While it might not seem like it, a show's season premiere can make or break a season. With Bob's Burgers now in season 15, it's more crucial than ever.
Given that season 14 just wrapped up its bonus episodes last week, a lot is riding on season 15 and whether it'll hold a candle to season 14. However, starting things off with Tina is a smart move by the cast and crew.
While some might think Tina is annoying, a lot of fans relate to her and see how she has matured since the beginning of the series. However, pairing her with Mr. Frond could prove disastrous as he tends to bring out the worst in the Belcher kids.
Either way, if you haven't watched the season 15 premiere of Bob's Burgers yet, we'll be talking spoilers in our recap of "The Tina Table: The Tables Have Tina-Ed." Be sure to come back and share all of your thoughts once you've watched.
What happened in the season 15 premiere of Bob's Burgers?
The episode begins with Tina's segment happening on Wagstaff's School News which is called The Tina Table. She finds out that the students don't really love her segment so she might get canceled and Louise tells her she should make a big deal if she gets fired. However, Tina tries to find someone who will be a good interviewee.
Meanwhile, at the restaurant, Linda is describing a horror movie to Teddy because he's too scared to watch those movies at home. Bob finds out that Linda's making up plots of horror movies and Teddy doesn't seem to catch on.
Tina goes to find the principal to be on The Tina Table but Mr. Frond stops her and says that the two should help each other out. When Mr. Frond goes on The Tina Table, he introduces the "Final Frond-tier," which is a video game version of a guidance counselor. Tina basically ends up doing some free PR for the game and the students and Principal Spoors love it so Tina ends up saving her segment and possibly getting more on-air time.
The Final Frond-tier ends up giving some less-than-accurate readings to the students and the kids end up taking it a little too seriously. Back at the restaurant, Bob takes over for Linda when telling Teddy about the newest Scream movie and Bob has a lot more fun. The following day, Tina returns with more of The Tina Table and it ends up being the Frond show even though he can't seem to answer any of Tina's questions.
Louise feels incredibly suspicious of the results as everyone in school takes it so seriously. While at lunch, the kids end up, seeing Mr. Frond sneaking into his office. Once there, they find out that Henry Haber is the "software developer" that Frond was speaking so highly of and Frond admits that he rushed it because it's what Principal Spoors wanted.
Louise wants Tina to share that it's a fraud but Frond says that he'll announce the latest update on The Tina Table so Tina feels conflicted. At the restaurant, Bob and Linda keep going back and forth about this new movie that's streaming and Teddy says that it's a local director so they're doing a screening. Tina is struggling so much that she decides to go visit Pam who was originally part of the Chuck and Pam duo from season 2. Pam gives Tina terrible advice so she still has no idea what to do.
Teddy comes into the restaurant after going to the local screening and says that after seeing the movie, he was bored because of how good Bob and Linda's storytelling was. While interviewing Mr. Frond, Tina decides to have him try out the game and he gets a poor result so Tina starts to question him even more.
Eventually, Mr. Frond admits that the entire game is a lie and Principal Spoors cancels the rollout.
Was "The Tina Table: The Tables Have Tina-Ed" a good start to season 15?
To start off season 15, we got "The Tina Table: The Tables Have Tina-ed," which was oddly enough not a very Tina-centric episode. Even so, this was such a fun way to start off season 15 as it felt different in a good way. Not only did we get to see the Belcher kids questioning things but we also got to see Mr. Frond at the forefront of a scandal.
Mr. Frond has become an underutilized character and it's nice to see the show bringing him back into the fold. It was also nice to see Pam make a reappearance as we haven't seen much of Chuck and Pam since the show's early days. Coupled with Henry Haber teaming up with the Belchers, this felt like a classic Bob's Burgers episode in the best way.
One complaint I've had with previous episodes was that the B-plot felt too distracting or unnecessary but this one did not. Seeing Bob and Linda compete to tell Teddy about scary movies was so much fun. It was a nice way to break up the episode and I hope that the show keeps that same format into the rest of season 15.
Overall, "The Tina Table: The Tables Have Tina-ed" was a solid one to start off season 15 with. If anything, it has me excited about what's to come for the rest of the season.
Bob's Burgers airs on Sundays on Fox at 9/8c.