Loren Bouchard

Loren Hal Bouchard is an American animator, writer, producer, director, and composer. He is the creator of several animated TV shows such as Bob's Burgers, Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil, and Central Park. He is also the co-creator of Home Movies with Brendon Small as well as the executive producer of The Great North.

Early life

Bouchard was born in New York City to a Jewish mother and a Catholic father. He grew up in Medford, Massachusetts.

Career

A high school dropout, Bouchard was working as a bartender in 1993 when he bumped into a former grade school teacher of his, Tom Snyder, who asked if Bouchard was still drawing, and offered Bouchard a chance to work on a few animated short films Snyder was making. The shorts developed into Bouchard's first series, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, which he produced. He credits Jonathan Katz, H. Jon Benjamin, and Snyder as major influences. Dr. Katz ran for six seasons, from 1995 to 2000. He also produced one season of Science Court, another animated show made by Soup2Nuts.

Towards the end of Dr. Katz, Bouchard and Brendon Small teamed up to create Home Movies. The show was picked up initially by UPN, which dropped it after five episodes; the remaining eight episodes from season one, and the subsequent three seasons, were shown on Adult Swim. The show was not renewed after the conclusion of the fourth season in 2004.

After Home Movies concluded and another Bouchard pilot, Saddle Rash, was not picked up, Bouchard created Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil. The show's pilot was created on October 30, 2005, but it was not until September 2007 that the show debuted as a weekly feature on Adult Swim. He was a consulting producer on HBO's The Ricky Gervais Show.

Bouchard at San Diego Comic-Con in 2010

In 2009, Bouchard got together with King of the Hill writer and producer Jim Dauterive and developed Bob's Burgers, an animated series about a family working at a hamburger restaurant. Bouchard grew up in a working-class family full of "blue collar creatives" and created Bob's Burgers because he didn't see that kind of life represented on TV. In 2010, Fox placed the series on the primetime slate for the 2010–11 television season. A special preview aired on Thanksgiving on November 25, 2010. When the series premiered, it received mixed reviews with a Metacritic score of 54 out of 100. However, as the first season progressed and concluded and the second began, critics began giving the series praise. The show has generally been viewed as a spiritual successor to King of the Hill, which carried less emphasis on shock comedy and focused more on character-driven humor. A film adaptation based on the animated TV series was released on May 27, 2022. and serves as Bouchard's feature directorial debut.

Personal life

Bouchard lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Holly Kretschmar. The couple married on September 3, 2006. The couple have two sons.

Filmography

Series

Television work by Loren Bouchard

Year	Title	Creator / Showrunner	Involvement (episodes)	Role
1995–1999	Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist	Template:No	Writer, producer, editor (47 episodes)	—
1997	Science Court	Template:No	Producer and director (12 episodes)	—
1999–2004	Home Movies	Template:Yes (52 episodes)	Writer, executive producer, director, co-theme music composer	Josie Small (voice)
2002	Mr. Bean	Template:No	Voice actor (episode: "Cat-Sitting/The Bottle")	Rondo (voice)
2005–2007	Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil	Template:Yes (11 episodes)	Writer, executive producer, director, composer	Classmate (voice)
2007	My Gym Partner's a Monkey	Template:No	Voice actor (episode: "Flesh Fur Fantasy/Substitute Sweetheart")	Teddy (voice)
2010	The Ricky Gervais Show	Template:No	Consulting producer (season 1)	—
2011–present	Bob's Burgers	Template:Yes	Writer, co-developer, executive producer, main theme composer	Mickey (voice) (episode "Beach, Please", replaced Bill Hader)
2020–2022	Central Park	Template:Yes	Writer, executive producer, main theme composer	—
2021–present	The Great North	Template:No	Executive producer	—

Films

Film work by Loren Bouchard

Year	Title	Director	Involvement	Role
2022	My Butt Has a Fever	Template:Yes	Short film; writer, producer, music and lyrics, performer	—
	The Bob's Burgers Movie	Template:Yes	Writer, producer, music and lyrics, additional score arrangements, additional music, musician, vocalist, song producer	Additional voices

Awards and honors

Accolades for Loren Bouchard

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1995	CableACE Award	Animated Programming Special or Series	Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist	Template:Won
		Writing a Comedy Series		Template:Nom
1998	TCA Award	Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming	Science Court	Template:Nom
2011	Teen Choice Award	Choice Animated Series	Bob's Burgers	Template:Nom
2012	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Animated Series		Template:Nom
	Teen Choice Award	Choice Animated Series		Template:Nom
	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Animated Program	Bob's Burgers for "Burgerboss"	Template:Nom
2013	Annie Award	Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production	Bob's Burgers for "Ear-sy Rider"	Template:Nom
	Teen Choice Award	Choice Animated Series	Bob's Burgers	Template:Nom
	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Animated Program	Bob's Burgers for "O.T.: The Outside Toilet"	Template:Nom
2014	Annie Award	Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production	Bob's Burgers	Template:Nom
	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Animated Series		Template:Nom
	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Animated Program	Bob's Burgers for "Mazel-Tina"	Template:Won
2015	People's Choice Award	Favorite Animated TV Show	Bob's Burgers	Template:Nom
	Annie Award	Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production		Template:Nom
	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Animated Series		Template:Nom
	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Animated Program	Bob's Burgers for "Can't Buy Me Math"	Template:Nom
	Environmental Media Award	Television Episodic Comedy	Bob's Burgers for "Late Afternoon in the Garden of Bob and Louise"	Template:Nom
2016	People's Choice Award	Favorite Animated TV Show	Bob's Burgers	Template:Nom
	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Animated Series		Template:Nom
				Template:Nom
	Annie Award	Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production		Template:Nom
	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Animated Program	Bob's Burgers for "The Horse Rider-er"	Template:Nom
2017	People's Choice Award	Favorite Animated TV Show	Bob's Burgers	Template:Nom
	Annie Award	Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production	Bob's Burgers for "Glued, Where's My Bob?"	Template:Won
		Outstanding Achievement, Music in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production	Bob's Burgers for "Glued, Where's My Bob?" (shared with John Dylan Keith)	Template:Nom
	Teen Choice Award	Choice Animated TV Show	Bob's Burgers	Template:Nom
	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Animated Program	Bob's Burgers for "Bob Actually"	Template:Won
2018	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Animated Series	Bob's Burgers	Template:Nom
	Teen Choice Award	Choice Animated TV Show		Template:Nom
	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Animated Program	Bob's Burgers for "V for Valentine-detta"	Template:Nom
2019	Annie Award	Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production	Bob's Burgers for "The Bleakening: Parts 1 & 2"	Template:Nom
	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Animated Series	Bob's Burgers	Template:Nom
	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Animated Program	Bob's Burgers for "Just One of the Boyz 4 Now for Now"	Template:Nom
2020	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Animated Program	Bob's Burgers for "Pig Trouble in Little Tina"	Template:Nom
2021	Dorian TV Awards	Best Animated Show	Bob's Burgers	Template:Nom
	Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards	Best Animated Series or Animated Television Movie		Template:Nom
	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Animated Program	Bob's Burgers for "Worms of In-Rear-Ment"	Template:Nom
2022	Peabody Award	Entertainment	Bob's Burgers	Template:Nom

External links

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