Before The Simpsons Movie’s most frustrating storytelling snags, the theatrical spinoff of the cult series still owed a debt to the earlier show’s first movie. Thanks to its warm humor, PG rating, family-centric plotting, and sprawling cast, Bob’s Burgers has always made it clear that the show is inspired by the success of The Simpsons to an extent.
This is nothing new, with shows like soon-to-be-rebooted King of the Hill wrapping up before its fourteenth season and Family Guy and American Dad skewing toward older audiences. As such, Bob’s Burgers is uniquely positioned to learn from the mistakes of The Simpsons.
While Bob’s Burgers has enjoyed relatively stable reviews since the series began, its consistent critical reception has never been as impressive as that of The Simpsons. During its so-called Golden Age, The Simpsons was a full-blown pop culture phenomenon and a critical darling, whereas even at the height of its popularity, the reception of Bob’s Burgers has always been more muted. As proven by The Simpsons showrunner’s insistence that any potential The Simpsons Movie sequel would only be released in theaters, the earlier hit still believes in going big while the ambitions of Bob’s Burgers have always been more modest. However, The Simpsons season 13 saw the show make some major errors that led to its gradual critical decline and, despite the differences between the two shows, these are missteps that the forthcoming Bob’s Burgers season 13 can learn from. The Simpsons season 13 was one of the turning points in the show’s reception and there’s a lot Bob’s Burgers season 13 can do to avoid its fate.
What The Simpsons Did Wrong In Season 13
According to the consensus among reviewers online, The Simpsons season 13 was a step up from the infamous season 12. The hated The Simpsons episode “Saddlesore Galactica” had a wild, cartoonish tone that was indicative of what fans and critics didn’t like about seasons 10 through 12, which saw The Simpsons abandon more grounded domestic stories in favor of increasingly surreal plots. However, The Simpsons season 13 didn’t do enough to get the show back on track. Despite improvements, in The Simpsons season 13 the show continued to rely on big-name guest stars, utilized wackier, zanier plots too often, and fell victim to some major tonal wobbles. While seasons 10 through 12 ended the Golden Age of The Simpsons, it was season 13’s failure to right the show’s course that sealed the fate of The Simpsons as a series.
Bob’s Burgers Season 13 Must Avoid (Too Many) Big-Name Guest Stars
Some of the most hated Simpsons stories of the season), by and large, Bob’s Burgers season 13 would be better off avoiding this crutch.
The Simpsons Season 13 Prioritized Scale Over Story
From an ill-fated trip to Brazil to the return of Homer and Ned’s Vegas wives to a far-fetched story of Bart stealing a police car, The Simpsons season 13 told a lot of big, ambitious stories that sapped the show of its relatable warmth as a result of their scale. That important element of the show’s appeal is something that Bob’s Burgers relies on far more than its earlier inspiration. The Simpsons has historically had a harder time finding the right line between relatability and pure silliness over the years since some of the show’s most inspired outings are utterly absurd and funnier for their complete lack of anything resembling realism.
However, as proven by the fact that Bob’s Burgers don’t stage elaborate non-canon Halloween specials like The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror series, the newer show knows that its strengths lie more in small-scale character comedy than ambitiously weird cartooniness. As a result, it shouldn’t be too hard for Bob’s Burgers season 13 to avoid storylines like the family’s hometown banning sugar, the lead character’s roast being gatecrashed by aliens, or an unexpected murder of crows attacking the show's hero.
How Bob’s Burgers Avoided The Simpsons Critical Slump
Although Bob’s Burgers is still a solid series, the main reason that the show hasn’t been subject to the critical mauling that The Simpsons earned between seasons 10 and 15 is because the cult hit is less popular as a whole. Some critics such as Slate’s Melissa Martinelli have said that the familiar formula of Bob’s Burgers is getting tired. However, without the massive global cultural impact of the early seasons of The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers doesn't have as far to fall in of critical standing. Bob’s Burgers can get Paul Rudd to appear in a cameo role for the show’s movie spinoff but, at the height of the show's popularity, The Simpsons could get Danny DeVito, Dustin Hoffman, and Michael Jackson to appear in one season of the series while also being name-dropped by the US President in a speech. The cultural impact of The Simpsons extends far further than that of its later competitors, meaning the show will always be judged more harshly by critics. As a result, Bob’s Burgers season 13 doesn’t need to worry too much about repeating the mistakes of The Simpsons.