Another one for people knowledgeable in Chinese

Factual Questions
1

I saw a TV program in which a man (a Brit) referred a number of times to a character (portrayed by veteran Chinese-at-large actor James Hong) as “Aba,” pronounced “AH-bah,” or at least something close to that. (Sorry, don’t know about the tones, though.)

I did not think that was the person’s name, but maybe a term for “grandfather” or some other term of respect for the elderly, since the character speaking was probably young enough to be his grandson (or at least close).

Any ideas???

2

“Ba” is the Chinese word for father. “Ah ba” is a familiar “form” (it’s not really a form in the technical sense) typically used in speech when addressing one’s father or husband. Does this fit the context of the TV program?