Bob’s Burgers: Not Worth the Hype
While procrastinating on the mountain of homework to do over the rather short spring break, I took to perusing my Netflix when I stumbled upon (and finished) “Bob’s Burgers”. Although it is an adult cartoon, it references little mature content and I believe it is suitable for most ages.
The Adult Swim-esque show follows the Belcher family: Bob and Linda and their preteen children, Louise, Gene, and Tina, while working at their family’s business, Bob’s Burgers. In their port town in New Jersey, the family faces everyday tasks of the middle class. The plotline is too simple, and the Belcher’s local town adventures get repetitive and is almost exhausted by the sheer amount of episodes. I appreciate how the writers stayed true to the whole “American” vibe, but it limited the creativity that could be achieved in the show, leaving it subpar.
I had heard about “Bob’s Burgers” from Tumblr with the flood of screenshots of puns, which got my hopes up for a fresh and hilarious show. Instead, I was disappointed by the far inbetween jokes which left the show to hold up on the average plot. The occasional joke did mock today’s pop culture which was refreshing, but like the plot, it was limited.
Probably the best part of the show was the collection of the family’s colorful personalities, which helped it flow from episode to episode. Although their temperaments made the show more intriguing, they are all portrayed as extreme stereotypes lacking any sort of character development throughout the episodes. Linda is a “wine mom” who never grew up and acts just as mature as her children. Bob is the all American dad, who thinks he’s still cool as he was in high school but in reality just makes questionable dad jokes. Louise is a complete tomboy: she loves dangerous adventures and hates boys. Gene is that kid in your elementary school obsessed with anything gross; instead of thinking about school, Gene channels his energy into fart jokes. Remember your cringy seventh grade self that you never want to remember? Tina is that multiplied by ten. Puberty stricken, she is obsessed with boys and the definition of awkward. Especially during this time and age, as media is a major influence on today’s society, it’s important for shows like these to show how people do not just fall into stereotypes and are actually multi-faceted, but instead “Bob’s Burgers” only enforces and promotes these labels.
But despite the above reasons, I watched all 88 episodes of “Bob’s Burgers” in hope of it becoming worth the hype, but it didn’t. If you want to watch an adult cartoon, I don’t recommend this one. Appreciate the gifs online, but that’s probably the best content you will get from this show.
3.5/5
Photo from adultswim.com/Press Release
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