Bob's Burgers

"*Listen, you're my children and I love you, but you're all terrible at what you do here and I feel like I should tell you. I'd fire all of you if I could.*"

***Bob's Burgers*** is an American animated sitcom created by Loren Bouchard that premiered on Fox on January 9, 2011 and continues to this day.

## Plot

The series centers on the Belchers – parents Bob and Linda, and their children Tina, Gene, and Louise – who run the titular hamburger restaurant.

## Why Bob's Burger Restaurant is Successful:

1. Catchy theme song that captures the light-hearted feel of the show well. The intro sequence is also neatly done and features 2 pretty entertaining couch gags in the form of the store next door and the pest control truck.
2. Great sense of humor that doesn't rely on edgy humor unlike most adult cartoons. In addition, the show features toilet humor that is sometimes actually funny, which is quite rare. A prime example would be in the episode "O.T The Outside Toilet," where Gene befriends a robotic toilet in the woods and tries to save it from a man who hunts toilets.
3. Likeable and witty characters. For example:
	* Bob Belcher is a hard working restauranteur who embraces culinary creativity and shows great dedication for his work while showing that he's not above his family's eccentricities.
	* Tina Belcher is the awkward pubescent oldest Belcher daughter with poor social skills (notably her tendency to moan when under pressure) and a love of horses, zombies, and boys.
	* Gene Belcher is the energetic middle Belcher child with a hilariously annoying attitude (though it can be genuinely annoying at times) and a passion for music.
	* Teddy is a contractor and Bob's best customer who displays a heart of gold and undying loyalty to the Belcher family.
	* Linda Belcher is Bob's peppy and flamboyant wife with large amounts of enthusiasm and great faith in her husband's business.
	* Louise Belcher is the mischievous youngest Belcher daughter who has high intelligence to use for her schemes, but deep down she also cares for her friends and family and will help them out when the time comes.
	* Several of the side characters are pretty memorable like Mort, Gayle, Jimmy Jr., Zeke, Andy and Ollie, Regular-Sized Rudy, Darryl, Marshmallow, and Millie.
4. Interesting plots for most of the episodes, such as the aforementioned "O.T. The Outside Toilet" and the below-mentioned "The Equestranauts".
5. Nice-looking and crisp animation that improved over the years, especially after the show switched from Flash to Toon Boom in season 2.
6. Great voice acting, such as H. Jon Benjamin as Bob Belcher and Jimmy Pesto Jr. and Kristen Schaal as Louise Belcher.
7. Pays some clever homages to pop culture. For example, "The Equestranauts" references MLP in the form of a fictional show with its own subculture.
8. Enjoyable musical score with amazing, memorable songs sung by the cast such as *Electric Love* from "Topsy", Linda's Thanksgiving song from "An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal", *Farts Will Set You Free* from "The Frond Files", and *Bad Stuff Happens in the Bathroom* from "Glued, Where's My Bob?".
9. Memorable dialogue and quotes like "You're my children and I love you. But you're all terrible at what you do here…", Linda's catchphrase "Alright", "If boys had uteruses, they'd be called duderuses", etc.
10. Lots of memorable episodes, such as:
	* Thelma & Louise Except Thelma is Linda
	* The Deepening
	* House of 1000 Bounces
	* The Hauntening
	* The Kids Rob a Train
	* Bob Fires the Kids
	* Food Truckin’
	* The Bleakening
	* Mo Mommy Mo Problems
	* Like Gene for Chocolate
	* Cheer Up, Sleepy Gene
	* Zero Larp Thirty
	* The Laser-inth
	* God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins
	* The Kids Run Away
	* Bob Day Afternoon
	* Slumber Party
	* Christmas in the Car

## Bad Qualities

1. Some of the toilet humor is forced and unfunny.
2. **Seasonal Rot**: While not seen as outright *bad*, Season 10 is seen as somewhat disappointing by a number of fans when compared to earlier seasons. A lack of standout episodes  and a larger number of episodes that place the focus on Gene and/or Linda (who were divisive characters to begin with and only grew more divisive throughout the season) are generally seen as the reasons for the slight decline. Season 11 is also seen as a continuation of the decline (due to an increase in cringe-inducing moments with "Worms of In-Rear-Ment" and "Mommy Boy" generally regarded as the worst offenders (leaving many fans dumbfounded when the former was submitted for the Emmy), and more episodes that generally blend in more. That said, Season 11 at least has a partial excuse in that it was at least partly produced during the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing many of its voice actors to work from home and resulting in the actors generally being unable to do the in-the-room improv the show has gotten acclaim for.
3. Season 1, while an okay season, has stiffer animation with rough character designs (due to being done in Flash) and darker humor (particularly in the pilot, which featured jokes like the "child molester burger"). Thankfully, the show improved drastically after that.
4. The show's original premise was Bob juggling being a family man and the owner/cook of his own restaurant. As the show progresses, the focus has been more on the antics of the Belcher family, namely the kids, with the restaurant itself and Bob's attempts at improving business being relegated to mostly b-plots. In fact, there are episodes that never take place in the restaurant itself.
5. The show has a few bad episodes, like “Mommy Boy”, “Sleeping with the Frenemy” and most notably the infamous episode "Family Fracas".
6. Some characters are unlikable, such as Hugo, Mr Frond (at times), Tammy, and Jimmy Pesto.
	* Likewise, the main characters have a tendency to be unlikable and annoying. Most notably, Gene is arguably the least tolerable out of the Belcher Family.

## Reception

*Bob's Burgers* initially received mixed reviews in Season 1. However, the show began to improve in Season 2. As the series progressed, the reception became more positive. By Season 6, Bob's Burgers received critical acclaim. The series received an 8.1 rating on IMDb and a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. It also received a 7.6/10 on TV.com

## Trivia

* Season 1 is the only season to be animated using Flash. From season 2 onwards, the show is animated using Toonboom.
* A majority of female characters on the show are voiced by male actors.
* The Belcher family was originally pitched as a cannibalistic family who actually did serve human flesh in their burgers. Fox, however, was put off by this concept so it was changed to the Belchers being falsely accused of cannibalism.
	+ Also in the original pitch, Tina was originally a boy named Daniel Belcher. When the premise was changed, Daniel was changed into Tina while Dan Mintz was kept on to voice her using the same voice he used for Daniel.
* The episode "Flu-ouise" was briefly pulled from the air in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The episode returned to airwaves in October of the same year.