9) Bob’s Burgers
Another year, another season in which Bob’s Burgers delicately performed the high-wire routine that make it TV’s most joyous show, instead of one of its most obnoxious. If your comic sensibilities don’t line up with those of Loren Bouchard’s absurdly loveable revival of the animated family sitcom, it’s understandable. Bob’s Burgers operates on a frequency that can be read as shrill and manic, perhaps because the writing staff can deliver a perfect punchline from any member of the Belcher family, and often choose to go with all five.
But what’s become more and more clear with each year of the show is that Bob’s Burgers is not just the warmest and most purely enjoyable animated comedy since classic The Simpsons, but also has the best voice cast, and is the best directed and edited.
Of the 20 episodes that have aired in 2014, at least half are stone-cold classics, and when those include antics as delightful as Gene’s Working Girl/Die Hard musical, ridiculous as Bob infiltrating a Brony convention, or anarchic as Louise just being Louise, you know there’s plenty of gas left in the tank for Bouchard and company now that they’ve mastered the art of making Bob’s Burgers.