Can you just hold your hand there for a second, Dad?
I'm just going to take a quick--
T?
Tina?
I can't-- I got to--
I can't hold-- Tina, I can't hold my hand here.
This.
Is Bob Belcher.
And as far as animated TV dads go,
he absolutely breaks the mold.
For the better part of a century,
animated fathers have been portrayed
as seemingly well-intended, well, idiots.
Meg.
Meg, Meg, Meg, Meg, Meg, Meg, Meg.
Most animated fathers delve into the realm of buffoonery
before eventually doing the right thing
and showing just enough heart to reel us back
in from their bumbling antics.
Bob Belcher breaks that trope almost entirely
and is often portrayed as the most reasonable person
on the show, thus separating Bob's Burgers from almost
63 years of animation history.
If you look at the history of the animated family sitcom,
you will find time and time again
that the story centers around some form of patriarchal family
dynamics in which a somewhat dysfunctional blue collar
family struggles with various day
to day issues that may pop up in the world around them.
You can trace almost all of this back
to a wildly popular sitcom from the 1950s called
The Honeymooners the honeymooners starred
Jackie Gleason.
And it centered around this character
of a bus driver named Ralph Kramden, who would take out
a majority of his day to day frustrations
on his wife and best friend.
He actually had a catchphrase that
was just him promising to punch his wife in the mouth.
You're gonna go to Mama.
But it's going to be in the moon.
The Honeymooners was the inspiration
to The Flintstones, which was the first animated sitcom
geared toward adults.
The Flintstones centered around yet another blue collar
patriarch whose family was rife with dysfunction
as Fred Flintstone would skirt his home responsibilities
and lie to his wife.
Wilma Flintstone would often beat Fred senseless
in front of their children.
Oh, you dropped that ball my foot, you dimwit.
Fred, I won't have you calling me names.
There's a lot to unpack with The Flintstones.
But the point here is that the animated sitcom
has deep roots of dysfunctional family structures--
The Simpsons, The Critic, Family Guy, American Dad, the list
goes on.
But all of these shows are essentially
variations on the same family dynamics that
have perpetuated through our culture for the better
part of a century.
The only other animated series that
really strays from these tropes is Mike Judge's King
of the Hill.
But even King of the Hill jumps back
into these dynamics from time to time.
I believe I'll give room service a jangle
and have them send up some etouffee.
No!
Bob's Burgers is the complete antithesis
to the established status quo of the animated family sitcom.
Bob Belcher feels genuine and grounded
to the very core of his being.
He isn't some mindless moron who is constantly
trying to paddle his way out of an ocean of his own mess.
He's reasonable to the point of being
essentially the straight man of the entire show.
You mom'd it all up.
Uh-oh.
What's that supposed to mean?
Dad's here.
Did he dad it all up?
Yeah, but that's a good thing.
Oh, boy.
The creator of the show, Loren Bouchard,
has a long history in the world of animation.
He began his career with the creation
of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, which
was a Comedy Central animated series that
centered around a therapist treating his celebrity
clientele while navigating his own divorce.
He later went on to create Home Movies for Cartoon Network's
Adult Swim.
When Bouchard set out to create Bob's Burgers,
he sought to create a series rooted in kindness,
highlighting what people are able to endure
in support of their families.
Hey, I'm glad we ditched.
It was fun.
Me, too.
Let's do it again sometime, like maybe when
you're old and senile.
I'll close the restaurant and come spring you
from the nursing home.
What?
Bouchard has gone on record to state
that he wanted to capture "the pressure of when you love
your kids, but you know that every moment you're not working
could be the nail in your coffin."
The show perfectly captures that.
In fact, early studio notes indicated
that the network had concerns about how much the Belchers
actually loved one another, with an occasional request
for the Belchers to squabble.
If we look at the way Homer and Bart Simpson
interact with one another, you will
find that their relationship is largely antagonistic.
This is specifically true if you look at episodes of The
Simpsons in the late '90s or early '00s.
Bart repeatedly antagonizes Homer
through various means of insubordination or degradation.
And in return, Homer usually winds up
strangling Bart in his signature manner.
Why, you little--
When we look at Bob Belcher's relationship
with his son, Gene, there's never
anything inherently antagonistic about their relationship.
It's actually portrayed in an incredibly grounded
and somewhat realistic way.
Sure, Gene's antics are cartoonish and somewhat larger
than life.
But Bob treats his son with curiosity and respect.
There are undoubtedly moments where Bob's patience is tested.
But he never crosses the line.
It's through Bob Belcher's sensibilities
that the writers of Bob's Burgers
are able to weave a relatively groundbreaking
familial structure into a narrative that feels fresh
and inviting to be a part of.
Homer and Marge Simpson, Peter and Lois Griffin,
and Fred and Wilma Flintstone all
suffer from the same marital dysfunctions.
The husband is sort of a condescending, lazy jerk.
And the wives exhibit some form of sarcastic tolerance
for the atrocious behavior.
If you're going to shoot me, you might want
to tie your shoelaces first.
Bob and Linda Belcher, on the other hand,
have a healthy and equitable marriage
filled with compassion, patience, and understanding.
When Bob and Linda are at odds with one another,
they are able to find compromise and understanding that
strengthens their relationship in the long term.
Everyone in the Belcher family feels
like they are on the same team.
Bob genuinely enjoys working hard to provide for his family
as well.
Operating a restaurant certainly comes
with its own set of struggles.
But the act of working is never at the forefront
of Bob Belcher's list of grievances.
In fact, there's an absence of negativity and cynicism
with Bob.
He's just genuinely a good person
trying his best for his family.
I present to you your yellow gloves.
So much fun.
Bob Belcher is a reminder that it is easier
to exist in a positive world rather than a negative one.
For the longest time, it felt like writers and producers
of these shows needed to create extreme internal conflict
to drive narrative.
But Bob's Burgers shows us that the complete opposite can also
be true.
Because the Belchers get along so well,
the writers can delve deeper into who
they are as people, who they interact with in the world,
and what they learn from him.
Studios are largely risk averse when it comes time
to greenlight shows.
They want the sure thing.
And sometimes, this means following previous success
models to the letter.
In regards to the sitcom, they've
been following the same model since the '50s.
The American family has changed dramatically
since the time of Ralph Kramden and Fred Flintstone.
These tired tropes of the languishing, neglectful father
just don't reflect who we are anymore.
Bob Belcher is an animated father like no other.
And that's largely because he doesn't
feel like an animated father.
He feels like a real one.
There's an authenticity to him that sings to us as viewers.
And it's through this authenticity
that the writers are able to take Bob's Burgers
into territory that has been left relatively
unexplored by animation writers for decades.
"Hey, what if our characters liked
each other" seems like a question writers
should be asking themselves from time to time.
Because it yields a much more rewarding result.
I want to wax my legs, too, these ones right here.
You don't even have leg hair.
Tell that to my heart.
Hold on, everybody.
We're making a U-turn.
All right.
Bob Belcher speaks to the goodness and humanity in us
all.
Deep down inside, we all want to do the right thing.
We all want to honor our families in the struggle
to balance work and home.
And hopefully, we're all trying our best to get there.
And hey, that's it for this one.
Don't forget to like and subscribe
if you didn't do that already.
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And thanks for watching Nerdstalgic.
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