Bob's Burgers

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mfunk9786
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Bob's Burgers

#1 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Apr 06, 2012 11:31 pm

Fans of terrific animated comedy in the vein of Home Movies rejoice! I'm thrilled to report that Bob's Burgers is absolutely hilarious. It takes a couple of episodes to get into the rhythm of things, but once you're hooked, you'll find that it has the same breezy improvisational style as Home Movies: the sort of show that you can get something unique out of whether you're watching it intently or have it on in the background and are listening to it like a radio play. The voice cast does some impeccable work, and Loren Bouchard carries his former show's charming interplay into his new endeavor - it's a lot of fun when, say, Jon Benjamin chuckles at a Eugene Mirman line reading. Watch this show! It could use your support.

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matrixschmatrix
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Re: TV of 2012

#2 Post by matrixschmatrix » Sat Apr 07, 2012 3:13 am

Yeah, I've been watching Bob's Burgers since last year, and it's got pretty much everything Home Movies did- amazing cast, easygoing sense of rhythm, Jon Benjamin- and infinitely better animation. It's a great show.

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knives
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Re: TV of 2012

#3 Post by knives » Sat Apr 07, 2012 3:15 am

I prefer the scragliness of Home Movie's animation to be honest. Than again that very clean digital colouring just bugs me.

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matrixschmatrix
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Re: TV of 2012

#4 Post by matrixschmatrix » Sat Apr 07, 2012 3:43 am

I didn't mind the squigglevision of the first few episodes, but the Flash animation always just looked like a cheap web cartoon to me. Great series in any case, but not very expressively drawn.

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colinr0380
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Re: TV of 2012

#5 Post by colinr0380 » Sun Apr 08, 2012 6:43 pm

Bob's Burgers is great, especially those stream of consciousness agruments between the little sister and her brother that are usually always the most hilarious parts! I remember particularly liking that episode from the first series where Bob and his son get addicted to all-night screenings of a gigantic series of spaghetti westerns (with 'Banjo' obviously a thinly veiled reference to the Django movies) after seeing a TV screening and then buying a huge boxset of them.


flyonthewall2983
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Re: Bob's Burgers

#7 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Nov 04, 2013 9:46 pm

Watched last night's episode and had a few genuine LOL moments. I didn't realize at all that Kevin Kline does a supporting role from time to time.

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Re: Bob's Burgers

#8 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Dec 16, 2013 12:56 am

Tonight's episode was classic.


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Drucker
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Re: Bob's Burgers

#10 Post by Drucker » Fri Oct 03, 2014 9:59 pm

Stiff competition :roll:

Possibly my favorite show on TV next to a few of the new shows on Comedy Central.

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swo17
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Re: Bob's Burgers

#11 Post by swo17 » Sun Nov 30, 2014 10:02 pm

Are we sure domino isn't writing for this show? I just caught up with last month's season premiere, which centers on dueling elementary school musical productions of Die Hard and Working Girl, culminating in
SpoilerShow
the joint production Work Hard or Die Tryin', Girl!

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mfunk9786
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Re: Bob's Burgers

#12 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Dec 01, 2014 3:14 am

flyonthewall2983 wrote:Tonight's episode was classic.
All due respect, maybe in the future it'd make sense to be a little more specific with these posts since you know, the march of time rolls on

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swo17
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Re: Bob's Burgers

#13 Post by swo17 » Mon Dec 01, 2014 11:34 am

The Christmas "Duel" episode (with the giant candy cane truck) aired that night.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Bob's Burgers

#14 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Dec 01, 2014 11:36 am

That was a great episode - but yeah, I mean, maybe it makes some sense to include an episode title or description in your post if you're going to throw something like that out there without much further discussion, right?

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swo17
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Re: Bob's Burgers

#15 Post by swo17 » Mon Dec 01, 2014 11:45 am

Or better yet, discuss the episode enough that it can be clear to posterity which one you were referring to. Otherwise, it's a pretty empty post anyway.

This is a problem with a lot of discussion threads for currently running TV shows, or something like the awards thread on Oscar night.

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Re: Bob's Burgers

#16 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Dec 01, 2014 11:52 am

mfunk9786 wrote:That was a great episode - but yeah, I mean, maybe it makes some sense to include an episode title or description in your post if you're going to throw something like that out there without much further discussion, right?
If I'd known there wouldn't be any discussion of it, I probably wouldn't have posted it in the first place. I was kind of surprised there wasn't, and just forgot about it later on honestly.

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Re: Bob's Burgers

#17 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Thu Jan 08, 2015 6:40 pm



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swo17
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Re: Bob's Burgers

#19 Post by swo17 » Mon Dec 20, 2021 2:10 pm


britcom68

Re: Bob's Burgers

#20 Post by britcom68 » Thu Dec 23, 2021 9:02 am

I am surprised that more people have not been posting here, I feel that Bob’s Burgers is getting overlooked on the Forum. Although I do not advocate that all episodes are worth seeing, or even that Bob’s Burgers really does deserve being called a “cult favorite,” it is still a show that has been my go-to guilt pleasure for animated comedy over the past few years.

To get more people around here interested in this show I am providing my break-downs of the likely episodes which would appeal to fellow Criterion Collectors and general cinephiles. Please note that the show’s writers may frequently make allusions to Criterion and Kino released films in the titles of many of their episodes, but they usually do not follow that up within the episode itself. Still, I am one of those people that do agree that parody/imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. With that, this breakdown is not meant to be exhaustive or even based on evaluations by critics, this is just a list I drafted hoping that if you like these selected episodes you might give the rest of the show itself a try. And if this can’t get a discussion going here in the Forum about Bob’s Burgers then nothing will.

Season One:
Episode Two- Crawl Space- a cute lampoon of Kubrick’s The Shining. It is on par with the Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror version, but more grounded (except for zombies making out with each other, that’s hardly grounded).
Spaghetti Western and Meatballs- anyone who yearns for a big dvd-box set of spaghetti westerns will appreciate this episode and want to chuckle at Bob’s fever-pitch collecting bug here. And promoting father-daughter film watching time together isn’t a half bad idea either.

Season Two:
Bob Day Afternoon- it’s not every show which can make a decent ripoff of Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon and still get laughs. Plus Bill Hader voices not only the bank-robber but a robot in a frat-house bedroom who gives itself a oil/lube job (the double entendre was intended)

Season Three:
Mutiny on the Windbreaker- there is a nice moment lovingly ripped off from Apocalypse Now and this episode’s jokes just seem to land every time whether fantasizing about the Titanic or making fun of bad ventriloquists.
The Deepening- Ok yes, parodies of Jaws have been done to death, but this at least one has a good mashup montage with Free Willy. Also, I think I am not alone in wishing that the fictional movie shown within this episode- The Deepening 3D- was made a real film (Linda Blair fighting off a killer shark with a topless carwash interlude with baby sharks in a hotub and pouring wet cement down a shark’s throat to kill it sounds like it really should have been an 80s classic).

Season Four:
The Frond Files- a very cynical episode at times but a cute reworking of The Terminator as well as The Faculty and Saved by the Bell. If those combinations sound odd, well, that’s kinda the charm of Bob’s Burgers- you either like that or ya don’t.

Season Five:
Work Hard, or Die Trying Girl- who knew a mashup of Die Hard and Mike Nichol’s Working Girl could actually work within the context of a school musical? Plus it had the involvement of Carly Simon herself who sings in the re-worked title song for this episode (if it gets her blessing then who are we to complain).
Hawk and Chick- a whitewashed but decent parody of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, but how many times do you really have a chance to see such a thing anyway? It’s not like people are lining up to actually make good remakes of those films, just poor rip-offs that take themselves too seriously.
The Gayle Tales- a strong episode making fun of both Game of Thrones and Pride and Prejudice.

Season Six:
Sliding Bobs- a decent reworking of Robocop, provided you buy into the idea of a robot needing a melon baller.

Season 10:
The Handyman Can- a series of fantasies as told by the kids to give back Teddy some self-confidence in his abilities as a handyman includes a decent satire of Waterworld and a Power Rangers/Godzilla mashup.


Season 11
Mommy Boy- a nice episode making fun of films trying to be another Rocky franchise, as well as the iconic boombox moment with Say Anything in a surprising multi-layered look at femininity and the expectations of parents.
Episode 22- Vampire Disco Death Dance- a not so subtle look at Rocky Horror Picture Show and the culture of immersive fan experiences.

There is no one single episode I can give you that is a make-or-break test of whether or not you will like this show. I guess it comes down to whether or not you can envisage yourself longing to hear Kevin Klein voice a one-eyed unscrupulous landlord who wears a white three-piece suit with flowing cape. But with Disney finally agreeing to releasing the long-simmering Bob's Burgers-movie in 2022, maybe it's time for people to give this show a careful look so you can decide if it is worth your time and dime to watch the film when is comes out in May. After all, the very future of the show will depend on whether or not the overlords at Disney feel the film makes make enough money for them to make renewing the show after season14 worth their time.

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swo17
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Re: Bob's Burgers

#21 Post by swo17 » Thu Dec 23, 2021 3:27 pm

Nice effort, though I think most people here already know and enjoy the show. It can perhaps be difficult to come up with much to say though when a series has been on this long, when most individual episodes are made to stand alone, and when the primary aim is comedy. There are only so many ways to say that you find something funny (or not)

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