Bob's Burgers is actually the most normal family that's been on television since Married: With Children premiered. No, not the Simpsons, they started out as a more or less normal family until the Bundys caused the Simpsons (especially Homer) to get ... Flanderized. In fact, looking back at the early seasons now, it really wasn't too much different than the famicoms that were popular in the 80s, it was just less ... saccharine than many of them were, or had gotten.
Though one could say the pattern really started with The Honeymooners. Fat, stupid Ralph and his stupid Get Rich Quick schemes. All that fatmouthing ... ever see Alice's face when he does that shit? Does she look scared? No, because she can kick his blubbery ass and they both know it.
Hell, even Peter Griffin started out as just slightly wilder version of Homer Simpson and with cutscenes - he didn't go, well, full retard until Petarded. Well, at least the writers make sure to write certain things in or out in universe (especially running gags they want to kill, like the vaudeville guys).
And come to think, I haven't really bothered with sitcoms since about the 90s; never watched Friends, didn't care for Seinfeld. Started rewatching Family Ties. Wow, how things have changed since that was first on.
Edit: Well, it seems Married did come on the air as one of the first FOX shows, with Tracey Ullman ... but it did influence The Simpsons once it became more popular and outlandish - and it pushed THAT envelope harder after some woman in Michigan tried to ban it because she was too lazy to screen shit before greenlighting it for kids based on the title only. And that's separate from the complaints about Bart's behaviour (which was the entire point of him; his name is an anagram of "brat" on purpose.) At the time, I was watching all this shit on CITY TV, lived in Toronto with no cable, so yeah. I thought ST:TNG was a FOX show for the longest time.
Probably the reason I can watch Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, and Cosby Show all day
Bob's Burgers is actually the most normal family that's been on television since Married: With Children premiered. No, not the Simpsons, they started out as a more or less normal family until the Bundys caused the Simpsons (especially Homer) to get ... Flanderized. In fact, looking back at the early seasons now, it really wasn't too much different than the famicoms that were popular in the 80s, it was just less ... saccharine than many of them were, or had gotten.
Though one could say the pattern really started with The Honeymooners. Fat, stupid Ralph and his stupid Get Rich Quick schemes. All that fatmouthing ... ever see Alice's face when he does that shit? Does she look scared? No, because she can kick his blubbery ass and they both know it.
Hell, even Peter Griffin started out as just slightly wilder version of Homer Simpson and with cutscenes - he didn't go, well, full retard until Petarded. Well, at least the writers make sure to write certain things in or out in universe (especially running gags they want to kill, like the vaudeville guys).
And come to think, I haven't really bothered with sitcoms since about the 90s; never watched Friends, didn't care for Seinfeld. Started rewatching Family Ties. Wow, how things have changed since that was first on.
Edit: Well, it seems Married did come on the air as one of the first FOX shows, with Tracey Ullman ... but it did influence The Simpsons once it became more popular and outlandish - and it pushed THAT envelope harder after some woman in Michigan tried to ban it because she was too lazy to screen shit before greenlighting it for kids based on the title only. And that's separate from the complaints about Bart's behaviour (which was the entire point of him; his name is an anagram of "brat" on purpose.) At the time, I was watching all this shit on CITY TV, lived in Toronto with no cable, so yeah. I thought ST:TNG was a FOX show for the longest time.