Bob's Burgers

Bob's Burgers is an American animated television sitcom, which premiered on January 9, 2011 on Fox. The series was created by Loren Bouchard and focuses on the Belcher family, who run a hamburger restaurant. On April 7, 2011, Bob's Burgers was renewed for a second season.^[2] The first season ranked 59th in ratings share, tied with 60 Minutes, The Middle, and Outsourced.^[3]

Plot

The show centers on the Belcher family, who run a hamburger restaurant. Creator Loren Bouchard said Bob's Burgers came about because Fox's animation brand centers mostly on family, but he also wanted to dabble in workplace comedy.^[4] The show is said to fill the void created by the cancellation of King of the Hill, which Bob's Burgers executive producer Jim Dauterive worked on for nearly its entire run.^[5]

Opening sequence

As with two other Fox animated series, The Simpsons and American Dad!, the show has a changing element in the show's opening credits; the store (on the other side of Bob's from Mort's funeral home) changes from one episode to the next. However, during the show itself, it is almost always vacant.

The opening sequence shows a burger, after which the Belcher family gradually appears with their restaurant in the background. A 'Grand Opening' banner appears on the building; the restaurant then catches fire in rapidly shown incidents, with the store re-opening with a 'Grand Re-opening' banner three times, before the "camera" zooms into building's sign (the show's logo) and fades into the episode.

Cast

Belcher family

• Bob Belcher (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) – The husband of Linda, the father of Tina, Gene, and Louise, and the main character of the series. He is the proprietor of a burger restaurant which he enjoys almost more than anything else.
• Linda Belcher (voiced by John Roberts) – Bob's wife and the mother of Tina, Gene, and Louise. She stands by Bob's side through thick and thin. She is always trying to try new things, even if she has no idea how exactly to go about it or hasn't the support of anybody else.
• Tina Belcher (voiced by Dan Mintz) – The eldest Belcher child and the "goof" of the family. She generally speaks in a monotone voice, works part-time at the restaurant and is often the voice of reason among the Belcher children. She is trying to come to grips with her entry into adulthood, and claims to have a complicated relationship with zombies. Tina was aged 12 in early episodes and now 13 since the episode "Sheesh! Cab, Bob?".
• Gene Belcher (voiced by Eugene Mirman) – The only son of the family. He is very enthusiastic about almost everything and enjoys playing his keyboard. He often promotes the restaurant by wearing a burger costume, and dreams of one day being a famous musician. Gene is likely to be 10 or 11 years old as he is the middle child.
• Louise Belcher (voiced by Kristen Schaal) – The youngest of the Belcher siblings. She enjoys pulling pranks on people she deems stupid, and is more than willing to exploit people if there is anything to be gained. She has an offbeat sense of humor and picks locks as a hobby. In the episode "Torpedo", she mentions that her age is 9. Louise always wears a hat with pink rabbit ears.

Pesto family

• Jimmy Pesto (voiced by Jay Johnston) – The owner of the Italian restaurant across the street from Bob's and Bob's personal nemesis. Their rivalry often seems to border on stalking each other, even though their families get along well.
• Ollie and Andy Pesto (voiced by Sarah Silverman and Laura Silverman) – Jimmy Pesto's twin sons. They are very childish and care for each other a lot. They are good friends and classmates with Louise despite the rivalry between their fathers.
• Jimmy Pesto Jr. (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) – Jimmy Pesto's son and Ollie and Andy's older brother. Unlike his father, Jimmy Jr. is not against the Belcher family as he is classmates with Tina, who has a crush on him and tries her best getting his attention (slow dancing with him, sharing a pasta string with him, etc).

Recurring characters

• Mort (voiced by Andy Kindler) – The owner of the funeral home next to the restaurant. A little odd, he is good friends with Bob and Teddy.
• Teddy (voiced by Larry Murphy) – A regular customer and friend of the family. A blue-collar type, he tells many stories about his life which annoys Bob mostly.
• Mr. Frond (voiced by David Herman) – The School Counselor of Wagstaff School where Louise, Gene and Tina attend. Bob describes him as a "tall drink of annoying" and he has stuffed animals that he talks to as if they were real.
• Hugo (voiced by Sam Seder) – A health inspector who used to date Linda but got jilted by her for Bob, a fact that causes him no end of frustration, which he takes out on Bob any chance he gets.
• Ron (voiced by Ron Lynch) – Hugo's assistant for health inspecting. Often quiet, he is more than willing to point out Hugo's malpractices.
• Mr. Calvin Fischoeder (voiced by Kevin Kline) – Calvin Fischoeder (pronounced "Fish-odor") is an eccentric local businessman (who dresses in a white suit with a white eye-patch) and Bob's landlord. He owns or has a stake in just about everything down on the harbor (and many things in town). He likes Bob despite Bob always being late with his rent (partially because Bob knows a legendary burger recipe that he greatly enjoys). Louise describes him as being "one white cat away from being a supervillain".
• Officer Julia (voiced by Jerry Minor) – a local African-American police officer. She acts tough with people she arrests. She appears mostly with Officer Cliffany.
• Officer Cliffany (voiced by Sam Seder) – A local tall, androgynous, and overweight police officer. She works frequently with Officer Julia whenever there is a case in town.

Reception

Critical

The series has received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Metacritic.com gave an aggregate score of 53 out of 100 or "mixed or average reviews."^[6] Entertainment Weekly gave the show an A- grade in its review, remarking that "a comedy this well done is very rare indeed."^[7] Ain't It Cool News called Bob's Burgers "perhaps the funniest half-hour currently airing on broadcast TV."^[8] In its review, CNN called the show "wickedly funny" and said there are "too many highlights to list here."^[9] On blogcritics.org, JeromeWetzelTV commented that "[w]hile not preachy, Bob's Burgers is certainly the most wholesome of the Sunday night cartoons. The series is not all about the heart, though. There are plenty of great jokes. For instance, when Gene wins a gold medal in the race, his mother, Linda (John Roberts), wants to have it bronzed. This is just one example of the off-beat brand of humor that Bob's Burgers brings to a night full of the same type of show, setting it apart."^[10]

However, the Washington Post described the show as "pointlessly vulgar and derivatively dull" while Reuters stated that "It's unwise -- and unnecessary -- to launch an animated sitcom on Fox that appears intent to ape the vulgarity quotient of Family Guy."^[11][12] USA Today stated that "Bob's Burgers isn't very tasty" describing the comedy as just "lop[ing] along, stumbling from one tasteless moment to the next"^[13] The New York Times described the show as having "a lackadaisical vibe; its humor, no matter how anarchic, slides by in a deadpan monotone."^[14]

Ratings

After airing, the show became the highest-rated series premiere of the season and also finished 9th in the ratings for the week it aired.^[15][16] Despite this, the ratings went on a slide with Bill Gorman of TV by the Numbers calling it a "toss up" for renewal before the series was renewed for a second season^[17] to be aired on March 11, 2012.

Worldwide release

References

External links

• Official website
• Bob's Burgers at the Internet Movie Database
• Bob's Burgers at TV.com