When a parody of a garage-rock song is so detailed in conception and skillful in execution, it simply turns back into regular music.
The sheer volume of output is no less staggering than the breadth of their style over the course of 150-plus tracks, they cover everything from show tunes to shoegaze to reggae to surf rock, the best of them capable of standing independent of the show as music to listen to in everyday life. More impressive still is the vast backlog of original songs penned for the series, largely the work of series creator Loren Bouchard, composer John Dylan Keith, and musical duo the Elegant Too. While Bob’s Burgers began as a spiritual descendant of The Simpsons, it has evolved into its own magnificent creature over the past decade, its 183 (and counting!) episodes a feat of longevity unto itself. In other words, even the most devoted viewers can start to take their favorite TV programs for granted and lose sight of the herculean amount of effort that goes into a long-running series.
On the zillionth rewatch of a Bob’s Burgers, for example, it can be comforting to settle in for the expected punch lines and premises, or just to hang out with a family we feel like we know as well as our own. Once a viewer reaches a certain benchmark of familiarity, a sitcom starts to have a pleasantly narcotizing effect.
