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Bob’s Burgers is a rare thing: a new cartoon that has not been created by Seth MacFarlane. Despite this seemingly sizeable handicap, it earned high ratings for its pilot in the US, with E4 hoping that it will have a similarly positive response this side of the Atlantic.
The show follows the template of your average American cartoon comedy, and focuses on an average American family, only this time they run a struggling burger bar. Cynicism aside, if the first episode of Bob’s Burgers is anything to go by, it may bring (just) enough to the table to set it apart from the competition.
Said episode, ‘Human Flesh’, tells the story of the grand re-re-re-opening of the family’s burger joint under the scrutiny of a health inspector who, having been dumped in high school by Bob’s wife Linda, bitterly accuses the shop of making burgers using human meat from the mortuary next door: basically the standard gritty, realist drama we’ve come to expect from these kinds of shows.
Despite a similarly crazy plot, the show’s first offering sets itself apart from its rivals (The Simpsons, Family Guy et al) by showcasing a much drier sense of humour. This is in spite of a fairly stock cast: Dad Bob’s heart is in the right place but he puts his foot in his mouth and forgets anniversaries; Mom Linda is devoted and ever dependable and their children are the usual eclectic bunch. Son Gene (voiced by Flight of the Conchords’ Eugene Mirman) is hyperactive and disruptive whilst eldest daughter Tina is shamelessly frank and epitomises deadpan delivery.
One of the biggest coups for the show however, is having the wonderfully kooky and off-the-wall Kristen Schaal (also of Conchords’ fame) voice the Belcher family’s equally kooky and off-the-wall daughter Louise. It is Louise, with her offbeat comedy standing out amongst some of the show’s more low-key gags, who's the only member of the family to be voiced by a woman. Both Linda and Tina too never fail to get a laugh; being voiced by men, their characters largely take after Bob and his flatter, understated style of delivery.
While much of the show’s comedy - in any of its forms - hits the mark, there are inevitably some misses. Dad forgetting an anniversary is perhaps a little overdone now and I didn’t find any of the moments involving Gene and his voice synthesiser amusing. However, this probably stems from me over-scrutinising this one episode; any small issues or gripes will be forgotten if the show continues to be funny.
The first episode can, inevitably, only offer a taster. It was good, but it left a few doubts. Will Bob's Burgers be able to distinguish itself sufficiently from the litany of family-based cartoons? Will its Burger Bar setting prove restrictive? Is Bob still too much like Homer/Peter/Stan? Is that a problem? I don’t know. Only time will tell what Bob’s Burgers has on the menu but, for now at least, it’s done enough to warrant a second serving.
The first season of Bob’s Burgers continues next Tuesday at 10.35pm on E4.
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