Loren Bouchard has done an unbelievable job creating the first season of Bob’s Burgers. Bouchard is mostly known for also creating the fabled adult swim show Home Movies, but as we all know it’s much more difficult to keep a show going on Fox. I’m sure it was no easy accomplishment, but Bob’s Burgers has continually proven its worth throughout the year. Bob’s is blooming with great creative choices all over the place, starting at the script, through to the animation, and down to the fantastic casting, brimming with top name comedians. I hope it pleases everyone as much as it does me that we’ll get another season of the Belcher family’s hilarious antics.

First off, It was great to have an episode that mostly didn’t take place in the restaurant. I get that the restaurant’s name is the title of the show, but just like The Office, they need to mix things up sometimes. Bob decides to take the family to a good old fashioned baseball game to see the new banner ad he purchased. What I love most though is how new environments call for new characters and that means more great new voice actors. Tim Heidecker plays an overly excited little league announcer while Eric Wareheim as his co-announcer plays the straight man. As if Tim and Eric weren’t enough, (Robert) Ben Garant channels his Junior voice from Reno 911 as pitcher Torpedo Johnson. On top of all that, Kevin Kline voices the landlord of… well, everything, Mr. Fishoeder. I honestly cannot pick a favorite here, but collectively they’re some of the best choices all season besides Laura and Sarah Silverman as twin boys.

As far as the plot goes, they did an amazing job of intertwining all of the story. It’s almost seamless how the plot starts by focusing on Bob and then based on events that happen to him the story movies along to Gene’s plot. My favorite plot is still Bob’s though, and not just for all of the extra Ben Garant. Bob’s plot ends up basically becoming about cheating, which brings a lot of morality questions to the characters for the rest of the episode, specifically the children. While equally fueling the plot and creating tension that’s relieved with humor, they’re also dealing with subjects that are not often seen on TV, not to mention on a prime time animated show on a major network.

All of these elements helped stitch together one of my favorite episodes all season. I’ve already expressed my enjoyment of the voice cast, but this episode ensures it bears repeating. There were a few visual jokes this episode that felt foreign in an animation style, yet the execution of the events made them funnier than if they were live action. It’s great that Fox has seemingly found an animated show by someone other than Groening or MacFarlane, yet easily matches and sometimes surpasses that quality level. In Bob’s Burgers, Bouchard has created a wonderfully lively world replete with quirky and unforgettable characters, a broad sense of humor that ranges from subtle and witty textual background jokes to hammy slapstick, and a very unique cinematographic style (a strange characteristic for an animated show). I would hope that season 2 will be as good as season 1, but I already have tremendous faith that this incredibly talented cast and crew will be able to pull it off.