Recovering in a hospital from a heart attack, a middle-aged Detroit man is instantly smitten by the immigrant nurse from Nigeria who is caring for him.

"I never liked the sound of my name, but when you say it, it sounds nice: Bobe," he says, imitating her pronunciation. "Oh yeah, it's way better than Baaab."

Well, they've got the Michigan accent right. CBS's "Bob Hearts Abishola," which premieres at 8:30 p.m. Monday, is the latest half-hour sitcom with a story line based in the Motor City.

The premise for the comedy — the latest from sitcom king Chuck Lorre of "The Big Bang Theory" and "Two And a Half Men" — is a very 2019 take on the familiar theme of an unlikely couple with more in common than you'd think.

Bob (“Mike & Molly" star Billy Gardell), who is white, is a hard-working compression socks businessman with a sometimes difficult family. Abishola (actress Folake Olowofoyeku, who’s originally from Nigeria), who is black, is a hard-working cardiac nurse with a sometimes difficult family.

The laughs come from their tentative romance across cultural lines.

Although the series is filmed in Los Angeles, the first episode is sprinkled with Detroit-centric details. The Woodward Memorial Hospital where Abishola works borrows its name from the city's main avenue. Abishola's son attends Jamerson Middle School, which sounds like a nod to the great Motown bass player James Jamerson. The name of a real DDOT line, 16 Dexter, can be seen on the bus that Abishola takes to work.

And when Bob tries to use free compression socks to bribe Abishola's co-worker (played by the marvelous character actress Vernee Watson) into giving him her home address, she quips, "Are they magic socks?... Honey, you're in Detroit. You need to give me some money."

There's even a proud Detroiter in the cast, Second City Detroit alum Maribeth Monroe, who plays Bob's sister. Monroe, best known for her roles on Comedy Central's "Workaholics" and NBC’s “The Good Place,” hails from Fraser and is involved in the Detroit Creativity Project, which helps city students learn and grow through improv comedy.

More:'The Good Place' star talks about final season and his Detroit Improv Festival show

Lorre, whose current shows also include CBS's "Mom" and "Young Sheldon" and Netflix's "The Kominsky Method" with Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin, says he chose Detroit as the home city for the show for symbolic reasons, not personal ones.

"As a kid growing up in New York, the constant impression I had of Detroit, other than Al Kaline’s Yankees-killing Tigers, was of the world-class and world-dominating automobile industry," said Lorre via email.

"Placing our show where greatness was built — and will be built again — was very much a conscious decision. Bob’s small family hosiery business is striving to achieve some part of that greatness. And Abishola’s ambitions for both her son and herself reflects the same desire — to work hard, find security, and add value to this world."

An immigration story set in Detroit

And though "Bob Hearts Abishola" is decidedly mainstream in its laughs, it does have a positive message about immigration and America's historical legacy of welcoming newcomers.

Given the Trump administration's continuing push to limit the number of people coming here from abroad, and the suffering and demonizing of immigrants that has been part of the policy, the gentle, sometimes earthy humor of "Bob Hearts Abishola" is making a big statement.

As Lorre puts it, "For me, the miracle of this country is that, despite all the fear and anger inevitably caused by newcomers with strange traditions and languages, it chose to make itself a home for immigrants from all over the world. And that single impulse, that attitude, led to America becoming the greatest country in the history of mankind (hyperbole intended)."

In real life, Detroit's surging immigrant population has been a factor in the city's financial comeback, something Lorre mentioned during a panel discussion at the summer 2019 gathering of TV critics in Los Angeles.

According to Global Detroit, a nonprofit corporation that wants to help create jobs and foster economic growth by working with immigrants and foreign trade and investment, census data from 2010 to 2014 reveals that as Detroit's U.S.-born population has gone down 5.3 percent, the immigrant population has increased by 12.7 percent.

As Lorre told the Free Press, those immigrants are following the same American dream as newcomers have for centuries: "The strength of character required is the same for both first generation immigrants and a family that has been here for many generations. And that is an inherently American story."

Detroit, a setting for sitcoms

Detroit is also an inherently lucky location, or at least that's what TV series creators seem to think. Past sitcoms set in the Motor City and nearby suburbs include "Martin" (1992-97), "Sister, Sister" (1994-99), the Eddie Murphy stop-motion animated series "The PJs" (1999-2001) "8 Simple Rules" (2002-05), and the Ferndale-based buddy comedy "Undateable" (2014-16), set in Ferndale.

Detroit has been the hub of critical and ratings successes. The 1999 sublime one-season wonder "Freaks and Geeks" was set in a fictional version of the northern Detroit suburbs that co-creator Paul Feig grew up in, while the mother of all Detroit sitcoms, ratings hit "Home Improvement” (1991-97), was a tribute to star Tim Allen's early years here.

The handful of comedies that actually have been filmed here include HBO's "Hung" (2009-11), a provocative tale of an unemployed teacher who turns to male prostitution to earn a living, and Comedy Central's "Detroiters" (2017-19), the passion project of best friends (and hometown favorites) Sam Richardson and Tim Robinson that's probably the most authentically Detroit of all the series with ties here.

The critical reception for "Bob Hearts Abishola" hasn't been warm so far, but never underestimate the power of a Chuck Lorre comedy — or a TV show with heart (figuratively and, thanks to the heart emoji in the title, literally).

"Anytime you find someone who makes your life better, or you find something in them that you don't have, you're drawn to them," Gardell said to TV Guide. "The story is about kindness. I think we need more of that in the air right now."

Watch Bob Hearts Abishola: First Look At Bob Hearts Abishola On CBS - Full show on CBS All Access

'Bob Hearts Abishola'

Premiere: 8:30 p.m. Mon.

CBS