If you don't like Bob's Burgers, I honestly don't know what to do for you. The Emmy-award winning animated series recently started its sixth season, and it's better than ever. The adventures of Bob, Linda, Tina, Gene and Louise Belcher are consistently hilarious, to my surprise and delight. I say "surprise" only because it's almost impossible for a series to run for six seasons and counting with little to no hiccups. As a longtime fan of the show, watching its consistent success is a lot of fun for me. Still, it shouldn't come as a shock that a show like this is successful. Bob's Burger's is realistic enough to be relatable, but bizarre and off the wall enough to be achingly funny. So far, this season covers themes of boring school assemblies, head lice, and mustache hair loss.
In the season's debut episode, "Sliding Bobs," the Belcher family discusses what life for the family would have been like had Bob not had his trademark 'stache when he and Linda met. The possibilities are endless, but namely involve Bob as a robocop with a utility mustache (think Inspector Gadget), Linda marrying Hugo the health inspector, and "testicular failure."
Episode Two, "The Land Ship," features what are possibly the best two lines in the season: "you're such a goody two-boobs" and "I didn't know cholera made you old and boring and a man." The episode mostly follows Tina's long-wrestled-with desire to be "bad." She takes up late-night graffiti with another student. When he turns out to be a lousy kisser who comes on too strong with his affections, she kicks him to the curb. There's a reason Tina is my hero.
The first episode of the series I saw was actually the sixth, "Lice things are Lice." It's about exactly what it sounds like, but with the special addition of an unhinged nurse and a tabloid school news station. Tina shines yet again, taking charge when the nurse proves to be absolutely nuts. Tina's gradual transformation over the seasons from a socially awkward kid who's too shy to stand up for herself to a socially awkward kid who is absolutely fearless is one of my favorite character arcs of all time.
The difference between Bob's Burgers and other animated series (looking at you, Family Guy) is that the Belchers act like a real family. They take care of each other, laugh at inside jokes, and bicker. The kids are weird, but aren't all kids? I guarantee you'll see your own family in the Belchers.
