The rivalry between Bob and his cross-street competitor Jimmy Pesto has been a mainstay of Bob’s Burgers since the beginning of the show, but it’s a frustrating competition, as well. Bob will always been chasing the tail of the pizzeria owner no matter what.
So, while it’s charming and funny to see the Belchers trying to make a commercial to air on Super Bowl Sunday in hopes of roping customers away from Pesto’s, you know from the get-go that it’s going to be a failed endeavor. No matter though, it’s a noble failure and a very funny one, too.
Working together, the family craft a silly mess of an ad, incorporating a little singing, a ridiculous tagline (“Come Meet Our Family and Let Us Meat You”), and Gene pretending to be a monstrous burger destroying the city with his flavor. When the first effort doesn’t work out, Bob brings in a former NFL player, Sandy “Can-Can” Frye—so named because he would dance a can-can after sacking a quarterback—and does another commercial, cutting his family out almost entirely.
On the big day, it all falls apart when they find out Jimmy Pesto made a similar commercial with the same spokesperson. Bob confronts Pesto but of course, it does him no good and the folks in the restaurant pelt him with food. It all comes to a nice, simple conclusion with Bob proclaiming his love for his family, and Gene stopping up one of the toilets at Pesto’s restaurant with his “Super Bowel.”
As fun as it to watch Bob go into a rage at his cross-street competitor and circle back around to his reliance on the love of his family, it gets a little tiresome to have every victory for the Belchers be Pyrrhic. I’m not suggesting that the writing staff pull a Roseanne and let the family win the lottery, just that they do something to help ease the continuing stumbles that dominate every episode. Everything else about the show hits every one of my TV viewing pleasure centers—whip-crack dialogue and banter, brilliant characters, and inventive storylines. Why not let Bob and family win one fair and square every now and again, eh?