In today’s television climate, there are very few series that reach massive milestones — maybe 100 episodes here or 10 years there, but 300 episodes? Now that’s a feat worth talking about.
“Bob’s Burgers” celebrates the massive milestone with “Grand Pre-Pre-Pre-Opening,” which also serves as the Season 16 premiere. And for creator Loren Bouchard, it’s a surreal feeling to have the series see such success after nearly 15 years.
“I mean, a boy can dream, right? We didn’t dare ‘think’ it would last this long, but had hope for sure,” Bouchard says of the animated Fox sitcom, which debuted in 2011. “I know the network and the studio did too. That was the gig, right? See if you can make a show to come on after ‘The Simpsons.’”
Produced by 20th Television Animation, “Bob’s Burgers” has found a dedicated audience with its simple yet smart storytelling. The show follows married couple Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) and Linda Belcher (John Roberts) and their three kids, Tina (Dan Mintz), Gene (Eugene Mirman) and Louise (Kristen Schaal), as they run their small burger shop.
While Bouchard admits the success is a bit of luck, he also believes much of the show’s longevity can be credited to the grounded, hilarious characters.
“In the end, if you’re making character-driven comedy, then you have to give credit to the characters for any success you might achieve,” he says. “People have to want to spend time with them.”
And they absolutely still want to spend time with them.
The 300th episode features Bob struggling with whether to raise prices, getting overwhelmed by the work, while Linda prepares to give birth. But it also leans strongly into nostalgia, with many flashbacks to the world when Bob and Linda opened the restaurant more than a decade ago.
The feel-good nature of nostalgia is one of many elements TV audiences yearn for today — and it goes hand-in-hand with the overall themes of the show.
“It’s a hopeful show about a working-class family with this irrational, creative, barely profitable dream at the heart of it — the restaurant. And because they never age, we’ll never know if they’ll succeed or they’ll fail, but we feel their drive and their fundamental optimism and that’s probably valuable to some folks,” Bouchard says. “Optimism is an underrated and complicated thing. Cynics can dismiss it, but that’s because when it’s done poorly in entertainment, it plays like schmaltz. ‘Bob’s’ is about a grittier, deeper hope and how it works for you even in hard times.”
Bouchard can’t pinpoint which character he resonates with most. “[It] changes every day, and just when I think I’m relating to one, I’ll notice I’m actually acting like another,” he says. But he is excited to keep telling their stories.
“We’ll keep making the show as long as people want to see it and as long as we have stories to tell. In some ways we’re just getting started.”
And the “Bob’s” merch universe — the BCU, if you will — is only continuing to grow. This year will see fresh merchandise, including aprons, recipes and new shirts.
Plus, “The Art of Bob’s Burgers” book is finally set to be released on Sept. 23, giving much-deserved recognition to the incredible artistry behind the series, with never-before-seen images and insight from Bouchard, art director Phil Hayes and the animation team.
“This is a very important book to us,” Bouchard recently said. “We love the artists’ work on the show, we love the drawings that have gone on, all the millions of miles of pencil lead on paper, and we wanted to celebrate.”