13 Reasons Bob's Burgers Is Objectively Way Better Than The Simpsons

Unlike most sitcom marriages (animated or not), Bob and Linda Belcher are pretty much on level ground with one another. If anything, Linda lacks a bit of common sense, whereas most TV marriages are between a fat, dumb guy and a beautiful, intelligent woman. Virtually every episode of The Simpsons depicts the latter (assuming you find yellow women with tall blue hair attractive). 

Bob's Burgers flips the sitcom marriage trope on its head by giving Bob and Tina a different kind of dynamic relationship. Bob isn't a simple, lazy idiot - he has ambitions to make his burger shop a success and tries to take responsibility seriously. He doesn't complain about working and aspires to make high-quality, delicious burgers. Linda isn't just a trophy wife who leaves viewers wondering why she got married to her husband in the first place. She has more than one dimension, driving certain episodes with her own initiatives. 

Linda and Bob have a happy marriage. Homer and Marge often do not. Sure, like any couple, Linda and Bob hit some doldrums, but by and large, their marriage is solid. In Season 8 of The Simpsons, Marge and Homer actually got divorced because Homer felt Marge could do better (a rare moment of self-reflection for the typically oblivious Homer, the main cause for Marge's frequent unhappiness). 

In Season 1 of Bob's Burgers, during "Weekend at Mort's," Bob and Linda have a tiff because Bob isn't as into date night as he should be. He realizes his shortcoming by the end of the episode, and his and Linda's marriage is stronger for it. That's about as extreme as their marital strife gets. While the depiction of marital problems in The Simpsons has its merits, Bob's Burgers presents a more satisfying depiction of such a relationship. Instead of a constant strain between two characters that threatens to tear a family apart, Bob's Burgers has parents who are trying to work out their problems to sustain a happy marriage. 

Both shows are about working class families. The Belcher family is a much more cohesive unit than the Simpsons, which lends itself to a lot more possibilities. There are episodes about Linda and Tina ("The Grand Mama-Pest Hotel"), Bob and Louise ("Spaghetti Western and Meatballs"), Gene and Bob ("Beefsquatch"), and more. Since the Belcher's have a more functional and happy family, they can be paired off in any way, and it will be satisfying.

Given the various conflicts inherent in The Simpsons' characters - Homer and Bart's antagonistic relationship or the intellectual chasm between Homer and Lisa - they're often limited to one-dimensional storylines. That's not to say such episodes don't exist. For example, Homer and Lisa have a very sweet bonding opportunity in "Lost Our Lisa," but in general, the dynamics of the Simpson family are static.

In The Simpsons, the vast majority of the action is driven by male characters like Homer and Bart, and even a plurality of the Springfield residents are male. The reverse is arguably true of Bob's Burgers. Louise and Tina are fan favorites for vastly different reasons. There are no shortage of episodes that are driven by Tina's various love interests, or by Louise's devious schemes.

Obviously, some Simpsons episodes are female driven, like "Lisa the Vegetarian," but that's unavoidable over the course of 30 seasons. However, these episodes have that obligatory feel captured best by Peter Griffin in "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven," when he breaks the fourth wall to tell the audience it's a Meg episode and viewers can switch the channel. Conversely, female-centric episodes of Bob's Burgers like "Two for Tina" or "Mother Daughter Laser Razor" are some of the best because they offer unique female characters who have depth, wit, and insight. 

Despite being members of the titular family, Marge and Lisa are secondary characters in The Simpsons. Homer and Bart command the most attention and stardom. In contrast, each and every Belcher is represented equally in Bob's Burgers. Linda is the centerpiece in "Lindapendent Woman," Bob in "Father of the Bob," Tina has "Tina and the Real Ghost," Louise has "Flu-ouise," and Gene gets "Stand By Gene."

Of course, each character has much more than one episode revolving around them, but that's the point: they all have a bunch, and are on a level plane. Yes, there are episodes about the Simpson ladies, like "Screaming Yellow Honkers" or "Moaning Lisa," but they just aren't as frequent as ones driven by Bart or Homer. 

The best episodes of Bob's Burgers are hands down the ones that revolve around the kids, perhaps best represented in "The Kids Run the Restaurant," or "Bob Fires the Kids," or "The Belchies" or - you know what, just all the freakin' episodes about them.

Louise is an evil genius, wily and more worldly than her older siblings, but still gleefully childish. Gene is a music-loving fart enthusiast who overeats and is not shy about the resulting bowel movements. Tina writes erotic fiction about zombies and, more importantly, their butts. She is pubescent to the extreme, and has little space in her brain for anything outside of teenage boys. Bart's a punk and Lisa's a boring intellectual. The Belcher kids drive the comedy in Bob's Burgers, but the humor of the Simpson kids is situational.