Bob's Burgers Gets Picked Up For A Fourth Season!
Congratulations to the stars and producers of Bob's Burgers on its renewal for a fourth season! And congratulations to all of us, too, because sitcoms as delightfully weird and hilarious as this one don't always last so long. Sure, we all know about Freaks & Geeks (one season) and Arrested Development (three seasons, plus the additional short season and movie that we're all still a tiny bit dubious is actually happening in spite of the evidence that it is). But in honour of this week's Bob's triumph, I wanted to highlight some sitcoms that (a) share the Bob's sensibility in some respect; (b) didn't last nearly as long as Bob's did (or will, we hope -- if there is justice in the world, it'll last as long as The Simpsons has! ); and (c) even people who consider themselves serious TV fans may not have seen. You're welcome.
Frisky Dingo
Premise: Supervillain Killface (voiced by series creator Adam Reed) is determined to destroy the world via his doomsday device, the Annihilatrix, only to be opposed by Awesome-X (also Reed), a local superhero in The Town. What Killface doesn't know is that Awesome-X is the alter ego of billionaire playboy Xander Crews, whose superhero pursuits are under attack by Crews Industries VP Stan (Stuart Culpepper) for financial reasons, in spite of all Xander's ideas for tax shelting.
Format: Animated.
Choice Quote: "Is this some sort of ironic doom? Is the wink implied?"
Bob's-iness: It's animated; it's eminently quotable; it features memorable original songs (in this case, "Cat Party" and "All That Jizz").
Number Of Seasons: 2.
Current Availability: DVD; iTunes; Amazon Instant Video.
Andy Richter Controls The Universe
Premise: Andy Richter (Andy Richter) toils away as a technical writer at a soul-killing company, sustained only by his elaborate fantasies and his crush on his co-worker Wendy (Irene Molloy), who's seeing his friend and colleague Keith (James Patrick Stuart).
Format: Live-action.
Choice Quote: Andy's Brain: [Trying to impress a girl] What would someone cool and suave say?
Andy: Ants are fascinating
[long pause]
Andy: sometimes.
Andy's Brain: Saved it!
Bob's-iness: Goofy cutaway jokes; Emmy nominated; recurring guest performer is named Belcher in real life.
Number Of Seasons: 2.
Current Availability: DVD.
Bent
Premise: Tightly wound lawyer Alex (Amanda Peet) tries to bounce back from a recent divorce by making over her kitchen to her specific wishes, while clashing flirtatiously with her contractor, Riggins (David Walton).
Format: Live-action.
Choice Quote: "Oh, good, he's muscle-memorized the DUI test. Let's put him around kids!"
Bob's-iness: Blue-collar workers who aren't so great at their jobs; lots of holes in walls.
Number Of Seasons:1.
Current Availability: Hulu; iTunes; Amazon Instant Video.
Clone High
Premise: I can't improve upon the theme song: "Way way back in the 1980s/A secret government employee/Dug up famous guys and ladies [historical figures including Abraham Lincoln and Joan of Arc]/And made amusing genetic copies/Now the clones are sexy teens and/They're going to make it if they try/Loving, learning, sharing judging/Time to laugh and shiver and cry/Clone High!" Basically, it is to history as Futurama is to science fiction, as well as a parody of teen TV dramas.
Format: Animated.
Choice Quote: "Do you mind? Some of us are trying to nail Catherine the Great here...Or should I say Catherine the So-So?"
Bob's-iness: It's super-weird; people hang out at a diner.
Number Of Seasons: 1.
Current Availability: DVD.
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Undeclared
Premise: Gawky nerd Steven Karp (Jay Baruchel) attends his freshman year of college, and does college-y things like pine after a girl (Carla Gallo) who already has a boyfriend and drink lots of beer.
Format: Live-action.
Choice Quote: "Doctors don't know anything. My uncle's stomach hurt once, so doctors took out his kidney, and it turned out there was nothing wrong with it, and now he has to go through life with no kidney."
Bob's-iness: Embarrassing school employee with no real power (in this case, it's RA Lucien, played by Kevin Rankin); Marshall (Timm Sharp) is as misguided in his musical aspirations as Gene (Eugene Mirman) on Bob's.
Number Of Seasons: 1.
Current Availability: DVD; Netflix Instant.
Aliens In America
Premise: Concerned about her terminally nerdy son Justin (Dan Byrd), Franny (Amy Pietz) arranges for him to have a live-in friend in the form of a cool exchange student. But instead of the skiing Scandinavian she imagines, the family is sent Raja (Adhir Kalyan), a sweet kid from Pakistan.
Format: Live-action.
Choice Quote: "If you join the chastity club, I'll let you go on the Pill for Christmas."
Bob's-iness: Ultimately tight family faces financial struggles; unpopular kid; enthusiastic but generally embarrassing mom.
Current Availability: iTunes.
Best Friends Forever
Premise: When Jessica (Jessica St. Clair) leaves her jerk of a husband (Reid Scott), she moves from their home in San Francisco back to Brooklyn, and back in with her best friend and former roommate Lennon (Lennon Parham). But Lennon is now living with her boyfriend Joe (Luka Foley), making Jessica compete with him for Lennon's attention.
Format: Live-action.
Choice Quote: "I think they just found an old Yankee candle, melted it down, and slapped it on down there!"
Bob's-iness: UCB-trained comic sensibility of its performers; extreme goofiness is just on the right side of real-world believability.
Current Availability: Hulu; iTunes; Amazon Instant Video.