1. misterright

   10

   Bob's Burgers is a breath of fresh air in the genre of animated sitcoms about families. The character archetypes it uses aren't all that original at first glance, but that's really only because it's an oddball family with a dad, a mom, and three kids, which seems to be the norm for this kind of show. The only thing their missing is a pet dog. But the characters have more wit and charm than the usual cartoon family unit. Louise, the youngest child and only main female character to be voiced by a female voice actor, is perhaps my favorite so far. She's voiced by Daily Show correspondent Kristen Schaal, and her character always seeks out new ways to make things more interesting around her, which often means suggesting things that are quite counterproductive or just fanning the flames of chaos, like shouting along with the angry mob gathered outside the titular restaurant. One of her ideas of fun is changing the name of the Burger of the Day from one bad family-friendly pun to another more provocative one, ie. "Never Been Feta" to "The Foot Feta-ish." Her brother Gene, played by Eugene Mirman, is similarly enthusiastic, interested in chaos, and never seems to have a frown on his face, and he is usually always carrying a device that plays music or makes sound effects, which he seems childishly fascinated by. A complete counterpoint to the two younger spunky children is Tina, played by Dan Mintz. She speaks in hushed tones and is socially inept, but she provides the show with its dosage of adolescent topics. She is also just plain weird, and I'm sure the writers are having a fun time coming up with things that sound funny coming from Dan Mintz's voice (which doesn't try to force sounding like a girl, you know, like men in drag in movies from the 60s or earlier. just very very natural). Their mother Linda, played by John Roberts (who is also very natural with the pitch of his female character's voice), is endearingly loving and optimistic if somewhat dim-witted, like an Edith Bunker (she even has strong New York accent and some quirky vocal affectations.) Bob, played masterfully as always by H. Jon Benjamin, plays the straight man to the rest of the cast's eccentric personalities. The show has so far been of a high caliber of humor. Or at least a very high quantity.
   
   A lot of the negative reviews of the first episode were centered on how needlessly vulgar it is. That's not really the goal of Bob's Burgers, as is clear. The critics pointed to one of the first gags, when oldest sibling Tina intones that her crotch itches, as an example of how crude and unoriginal this show is. But that gag made me guffaw, not because I was imaging an itchy crotch, but because of the ensemble cast's reaction to her remark. They discuss it for about a minute, and Bob suggests Tina should keep that between her and her mother. So Tina asks her mom, and Linda asks to see it. Bob is horrified, but the kids and mother gather around, and you get a crotch's eye view of everyone's smiling faces looking down, and as Bob asks to please not do that, Louise humorously replies with a child-like tone of intrigue "No, let's all look at it."
   
   Shows like Family Guy, South Park, and everything on Adult Swim have broken down a lot of walls of what's considered "edgy" and "vulgar" so that now an itchy crotch is a rather tame and unassuming gag and doesn't require a laugh just because it's a bad mental image. But Bob's Burgers is not intending to make you laugh for its obscene dialogue -- which isn't very obscene; it wants to make you laugh at its absurd yet relatable conversations and get invested in its irresistible characters. Family Guy can keep its racist jokes. Bob's Burgers is clever and thoughtful, and it'd be a shame if this show went off the air.… Expand

   • Helpful? 3 of 3 users said Yes.
2. Zilcell

   8

   From the episodes I have seen, it has some funny moments.

   • Helpful? 1 of 1 users said Yes.
3. Guivera

   7

   The first thing i noticed about this show was the poor animation, although intentionaly it really doesn't do any favours for the show as a whole. The humour, however, can be hilarious and has some great writing evoking much laughter. Sometimes the characters can be frustrating, but overall the show is far more good than bad and is worth a watch.… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 1 users said Yes.
4. earlyair1

   1

   Really bad... The humor was far too forced. The style resembled "Sit Down Shut Up" to me. I don't see how FOX could have let this air... it should be obvious that it will flop. I really do miss King Of The Hill at this time...… Expand

   • Helpful? 2 of 8 users said Yes.

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