#Ps I organized the top half like the top three are the worst but the bottom two are like eh

[idkwhatimdoingbutslay]

HASHTAG CAITLYN KIRAMMAN SHUT THE HELL UP CHALLEN-

Oh… oh, nvm

[curious-minx]

Hurry Up, My Burger’s Getting Cold! (Bob’s Burgers Review)

HU,MBGC! Is the name of the Saturday/whenever-day segment where I finally break down and get those Bob’s Burgers episode reviews out before the new episode premieres.

 2020 found me in  trying to cover the season of Bob’s Burgers because AV Club had turned away from the series. And the world is falling apart and I needed something to take the edge off. Looks like the old Club decided to bring back sporadic coverage and reviewed both major Holiday specials. Reviewing a TV Show is not as easy as I thought it was. You have to write a review EVERY single week? Not just when you feel like it? Even when I know no one is reading these reviews or cares about them, the overall layer of Procrastination that is dominating my life starts to wear me down. Enough! My burger is getting cold and I want to serve you!

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‘Romancing the Beef” 

Season 11′s Episode 11 did not air on Valentine’s Day. Because NASCAR. Naturally. That didn’t stop me from going through the collection of Bob’s Burgers V-Day themed episodes and they are certainly the most casual of the holiday specials. The Bobby B’s staff don’t feel pressured to tack a V-Day special on every season, but in their current run they’ve certainly made more holiday specials than any other sitcom. Romancing the Beef can proudly rank among one of the better holiday episodes and a strong return from the season break.

The main conceit of the episode is based around Bob and Linda sacrificing their own Valentine’s Day for the sake of business. The main activity of their Valentine’s Day was going to be exchanging the top 10 favorite things about each other. A very wholesome and cuddly activity on paper but after watching the episode I did regale my own partner with my own personal Top 10 favorite things about her and it started to feel a bit like overkill once I got over 16. A simple and sweet sentiment that buoys the episode into a poignant commentary on loving lived-in monogamous relationships.

The V-Day episode before this one was from Season 9 terribly titled “Bed, Bob & Beyond.” The episode stinks not just because the triptych Belcher child tells a story format tends to yield weaker episodes, but because it was an episode built around an argument between Bob and Linda. There are sure to be quality episodes written around the occasional bump in the road that pave the way to domestic bliss, but it’s a delicate balance because Bob’s Burgers works best as a feel-good show. Bob and Linda are the fictional  hetero normative couple ideal. The real world is full of broken and shambolic love and if Bob and Linda are going to have romantic strife the material lands better when the writer’s approach Bob and Linda’s relationship with dignity. Romancing the Beef does that and more because Bob and Linda are egalitarian small business owners and they harness their love to improve their own business.

“Romancing the Beef” plays up  one of my personal favorite character beats with Louise making her the most capitalistic and business savvy of the Belchers. She helps transform Bob’s Burgers to Urge, gotta love a good anagram. V-day episodes also have fertile ground to cover with Tina and her more hormonal passionate version of love that is subverted with her subplot involving her attending an Anti-Valentine’s  Party. Both subplots balance out the episode and support each other much like the Hall of Famer V-day episode “V for Valentine-Detta” which remains the Big One as far as V-day episodes go. Most of Bob Burger’s holiday episodes consistently find the show pushing themselves on a visual and conceptual basis. Here’s hoping the rest of the season continues to deliver more heartfelt diversions.

The episode is Four Singing Cherubic Children out of 5.

PS. There is also a truly touching and heartbreaking easter egg hidden in this episode. The dearly departed Dave Creek based the character design of two Urge patrons on someone Creek knew was getting an organ transplant. Another glimpse of what a heartfelt person Mr. Creek was.

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Great North Report. 

The show remains in pretty mediocre condition. First seasons of sitcoms are notoriously the worst and there is nothing inherently offensively bad about the Great North. It's just a real step down from Bob’s Burgers in every way. The theme song remains jarring and way too long every time I watch it. On February 14th Fox dumped three Great North “Adventures.” And reader, I will spare you a deep dive episode by episode analysis. Identity crisis is the main phrase that comes to mind. Self-sabotaging, complete waste of a stacked cast  loaded with potential on muddily underdeveloped characters,  contrived cultural tourism, and a doomed over reliance on making pop culture references for the sake of pop culture references.

There is just too much Great North, the Molyneux sisters got lost in their own ice box. There are too many main characters in the Beef family so the show decides to build its main POV around the only daughter, Judy. Jenny Slate is a funny and likeable comedian but she’s completely bombing as Judy. Her characterization and her overall performance is an energy vacuum. On episode 5, “Curl Interrupted Adventures,” Judy delivers an ugly melt down tantrum that goes on forever with no payoff. Judy is basically a teenage Tammy except at least Tammy has a more defined comedic game. Tammy is a preppy little glamour sour puss that occasionally clashes with Tina. Tammy works really well as a side character in Bob’s Burgers because she’s presented in smaller doses. Making a Tammy like character as the lead is a big ask and making her the main POV really does this show a disservice.

Judy, much like in Twin Peaks, represents the core of Wrongness. Judy has no real defining interests she just likes an increasing list of frivolous interests like jazz yoga, improv, photography, yarn art, and whatever twee insipid crap you can pay a writer’s room to generate. Judy is introduced in the first episode as a budding photographer getting a job at the mall but every episode has since abandoned that premise. The show remains a mess that doesn’t know what it wants to do so it tries to do everything at once. Most first seasons of sitcoms are usually pretty bad but they also can occasionally suddenly get better in the latter half. Either way Great North is here to stay for at least one more season. The show has to get better at some point, right?