‘The Simpsons’ Good 16-Half Substitute Rewrites the Traditional American Household Sitcom Code

Audiences have all the time beloved a household that they will cheer for. For years, The Simpsons sat comfortably on the throne as America’s most iconic family. Over 37 seasons and greater than 800 episodesHomer Simpson (And Castellaneta) and his rowdy bunch have entertained the plenty with their shenanigans in Springfield. Whether or not it is Marge (Julie Kavner) doing her greatest to maintain her infantile husband in line, or Bart (Nancy Cartwright) testing his faculty principal’s persistence for the umpteenth time, every episode presents one other day of outrageous mayhem.

As tv continues to embrace the dysfunctional household formulation — from Household Man to Rick and Morty — a brand new contender has emerged, able to steal the throne. This contemporary alternative pulls again from the over-the-top antics The Simpsons is legendary for. What this present presents as an alternative is on a regular basis characters and eventualities that, nonetheless exaggerated, nonetheless really feel strikingly near house.

‘Bob’s Burgers’ Gives a Extra Lifelike Portrayal of Working-Class Households

First premiering in 2011 — 22 years after The Simpsons made its debut — Bob’s Burgers launched viewers to the common-or-garden Belcher household. Dwelling in a small, cozy house above their family-run burger restaurant in Seymour’s Bay, New Jersey, the Belchers encompass the primary patriarch Bob (H. Jon Benjamin), his spouse Linda (John Roberts), and their three youngsters: Tina (Dan Mintz), Gene (Eugene Mirman), and Louise (Kristen Schaal), listed from oldest to youngest. The Belchers and the Simpsons are each working-class households with two imperfect mother and father and three children, every with wildly completely different personalities. What starkly differs, nonetheless, is the way in which each households operate — or dysfunction.

One of many main plotlines in The Simpsons includes Homer attempting to show one thing to somebody. Regardless of his good intentions, Homer is not the brightest, fittest, or most historically masculine. In “Mr. Plow,” he begins a snow-plowing enterprise to indicate he can succeed as an entrepreneur, taking pointless dangers whereas prioritizing his pleasure. In “Deep Area Homer,” he even joins NASA to show he is not a failure. In the meantime, Bob’s Burgers facilities on Bob’s household burger restaurant, the place he repeatedly struggles to pay hire and usher in clients. Whereas the conditions vary from extraordinary to uncanny — battling meals critics in “Moody Foodie” or confronting cannibalism rumors in “Human Flesh” — pleasure issues far much less to Bob. All he needs to do is make ends meet for his householdgiving Bob’s Burgers a extra life like tackle working-class life.

Like ‘The Simpsons,’ Pop Tradition References Are Central to ‘Bob’s Burgers’

The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers stay timeless by staying present with popular culture in the mean time every episode airs. A traditional instance in The Simpsons is the Citizen Kane homage in “Rosebud,” the place Mr. Burns turns into fixated on retrieving his childhood teddy bear, Bobo, after realizing it represents true happiness. The storyline carefully parallels the 1941 filmwith Burns echoing Charles Foster Kane and the bear functioning as a parody of Kane’s sled, Rosebud. On a extra up to date, sci-fi word, “Marge vs. the Monorail” nods to fandom tradition by depicting Springfield internet hosting sci-fi conventions, full with townspeople dressed as Jedi, Stormtroopers, and different Star Wars characters. That is not even counting the handfuls of movie, TV, and popular culture references made within the Halloween Treehouse of Horror segments.

Bob’s Burgers additionally is aware of a factor or two about film references. In “The Belchies,” the children discover an deserted taffy manufacturing facility whereas looking for hidden treasures to assist save the restaurant. The episode borrows The Goonies journey template, full with traps, secret passages, and teamwork, minus the epic hazard. Equally, an episode like “Crawl Area” is a textbook instance of The Shining. The episode reveals a trapped Bob hallucinating in Stanley Kubrick-like trend, full with Linda breaking by means of a wall, shouting, “This is Bobby!”

The Simpsons has constructed its repute on satire, utilizing its tales to touch upon present occasions and sometimes draw from real-world phenomena or figures. These moments are then reshaped into criticism, oftentimes to query the techniques imposed on society. In a single memorable instance, Lisa questions her religion in “She of Little Religion” after her native church is taken over and commercialized by Mr. Burns (Harry Shearer), prompting her to depart Christianity and discover Buddhism. On this manner, The Simpsons features as a extra family-friendly counterpart of South Park. At occasions, a lot of its real-life references really feel eerily propheticsimilar to portraying Donald Trump as president in “Bart to the Future”, 17 years earlier than it occurred.

Bob’s Burgers additionally delivers social commentary, simply not as “fourth-wall breaking” as The Simpsons. In “An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal,” Bob realizes no quantity of free hire is value promoting out his household to play a pretend family for Calvin Fischoeder (Kevin Kline), serving a direct critique of capitalism and exploitative landlords. In “Mom Daughter Laser Razor,” Linda and Louise attempt to “repair” their relationship with a seminar, solely to be taught there is no such thing as a single definition of an ideal mother-daughter bond. The Belchers are right here to indicate how a household like theirs — regardless of their variations, flaws, and the circumstances thrown at them — can get by means of issues whereas nonetheless prioritizing one another’s happiness. Whereas The Simpsons usually thrives on dysfunction for comedy, Bob’s Burgers proves that wholesomeness might be simply as humorous.