PILOT REVIEW: Bob's Burgers

BOB'S BURGERS

Starring: H. Jon Benjamin, Dan Mintz, Eugene Mirman, John Roberts, Kristen Schaal
Created by Loren Bouchard
Written by Loren Bouchard and Jim Dauterive, Directed by Anthony Chun

Bob's Burgers is the latest show to join FOX's Animation Domination Sunday lineup. It is centered around a family who runs a run-down burger joint. Father Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) thinks it can be a success with the right marketing and products. His wife Linda (John Roberts) faithfully follows him in his business adventures and together they have three odd children - awkward Tina (Dan Mintz), performer Gene (Eugene Mirman), and conniving Louise (Kristen Schaal). In the pilot episode, they are targeted by the health inspector (who used to date Linda) on incorrect suspicions of serving human flesh from the next door crematory.

I'm not a fan of FOX's animated lineup but from what I do know about the other shows, this one seems to fit right in. It has its funny moments but it veers into the absurd from time to time. It also has a very dry humor and while it was good for the occasional laugh, it's nothing spectacular. The first scene when Bob was handing out duties to his family to prepare for a big marketing push was funny and his wife Linda thinking she had a surprise anniversary party coming was the highlight of the episode. But the whole main plot (the accusation of serving human flesh) just fell kind of flat. The voices of the family are good but they did have some autistic jokes about the oldest daughter that were bordering on tasteless. Simply put, it sounds like a FOX cartoon.

There's a reasonable chance for success for this show. It has the family comedy element that defines the other big shows on the night (The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show, Family Guy). It's probably on the same level as Cleveland but won't get the devoted viewership that The Simpsons and Family Guy have attained. If it can focus on the family dynamics rather than veering into the absurd, it should be ok. I probably won't be watching to see if that happens though.