Bob’s Burgers Refusing To Copy 1 Simpsons Gimmick Sets It Up To Have A Better Legacy

Although Bob’s Burgers has borrowed plenty from The Simpsons, the show’s creators are right to steer clear of one trick that the earlier show is famous for revisiting. As of 2025, The Simpsons is the longest-running scripted primetime American TV show in history. As such, it is hardly surprising that Bob’s Burgers borrows from the earlier series.

Like American Dad, King of the Hill, Family Guy, and many other animated family comedy shows, Bob’s Burgers and its sister show, The Great North, regularly earn comparisons to The Simpsons. To an extent, these comparisons are justified.

Bob’s Burgers and The Simpsons both focus on dysfunctional families with two daughters and a son; they are both warm, family-friendly sitcoms, and Bob’s Burgers season 15 even borrowed a storytelling trick from The Simpsons season 36. However, the two shows differ where it matters.

Bob’s Burgers Will Never Do A Flashforward Episode

The Show’s Creators Confirmed This Much at SDCC 2025

As the countdown for Bob’s Burgers season 16 continues, the show’s creators took to the stage at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 to discuss its future. According to ScreenRant’s coverage of the show’s panel, creator Loren Bouchard confirmed Bob’s Burgers will never do a “Flashfoward episode” detailing the family’s futures.

This is a trick The Simpsons has employed repeatedly, most recently in the season 36 finale “Estranger Things.” That episode made headlines worldwide by killing off the family’s beloved matriarch, Marge, although this only occurred in this specific episode’s timeline.

Bob’s Burgers’ Grounded Storytelling Can Make It Better Overall

Bob’s Burgers Is Right to Avoid Flashforward Future Episodes

The Simpsons has an “Elastic canon,” according to its executive producer Matt Selman’s post on X, and the show can therefore retcon any storytelling elements from any given episode without prior warning. Bob’s Burgers doesn’t share this approach, and that is a good thing for the show.

The strength of Bob’s Burgers comes from its grounded storytelling, unlike zanier, more surreal shows like The Simpsons or Family Guy. As such, it would be strange to see the series jump into the future, even temporarily.

Staying in the present effectively ensures that Bob’s Burgers continues to feel more relatable to viewers, thus carving out a niche for the show in the crowded landscape of adult animated comedy. Since Bob’s Burgers season 15 episode 18 proved the show can make even a free-throw contest thrilling and poignant, the series doesn’t need showy gimmicks.

How Bob’s Burgers Not Doing Flashforward Motivates It To Have More Interesting Stories

Bob’s Burgers Can’t Mess With Its Canon and Timeline For Fun

Although it would be fun to see what the Belcher kids are like as adults, Bob’s Burgers steering clear of future-set episodes is a great idea. By refusing to mess with the show’s canon and timeline, the creators guarantee a more grounded, consistent fictional world.

Related

Bob’s Burgers Season 15 Gives An Old Gag An Unexpectedly Heartbreaking Twist

Bob’s Burgers season 15 episode 17 takes one of the show’s silliest recurring gags and makes this absurd joke unexpectedly tragic for its heroes.

Other shows that traffic in surreal humor and wilder plots can pull off future-set episodes, but this particular family comedy doesn’t need the television staple. As such, Bob’s Burgers is right to avoid borrowing this trope from The Simpsons for now.

Source: X

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Bob’s Burgers

8/10

Release Date

January 9, 2011

Network

FOX

Showrunner

Loren Bouchard

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  H. Jon Benjamin

  Bob Belcher (voice)

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  John Roberts

  Linda Belcher (voice)