"Failed Thanksgiving" is peak sitcom TV

Bob Belcher is a big fan of Thanksgiving. Fourteen seasons of “Bob’s Burgers” dotted with near-annual Turkey Day episodes have taught us this — which is why it’s such a shame that the big meal never quite goes as planned. 

There was the year that Gene (Eugene Merman) contracted the stomach flu and had to spend the food-focused holiday locked in the family bathroom alongside his trusty Casio SK-5 keyboard. Then there was the year that the family’s money-obsessed and scheming landlord, Calvin Fischoeder (Kevin Kline), involved the Belchers in “An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal” as he had Linda (John Roberts) and the kids masquerade as his family in order to seduce an old girlfriend who gets off on breaking up marriages. 

But perhaps most memorable, especially for anyone who has ever babied, basted and otherwise fussed over a 14-pound bird, is the season four episode “Turkey in a Can.” Initially, it seems like a clear-cut case of holiday sabotage: Bob has spent three days massaging a special salt rub onto what is supposed to be his Thanksgiving turkey (a creation they dub “Father of the Brine”) only for it to end up face-down in the toilet. And then it happens again.