Fox’sBob’s Burgershas moved into its 15th season and has createdan impressive 11 Thanksgiving episodes, putting it ahead of fellow cartoons likeThe Simpsonswhen it comes to celebrating the holiday. Thanksgiving’s prominence means innumerable TV shows produce a lot of themed episodes to capture the seasonal spirit. While Thanksgiving mainly involves one day of cooking and eating, it can be hard for shows to create an episode for this holiday year after year.
However,Bob’s Burgerscreates funny and fresh Thanksgiving episodestime after time. None of theBob’s Burgers' Thanksgiving episodesrevolves solely around cooking or family drama. Instead,the show takes one small aspect of Thanksgiving and blows it up to be the main arc of the episode. Then, the cooking and family drama serve as the smaller plot lines that support the main one. It’s a popular recipe that continues to be successful.
Bob’s Burgers Has Found The Magic Formula For Thanksgiving Episodes
Each Thanksgiving Episode Contains A Different Plot Line From The Previous One
It’s hard for long-running shows to produce quality holiday episodes, butBob’s Burgershas cracked the formula for Thanksgiving episodes. Each Thanksgiving episode contains a drastically different plot line than the one before.The first Thanksgiving episode was in season 3and follows the Belcher’s as they pretend to be Mr. Fischoeder’s family. Another episode involves a turkey trot gone wrong, ending with the turkeys taking over the streets of the neighborhood.
In season 8,the Belcher family discovers their friend Teddyis a massive hoarder.These major differences keep the Thanksgiving episodes from feeling stale. Some storylines can be outlandish, but they still have parts that the audience can relate to. During “Dawn of the Peck” in season 5, for instance, Bob cancels Thanksgiving over his family’s lack of enthusiasm for Thanksgiving.
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Canceling holidays has become a common threat, so seeing Bob react this way can resonate with the audience. Likewise, in season 8, the Belcher family sits at their Thanksgiving table talking about how full they are from dinner. The audience might not relate to hoarder Teddy in that episode, but they do understand that post-Thanksgiving dinner feeling.
Bob Is The Lifeblood Of The Show’s Thanksgiving Episodes
His Favorite Holiday Is Thanksgiving
One of the main reasonsBob’s Burgers' has such strong Thanksgiving stories is because of Bob. Bob’s favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. This makeshim desperate to have a good Thanksgiving and to cook the perfect meal. Regardless of Linda and the kids' lukewarm interest in the holiday, Bob’s love of Thanksgiving never dwindles.
He even cancels Thanksgiving, only to realize that he actually loves cooking for it and goes to get a turkey at the last minute. Bob’s pure joy of making and talking to the turkey adds another layer of joy to these Thanksgiving episodes. He inspects all the turkeys at the grocery store before picking one, names it, and even keeps it company while he cooks it.
This raises the stakes and the longer it takes for Bob to have his perfect Thanksgiving, the more the audience roots for him – giving genuine warmth toBob’s BurgersThanksgiving episodes.
In one episode, Bob has to continually buy turkeys because they go missing. Regardless of how many turkeys Bob has to buy, he stays hopeful that he can persist. This raises the stakes and the longer it takes for Bob to have his perfect Thanksgiving, the more the audience roots for him – giving genuine warmth toBob’s BurgersThanksgiving episodes.
