Bob’s Burgers has been renewed for a 13th season, but many critics say it is a mistake. There is a wide gap between viewership and show quality that exists in shows that have a long-standing trach record of steady viewers. If a show is on air for decades and has a large following, even if the show suffers from a downward change in content and writing, but the fans of the show still watch in large numbers, the show goes on. The networks simply must make money off what is working, and in their eyes, numbers are the only thing that matters. Bob’s Burgers, like The Simpsons, has always been a show that had the ability to rope in star actors like Jon Hamm and John Oliver, but as of late, the show has been fewer guest stars. Some argue that the show is left behind by the writers and producers who are busy working on other projects like Central Park and The Great North. There has no doubt been some changes that have happened in terms of the overall quality of the show. This tends to be the issue when a shows premise rests on the characters never again. Sure, it is absolutely comforting to know that Stewie will always be an infant within the confines of Family Guy, but you better have an endless well of writers to draw up fascinating new ways to display Stewie’s sinister plots for his established character each week.
Another difficulty of finding new storylines for evergreen characters, is that they already have a history and personality that should not necessarily alter a great deal. From a writing standpoint, the precedent that the characters have established in Bob’s Burgers leaves little room for genuinely new ideas and sub-plots to develop without betraying who the fans know these characters to be. Bob’s Burgers was found guilty of breaking this infraction in the recent episode “Manic Pixie Crap Show.” As discussed in an article by Jim Vorel, 12 seasons into the show, Linda displays a horrible anxiety in the episode due to a childhood trauma involving the death of a pet. With an animated series that has been on air for over a decade, imagining up a new emotional layer of a character without any previous inclinations from the character that this anxiety or trauma was present is a sort of subversive gesture to the audience. The show itself then takes this not as serious as its viewers, assuming the viewers will simply accept that they didn’t know this about the character they have watched for well over 100 hours. The latent personality traits of character do come out in shows, but this example seemed to be forced on by the writers.
As stated, the producers of Bob’s Burgers do have other projects coming out of the pipeline. Like American Dad and The Cleveland Show, once an animated series has established itself, there becomes room for the creators to branch out and develop new shows. As the seasons of Bob’s Burgers rolls on, the number of musical numbers has surely increased, this is no doubt something that creator Loren Bouchard has pushed into production. It is not a coincidence that Bouchard released the animated series Central Park, an animated musical cartoon on Apple Tv+, and began to include more singing and dancing in the old faithful network cash-cow Bob’s Burgers. The plot of Central Park revolves around a family determined to save Central Park from the city’s villain developer Bitsy Drandenham, played by Stanley Tucci. There is some overlap in the voice actors from Bob’s Burgers as well, with the help of David Herman, playing the Bellhop in Central Park and Mr. Frond in Bob’s Burgers, as well as H. Jon. Benjamin as the title character of Bob’s Burgers and as Mayor Whitney Whitebottom in Central Park.
Another show awaiting release of it’s second season on December 19th, 2021, is The Great North. The Great North follows the adventures of a single father living in Alaska and the hijinks and drama that surrounds himself and his four family members. The show follows a very similar formula to Bob’s Burgers— a dysfunctional family, voiced by a flat-tones but articulate patriarch (Nick Offerman), trying to raise children in an adventurous setting. Unlike a city on the coast of the northeastern United States, this show takes place in the wilderness of Alaska. With some help from familiar voices like David Herman who plays Santiago Carpaccio, and Jenny Slate who portrays Judy Tobin, as well as Tammy in Bob’s Burgers, the show seems to appeal to the cable TV watching demographics.
Despite criticisms of Bob’s Burgers regurgitating old party tricks by way of polishing older episode to look new again, the show is effective at getting laughs and holding onto a dedicated fanbase. In the age of television in which we live, constantly reinventing new plotlines and refreshing characters with an already established narrative is a difficult task. Viewers are smarter these days, as they have the entire history of television and humanity at their fingertips, which means the jokes and characters must live up to the impossible standards of the viewers, but not necessarily the critics. The idea that critics hold a purer assessment of a medium is proven wrong often, with the advent of new shows and films on a daily basis. If you don’t believe me, look at Rotten Tomatoes ratings. Most often the wide gaps in the ratings between critics and viewers is seen in more controversial mediums like Dave Chappelle’s The Closer or the Disney Plus Documentary about Dr. Fauci, even so, there is a divide between the masses and the wordsmiths. It is for this reason that shows like Bob’s Burgers may live on long past their prime. Viewers simply just don’t want to let go of what they love, and why should they? After all it isn’t the critics who are paying $9.99+ each month on several different subscriptions to watch the shows they are contracted to write about. What we define as “good television” is only quantified by the number of people that consistently view it and rate it, thereby bringing in capital to cover production costs. The critics have a more noble pursuit: convincing the mobs of fans that their show is either good or bad and leaning on the decades of good television to draw a comparison of what the standards should be. As longwinded as this is, they’re both right, and they’re both wrong. To the chagrin of many critics, I believe Bob’s Burgers will be around quite a while longer.
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