Bob’s Burgers: FOX’s New Animated TV Series; Cancel or Keep It?

The FOX network recently introduced another TV show to their Sunday night “Animation Domination” line-up, Bob’s Burgers. How will this stack up against the other animated sitcoms? Will it be quickly renewed or end up being cancelled?

Bob’s Burgers revolves around Bob Belcher (H. Jon Benjamin), a third generation restaurateur who operates Bob’s Burgers with the help of his wife and their three kids. He has big ideas about the food he serves but knows little about customer service and business management. The restaurant is constantly struggling and there are times when it doesn’t seem like his family is on his team. His wife, Linda (John Roberts), supports his dream through thick and thin but is tiring of it. Eldest daughter Tina (Dan Mintz) is a 13-year-old hopeless romantic with minimal social skills. Son Gene (Eugene Mirman) is an aspiring musician and prankster and youngest child Louise (Kristen Schaal) has an off-balance sense of humor but loves her dad’s business.

The new show debuted on January 9th and, thanks in part to the afternoon’s NFL Wildcard Playoff game, had a great premiere. The first episode of Bob’s Burgers scored a 4.5 in the 18-49 demographic and 9.38 million total viewers. Those numbers were good enough to make it the best performing network premiere of the season to date.

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Unfortunately that success was short-lived. Only about half as many of those viewers came back to watch in week two. The second episode dropped to a 2.5 rating in the demo and 5.07 million viewers. The most recent episode attracted a 2.2 rating, a further decline of 12% in the demo, and 4.81 million total viewers.

Thanks to the fantastic premiere numbers, Bob’s Burgers still averages a 3.1 rating and 6.42 million viewers. If the ratings keep declining or even if they just stay the same, that average will sink lower. Sandwiched between The Simpsons and Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers doesn’t come close to matching their ratings. That seems to indicate that some FOX viewers are making a conscious effort to skip the newbie series. FOX execs are likely wondering if other shows might make better use of the timeslot. They already have a couple new animated series in the works.

Back in October, FOX ordered six additional scripts for the series. Because it can take months to produce new episodes, the order would allow the series to remain in continuous production. The network has yet to order additional episodes be actually produced however. The network is likely waiting to see if the ratings even off or get better before committing to its future.

What do you think? Do you like Bob’s Burgers? Does the humor go too far? Cancel or keep it?

Image courtesy FOX.

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