at times have to have a long distance relationship.  All of that on the backdrop of fewer cast members per episode might be tricky to pull off and wreck up the show altogether.  I'm just glad it's coming back because my TV situation in general right now is going from bad to worse.  A lot of stuff I watch has either been shelved, delayed, affected by the strike or cancelled in the past year or so and not much has come along as a replacement.  In the scheme of things this show is pretty good so it would be especially sad to see it go down the drain.

Along with Bob's obligations and commitments, Abishola is going to embark on a very time intensive course of study.  I went to med school, not even Johns Hopkins, and, during the first couple years; it is 8 hours in the classroom or lab daily Monday through Friday followed by minimum 3-5 hours study every night.  Weekends and holidays provide even more opportunity to study.  8 hours on both Saturday and Sunday and up to 16 hours prior to exams would be typical. Taking a day off to play hooky or run back to Detroit for something can be fatal to a budding medical career.  Abishola is going to have very little time for Bob, let alone the rest of her family and friends.

Of course, the show will probably fudge on all of that and she'll be working full time as a nurse and traveling back to Detroit on weekends.

Edited May 23, 2023 by Notabug

[DanaK]

3 hours ago, floridamom said:

What are they doing to this show? I agree that there are too many cast members but having them move away will change the show very much. I'm not on board with this. Perhaps this will be their last season with a development like this.

The hazards of major budget cuts

[Liquid6]

Aww, sookie sookie now!! I actually work at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and live nearby (JHU offers an excellent Live Near Work monetary incentive). Let me find out I’ll be neighbors with Bob & Abishola lol. If only. 

[Harvey]

6 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I'm just glad it's coming back because my TV situation in general right now is going from bad to worse.  A lot of stuff I watch has either been shelved, delayed, affected by the strike or cancelled in the past year or so and not much has come along as a replacement.  In the scheme of things this show is pretty good so it would be especially sad to see it go down the drain.

Slightly off-topic but I had the same worries, all shows are coming to an end because summer break and who knows when will we get new stuff. I just did an internet deep-dive to find shows I would probably like watching and found about 10 already completed series from the last 20 years, multiple of them have 100+ episodes so I feel saved. In a time like this the solution is to go back to past series imo.

About the move to Baltimore, I am sure it won't happen. You will all see, in the first episode of next season they will come up with a solution / reason why it is better for Bob & Abishola to stay where they are. Or they only go there for 1-2 episodes before returning home, like they did with the episodes when they visited Africa. No sitcom makes such a big change.

[possibilities]

I feel like they finally figured out how to show that Abishola loves Bob, and not just the other way around. 

[SoMuchTV]

It did seem like the show was setting itself up with a possible out for the Baltimore stuff, when Abishola met the adult student at Fictional Directional Michigan U. and realized that could be an option for someone like her.  I forget, was that in commuting distance from Detroit?

[greekmom]

10 hours ago, floridamom said:

What are they doing to this show? I agree that there are too many cast members but having them move away will change the show very much. I'm not on board with this. Perhaps this will be their last season with a development like this.

I'm hoping with the writer's strike they just decide to pull the plug.  

[EtheltoTillie]

Christine Ebersole wasn’t even on last night!  

[Izzy85]

5 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Christine Ebersole wasn’t even on last night!  

She was in the beginning, she was eating celery at the meeting, lol

[Notabug]

On 5/23/2023 at 5:30 PM, SoMuchTV said:

It did seem like the show was setting itself up with a possible out for the Baltimore stuff, when Abishola met the adult student at Fictional Directional Michigan U. and realized that could be an option for someone like her.  I forget, was that in commuting distance from Detroit?

I think that's going to be the opener next season, Abishola will realize that, while Johns Hopkins was her dream, she needs a new dream, one that doesn't take all of Bob's dreams away from him and she enrolls at Fake Michigan U. instead.  First big sacrifice she's had to make in their relationship.

[SnarkySheep]

On 5/23/2023 at 5:30 PM, SoMuchTV said:

It did seem like the show was setting itself up with a possible out for the Baltimore stuff, when Abishola met the adult student at Fictional Directional Michigan U. and realized that could be an option for someone like her.  I forget, was that in commuting distance from Detroit?

I think Bob said it was a two-hour drive? So if Dele went there, it would be reasonable for him to live on campus, but come home regularly, like on weekends. IMO that's the direction they will go.

[Keywestclubkid]

Next season is def gonna be the last ... the writing is on the wall

[watch2much]

remember it wasn't a "hard no" on pregnancy.  maybe she'll get pregnant and put off going this year.  I hope they don't move to Baltimore.  and I hate that they are cutting the cast.  Frankly, Abishola is probably my least favorite character.  she's got everything from this relationship...a nice house, her mother living with them, a husband that bows to her every wish.  to me, she's a selfish bitch.

[shapeshifter]

On 6/9/2023 at 10:35 AM, Keywestclubkid said:

Next season is def gonna be the last ... the writing is on the wall

IIRC, the previous long writers strike resulted in some cancelations of shows that might not have been otherwise. Of course, different times.

 

On 8/3/2023 at 11:23 AM, watch2much said:

Frankly, Abishola is probably my least favorite character. 

In the pilot episode it was Abishola's singing that captured Bob's heart. 
Too bad she never sang again.

I don't mind Abishola's crankiness so much. We have a lot of that in my family, so it's nice to see that it could be even worse. Heh.
But none of the characters are heartwarming. I guess if they had a heartwarming character, the others would be a bit lighter too, and that would be a different show.
In a lot of ways, Bob married someone like his mother, which is common.

Edited August 9, 2023 by shapeshifter