Bob’s Burgers is hands down one of the best animated series right now on network television. Sure, The Simpsons is still on after what seems to be eons, and Family Guy is pulling in decent ratings, but there’s something about the Belcher Family and the rest of the characters on Bob’s Burgers that makes them so relatable. However, according to show creator, Loren Bouchard, the Belchers were originally going to be a family of cannibals who ran a burger restaurant and ate their patrons.
Bouchard spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about his early version of the successful Fox show that will hit its 100 episode milestone on May 22nd.
“I originally thought the show should be about a family that runs a restaurant who are cannibals. Very early on, [Fox] said, ‘Well, do you need the cannibalism?’ I had really put it in there because I thought they would want it. I’m coming off of working for Adult Swim, and the darker, more shocking aspect seemed like what you needed in order for an animated idea to cut through the noise.”
Bouchard and Brendon Small teamed up to produce Home Movies for UPN in 1999 which featured H. John Benjamin as alcoholic soccer coach, Coach McGuirk. The show was canceled, then Adult Swim resurrected the series in the early days of Cartoon Network’s late night block. Bouchard then created Lucy Daughter of the Devil for Adult Swim back in 2005 which was about a 21-year-old girl who has no choice when it comes to taking her father’s place as the antichrist. A show about a cannibalistic family seemed not out of the ordinary as a next step for Bouchard.
Fox said no to cannibalism, but a trace of Bouchard’s original concept is right there in the episode “Human Flesh,” which happens to be the show’s pilot. In the episode, we are introduced to the Belcher Family dealing with controversy surrounding their restaurant because of a rumor that their burgers contain human body parts. What if the Belchers were cannibals? What do you think their favorite body parts to snack on would be? It’s pretty obvious for Tina.
Bob’s Burgers 100th episode will air on Fox this Sunday at 8:30 EST.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
