Season Review: Bob’s Burgers Season 10

Despite many short lived shows coming and going on the Fox Animation Domination line up, Bob’s Burgers has always seemed like the runt of the litter, being the youngest among the ongoing shows and getting a lot of ribbing from Family Guy over the years. Now, with two new shows surviving their own first seasons and carrying on into next fall (or whenever next season starts in this new hellscape), Bob and the Belchers find themselves finishing their first decade on the air and entering double digit seasons. This is a bit of turning point, even if that isn’t obvious, not only for the milestone but also because this has been known to be the place where its peers have had their own noted dip in decline. Bob’s Burgers has always been able to stand out by being itself instead of following the usual animated sitcom fare, but with has this season shown that they can continue strong into their second decade?

One of the expected consequences of being a long running series is that there is increased risk of continuity lock out, even for an episodic sitcom. For long time viewers, this can help them feel like they’re being rewarded for sticking with the show for this long, but for others it might end up being confusing. And even for veteran viewers, the constant addition of characters may start to get a bit overwhelming. Luckily, is pretty sparing with their recurring additions, the only notable one being Kaylee Morganstern, who leaves a bit of an impression in her scant two appearances. And the returning favorites are dusted off with seemingly quite a bit of care, bringing back Natalie the limo driver in a couple great episodes, doing another turn with Shinji Kojima from one of the show’s all time greats, and even inexplicably getting more out of Josh the tap dancer. I’m not sure when this show’s cast will meet critical mass, but for the moment it is feeling more fleshed out than packed like sardines.

Of the episodes we’ve gotten this season, my favorites probably lean more towards the sweeter. Out of those, I’d probably pick “Poops!…I didn’t do it again” and “Pig Trouble in Little Tina” as the champs, as they really dig down to the heart of both Louise and Tina (Tina also getting the most episodes to herself this season, with all of them being at least solid entries and at most exceptional episodes). With “Poops”, we see more of Louise’s untapped vulnerabilities with Bob bonding with her over their shared specific fears and even growing together through it, all through the easily funny topic of feces. And with “Pig Troube”, Tina is typically MOSTLY vulnerable, but this makes use of her conflicted feelings about fitting in with her compassionate heart in order for her to find out how to be true to herself, which melds surprisingly well with a Halloween episode. These two episodes are definitely stand outs in the season and possibly the series.

I can’t say I’ve ever really hated any given season of this show, but I’d be hard pressed to say this one blew me away week after week. Still, it’s no slouch for good episodes and showing how the series is still going strong even after ten fully years on the air. That’s no easy feat, especially considering all the shows that don’t manage to make it past their third season, or even first sometimes. Bob’s Burgers is ten years strong and with enough luck and the world hopefully not ending, it will likely be going for at least another ten as well.