Bob’s Burgers Renewed For A Second Season? House & Bones May Be Leaving FOX? Where’s Terra Nova? What’s Going On Over There? (Part One)

In news that came as an absolute shock to us, the poorly-received (we gave it a 3 out of 10 and that was generous) and lackluster-rated Bob’s Burgers has been picked up for a second season by FOX as announced on April 7th.

Via Press Release:

FOX ORDERS UP A SECOND SERVING OF “BOB’S BURGERS”

Animated Series Renewed for a Second Season

All-New Episode Airs Sunday, April 10, on FOX

Animation Domination newcomer BOB’S BURGERS has been renewed for a second season, it was announced today by Kevin Reilly, President of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company.

“BOB’S BURGERS has proved to be a perfect neighbor to our slate of fan-favorite animated families this year,” said Reilly. “The series has found its own really unique, irreverent voice and is doing consistent business for us on Sundays, so we’re excited to serve up another season to the fans.”

The premiere of BOB’S BURGERS this year was the highest-rated new series debut on any network so far this season. The series currently ranks among the Top 10 programs this season among young men.

In the all-new “Burger War” episode, airing Sunday, April 10 (8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT), BOB’s (H. Jon Benjamin) eccentric landlord, MR. FISCHOEDER (guest voice Kevin Kline), pays the family a visit to deliver some bad news. Bob’s rival across the street, JIMMY PESTO (guest voice Jay Johnston) of Jimmy Pesto’s Pizzeria, wants to take over Bob’s lease so that he can expand his gift shop. With little time and not enough money, the Belcher family must cook up some business or luck to save the restaurant.

BOB’S BURGERS follows a third-generation restaurateur as he runs his own burger joint with the help of his wife and their three kids. Bob has big ideas about burgers, condiments and sides, but only a few thoughts on customer service and business management. Despite his greasy counters, lousy location and occasionally spotty service, Bob is convinced his burgers speak for themselves. The animated series features the voice talents of H. Jon Benjamin, John Roberts, Dan Mintz, Eugene Mirman and Kristen Schaal.

BOB’S BURGERS is a 20^th Century Fox Television production. The series was created by Loren Bouchard. Bouchard and Jim Dauterive serve as executive producers and writers. Become a fan of the series on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bobsburgers and follow the series on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bobsburgersfox.

Now, you’re probably figuring that our response to this news would be outrage due to the fact of how much we dislike the show but surprisingly, it’s not.  We not only aren’t bothered but we’re actually a little relieved because of all of the other news surrounding FOX programming over the last few weeks, particularly the renewals of American Dad and Fringe, both early and both with full season orders.

Seriously???

But first, there are two things about the renewal of Bob’s Burgers that need to be noted: Number one on the list is the fact FOX ordered two more animated shows last year for the 2011 – 2012 schedule; an animated version of Napoleon Dynamite (no, we’re not kidding) and a show by Jonah Hill called Allen Gregory, “which will have Hill voicing the title role of a freakishly smart, internationally acclaimed 7-year-old kid who’s about to take on the task of attending elementary school with kids his own age.” On the upside, at least it’s animated so we won’t have to see Hill’s absolute grotesqueness on the beautiful 65″ HDTV. But waitaminute… since they’ve ordered these two shows, how will there be room for the recently renewed American Dad and Bob’s Burgers on the Sunday night schedule?

That of course brings us to the second item of note: unlike American Dad, there has been absolutely no indication that FOX ordered a full season of 22 episodes for Bob’s Burgers whereas they made a point to brag about it in the press release announcing American Dad’s renewal.  So, even though FOX renewed Bob’s Burgers, the show’s status would appear to be more precarious than this renewal would seem to indicate and FOX is hedging its bets by keeping Napoleon Dynamite and Allen Gregory in the hopper for 2011, despite the fact that there is ZERO room on the Sunday night schedule for them.

Now, this being said, does anyone in their right mind think that a cartoon based on an overrated film that came out seven years ago and a series with an absolutely uninteresting premise has as snowball’s chance in hell of surviving past the six and seven episodes, respectively, that were ordered?  We don’t and we think that after a year of sitting on these projects and taking an inventory of the state of the network as far as scripted programming is concerned come Fall 2011, FOX execs are reconsidering their commitment to these two new shows and leaning toward full support of Bob’s Burgers, should, as we expect, Napoleon Dynamite and Allen Gregory fail quickly.  We think FOX is starting to realize that it may be better for them to deal with the devil that they know as opposed to the one they don’t, but because they are still FOX, after all, they’re taking a “wait and see” approach with Bob’s Burgers.

And what exactly is the state of FOX come Fall 2011?  And why aren’t we bothered by the renewal of Bob’s Burger’s, a show we really don’t like?  What’s this about House and Bones possibly not being on FOX and Terra Nova that you dopes alluded to in the headline yet never mentioned in this piece? Tune in to the ‘Tastic tomorrow and we’ll give you some insights based on what we know for sure, and what we think all of this information means based on us piecing it all together and wildly speculating… including the news about House, Bones and Terra Nova.