‘The Kominsky Method’ and ‘Bob Hearts Abishola’ Show Two Drastically Different Sides of Chuck Lorre

There are few names as divisive in the world of sitcoms as Chuck Lorre. As the co-creator and producer extraordinaire behind long-running hits Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, Lorre has had a show in the Nielsen top 30–usually the top 10–for the last 16 years.

But ratings success hasn’t lead to critical success or even the kind of cultural respect that top 10 sitcoms like Seinfeld, Frasier, and Friends got back in the ’90s. As the TV viewing audience became more fractured, as broadcast networks became the thing that parents watched while kids and young adults gravitated towards low-rated network shows (The Office, Parks and Recreation), cable comedies (Veep, Atlanta) and streaming (Master of None, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Lorre’s output became shorthand for lowest common denominator entertainment. The gulf between a show like Mom, another hit co-created by Lorre, and a cult fave like NBC’s The Good Place, which picked up a following thanks to its availability on Netflix, has only grown wider. Now that gulf exists between two Chuck Lorre shows that are on the air at the same time: CBS’ Bob Hearts Abishola and Netflix’s The Kominsky Method.

The shows couldn’t be more different. Bob Hearts Abishola is a star-crossed, quasi-one-sided romcom multi-cam between a Detroit compression sock magnate and the Nigerian nurse that treated him after his heart attack. The Kominsky Method is a single-cam dramedy about a once successful actor turned acting coach, his curmudgeonly agent, and the women who put up with their aged antics. One show makes a bunch of culture clash jokes, the other makes a bunch of prostate jokes. The two couldn’t be more different in premise and execution, but they both have the same Chuck Lorre sensibility.

That’s why The Kominsky Method is so fascinating to me. It’s rare that you get to see a TV auteur, which Lorre’s massive and consistent body of work proves he is, experiment in two drastically different formats at once. When The Kominsky Method hit last year, I was surprised by how much I liked it. The show didn’t remind me at all of Lorre’s blockbuster ’00s output for CBS. Instead, it reminded me of ’90s Lorre, the guy that wrote some standout episodes of peak Roseanne, the guy that created sharp, female-driven comedies like Cybill and Grace Under Fire, the guy that co-created the kooky Dharma & Greg (which is now on Hulu and really holds up, BTW). As much as you might groan when you hear “bazinga,” you can’t deny the guy’s impact on the golden age of multi-cam sitcoms (a.k.a. the ’90s), and Kominsky Method showed that Lorre still had it.

Bob Hearts Abishola, on the other hand, is exactly what you expect from the Lorre factory–mostly. Yeah, the pilot had a fart joke in the first ten seconds and yes, it is weird to see Chuck Lorre–a guy whose shows have always been very, very, very white–tackle race issues. When Bob Hearts Abishola succeeds, it’s because maybe Lorre is a little woke, or at least as woke as Sandy Kominsky (a man not afraid to “drop a deuce in a gender-neutral bathroom”–The Kominsky Method has crude jokes, too). While Lorre’s involved with Bob Hearts Abishola, the show’s a platform for British comedian Gina Yashere, a queer woman of Nigerian descent who serves as EP on the show and a series regular (she plays Abishola’s co-worker Kemi). Considering the rep Lorre’s shows have for being throwbacks, it’s incredibly commendable that Lorre gave his massive platform to a queer woman of color.

The difference is, and this is a shocker coming from a longtime lover of the multi-cam format, The Kominsky Method proves that Lorre is ready to move beyond the confines of a soundstage. It proves that his sense of humor, which is really blunt, actually works better when you’re not hearing an audience bust a gut over forced quips. Freed from the expectations of an audience hungry for punchlines, Lorre’s able to feed other parts of his creative appetite on Kominsky. He says real things about grief, aging, illness, and family on that show… and he also tosses in a stray dick joke because Lorre’s gonna Lorre. But without an audience there to highlight said dick joke, the zingers between Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin are allowed to play out like actual dialogue. No one on Kominsky Method is getting their version of “bazinga” any time soon.

This setup would greatly benefit Bob Hearts Abishola, which launched with people bracing for impact because of the stigma critics have placed on the term “Chuck Lorre multi-cam.” And that’s no shade towards the format, one I love dearly. The best comedies of all time, from Cheers to Seinfeld, were all multi-cam. One Day at a Time and even The Conners are proving that there’s life still in that format. Lorre, on the other hand, is beyond that now. Kominsky Method proved that! It proved that his writing, which seems so set-up/punchline, can actually go deeper. It’s a real bummer that Bob Hearts Abishola, a show where every joke feels like it comes with a wink, doesn’t make use of this rejuvenated Lorre style. Instead, Lorre’s CBS show feels as dated as his previous output, even if the concept and creative voice are refreshingly new.

Multi-cam ain’t dead, but Lorre’s leveled up. The format doesn’t serve his jokes well, and he’s showed us what he can do when he’s cut loose. He wins a Golden Globe for Best Comedy, something that hasn’t happened for one of his shows since Cybill in 1996. If you were trying to coast on the same old comedy, Lorre, then you blew your cover. You can make boundary-pushing shows, and now we know it.

Stream The Kominsky Method on Netflix

Stream Bob Hearts Abishola on CBS All Access