Smart laughs and irreverent fun are always on the menu at BOB'S BURGERS. Bob Belcher's family-run restaurant would be a big success if not for one thing - his family! Oldest daughter Tina can't control her raging hormones. Middle son Gene promotes the restaurant by wearing a burger costume but forgets to take it off to pee. And little Louise tells her class that Bob's burgers are made from human flesh! This quirky comedy will leave you hungry for more.
I hadn't heard of Bob's Burgers before it was announced for DVD, but I was interested in taking a look, since I really enjoy animated comedies (and I love a good burger). This 2-disc set includes all 13 episodes from the first season of the show:
Disc 1 (2:31:33)
Human Flesh (21:39)
Crawl Space (21:38)
Sacred Cow (21:44)
Sexy Dance Fighting (21:44)
Hamburger Dinner Theater(21:24)
Sheesh! Cab, Bob? (21:42)
Bed & Breakfast (21:42)
Disc 2 (2:09:54)
Art Crawl (21:44)
Spaghetti Western and Meatballs (21:42)
Burger War (21:41)
Weekend at Mort's (21:24)
Lobsterfest (21:41)
Torpedo (21:42)
Video
Bob's Burgers is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1), and it looks really good on DVD. The colors used for the show aren't as bright as many other cartoons, but it uses a more natural, slightly washed-out palette. I was impressed that there wasn't any edge enhancement issues, and only minor compression artifacts during very high-motion scenes. There aren't chapters placed after the opening credits, but the discs feature a "play all" option.
Audio
The only track is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. It's good, though the rear speakers aren't used that often (I heard them kick in during some musical pieces). There are optional subtitles in English, French and Spanish.
Audio Outtakes (7:08)
Some audio outtakes for "Bed & Breakfast" and "Sexy Dance Fighting."
Audio Commentaries
There are commentaries on every episode (some feature TWO tracks) by the voice cast, writers and producers. Give them a listen if you have time.
"Lifting Up the Skirt of the Night" Music Video (1:51)
Words can not describe how awesome this music video is.
Bob's Burgers Original Demo (21:30)
Normally I hate demos because they're pretty much exactly the same as at least part of the first episode, but there were some obvious differences with this demo. Loren Bouchard (the creator) provides a nice intro to the demo.
Louise and the Chalkboard (2:04)
Louise likes the chalkboard, a lot.
Summary
I usually enjoy animated shows, but this just wasn't for me. I didn't hate the show, it just didn't make me laugh, which is a bad thing for an animated comedy like this. I was very disappointed, because I can't think of the last show that I watched where I laughed twice in 13 episodes. I made my wife watch a couple of episodes with me, and she felt the same way; not a bad show, but not funny.
The DVD set Fox put together for fans of the show is pretty good. Nice audio and video presentation, as well as some decent extras. The demo, which is something I usually hate, is actually really good on this set, and the bits of audio commentary I listened to were good. I felt the other bits were just filler; I was fine watching them once, but I can't imagine myself ever watching them again.
The second season of Bob's Burgers started airing in March.
