Bob's Burgers: Season 1 (2011)

Tucked quietly away in the E4 schedule either before or after The Cleveland Show, the first series of Bob's Burgers proved to be every bit as chucklesome as it's neighbour, perhaps even more so. It's another 'American couple and their 3 kids' animated comedy (see The Simpsons, Family Guy, Cleveland Show, etc.), although here the look of the show is more 'realistic', a bit more in King of the Hill territory, but the characters are as mad as a box of frogs. 

Bob himself owns the eponymous burger joint, and he's more than a little obsessed with the place, and with his rivalry with Jimmy Pesto, owner of the Italian restaurant across the street. Wife Linda (who like eldest daughter Tina is voiced by a man) is an oddity, prone to shouting 'awright' at inappropriate moments and being a little creepy at times. It's hard to put in words the effect she has. The kids are a real weird bunch, with my favourite, Tina, who's desire to be kissed and her pecurliarly vocal mannerisms have me in stitches. Son Gene was clearly dropped on his head at birth and finds enjoyment in weird places, while co-conspirator Louise, always wearing pink bunny ears for no explained reason, is a little like Family Guy's Stewie in her deviousness, but she's more endearing with it. 

The plots range from the mundane to the ridiculous, including Bob getting stuck between the walls of his house or being threatened with closure by the health inspector, to the Belchers putting on live dinner theatre or turning their apartment into a bed and breakfast with bizarre guests. Where Family Guy and The Simpsons revel in pop culture references and one liners, Bob's Burgers relies more on grounded stories, with the humour coming from the odd quirks of the main characters and their nutty neighbours. I know the show's been renewed for another season, so I hope it has an audience to let it grow.