The older daughter (Tina Belcher), although voiced by a man, is not intended to be a lesbian; she is explicitly portrayed as having crushes on at least two male figures (a male capoeira instructor*, and the son from the restaurant across the street).
I really like the show, but my wife can’t stand it. (That’s true of most of the cartoons I like, actually- the only one she’ll watch is The Venture Bros.) Someone earlier mentioned that the dad in Bob’s Burgers isn’t a bumbling idiot and that’s something I agree with and appreciate- he’s actually probably the most “normal” person on the show.
The dark (and somewhat psychotic) youngest daughter cracks me up because she comes up with the most outrageous but still somewhat plausible stuff- making throwing stars out of a credit card, mass producing “Art” like a pimp, taking a conflict resolution role-play too far by threatening to punch someone forever as the camera pans back down a corridor whilst reinforcing the point, and so on.
The show’s humour is very… dry, which I quite like. The jokes aren’t obviously telegraphed well in advance, but they’re not completely random, either- they just go in a completely different direction to the one you were thinking of.
Sure, it’s not as clever as Futurama or as wacky as American Dad or Family Guy- but I still think it’s hilarious.
In case anyone is wondering, that asterisk was going to go to a footnote explaining that I hadn’t personally seen that episode, but I guess I forgot to actually insert the footnote…
This cartoon is genius.
I just saw the crawl space last night, and I was dying when Gene vehemently claimed that “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” was written by Salman Rushdie. I’m laughing right now, just thinking about it.
Oh boy, I’m a cool kid again! Ha.
All I can say is this: Make sure you see the “Art Crawl” episode before you give up on it. I hurt myself on this episode.
I missed the Crawl space episode until last night. The boys line after the grandparents left, “Gotta go, I have a room to re-fart.” had me in absolute stiches. I love this show!
Male, 43, autodidact, married with 2 spoiled dogs.
I miss KOTH but I’m really warming up to this show (crappy animation aside).
Don’t forget the zombies.
That’s an example of what I think is great about this cartoon. Tina is what Meg should be, Tina is definitely unattractive, socially awkward, dealing with incredibly conflicting emotions, like a teen age girl would be. She just comes up with bizarre ways of expressing it – “Are you in the wall, or the poster? Please say poster.”
I watched the crawl space episode Sunday night and it held my interest. I liked how Bob’s solution to fixing the roof leak was to move the pots and pans catching the water in the kitchen to a bucket in the attic catching the water.
The girl with the bunny ears is hilarious, it’s funny how the mother told the guidance counselor she “messes with people the thinks are stupid.”
I guess the main problem with the show is the energy level just seems really low, it’s pretty low-key.
but can you respect that there exists different strokes for different folks? i like family guy as much as the next guy but i like how Fox is trying to diversify their Animation Domination. there are but so many conglomerations of fast-paced, plot-irrelevant non-sequiturs a guy can tolerate. It’s nice to have a few more story-driven animated series.
I don’t get it at all. I’ve tried to watch an entire episode but I feel like I’m being wooshed the entire time.
I’ll give it a few more tries. Maybe they haven’t hit their stride yet. Oddly I’m bothered by the girl in the bunny suit. It’s like walking around with a fake arrow in one’s head.
Maybe I’m just getting old. Hey you, get off my lawn.
The two funniest new shows on TV both star H. Jon Benjamin: Bob’s Burgers and Archer (which is even funnier!) I never thought there’d be a funnier animated show than The Venture Brothers, but Archer is!
Bob’s Burgers is a classic example of- If you have to ask you won’t get it.
Like all quality shows the key is in the writing. The scripts are genuinely great (short) storytelling. And all the characters, while at first seemingly stereotypes, are actually well fleshed out, three dimensional people. And the two are combined flawlessly. Its very very funny because all the humor is natural and organic. IOW the stories are not some comedic shtick that’s shoehorned onto characters whose only point is to be the medium for telling the jokes. Rather the characters different semi-odd personalities are applied to an idea and they react accordingly (and humorously).
I don’t see why the style of the animation (i.e. no chins, round joints etc.) is at all bothersome. Its like when someone says that they don’t like South Park because the animation is so cheap looking. The animation is as good as it needs to be. If it bothers you its because you’re just not ‘getting’ what the meat of the show is (hint- its not the animation).
BTW, is it weird that the OP’s handle is Stink Fish Pot and a character on BB was named Mr. Fishodor (voiced by Kevin Klein)…
The series was renewed for a second season.
Awesome. I didn’t like it at first, but it’s totally grown on me. Like many it seems, the crawl-space episode is what sold me.
I was enjoying the Stink Fish Pot-Mr. Fishoder connection myself.
I missed the crawl space episode - I know what I’m watching at lunch!
Those of you that like H. Jon Benjamin in Home Movies and Archer should catch Lucy, Daughter of the Devil. You will thank me!
And his great (live action) sketch work on Important Things with Dimitri Martin.
I would have thought that’d be obvious from the title.
the episode this past sunday, with the re-re-re-grand opening was very funny, i laughed out loud very very hard! my new fav show!