Hulu has a date for the Belchers’ Christmas. “On the Fort Day of Christmas”, the Hulu-exclusive “Bob’s Burgers” holiday short, premieres Monday, December 7th, on Hulu and on Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers in the U.S. Disney+ carries it internationally in most markets. Creator and executive producer Loren Bouchard announced the date at the show’s New York Comic Con panel on the Main Stage on Saturday, October 10th. The official synopsis says a record-breaking Christmas snowstorm “means one thing to the Belcher kids”, and that one thing is “a record-breaking Christmas snow fort.” It is good news with a catch. Because FOX has pushed season 17 into 2027, this short is the only new Belcher story on the calendar for the holidays.
Bouchard shared the stage with the voices of Bob Belcher (H. Jon Benjamin), Linda (John Roberts), Louise (Kristen Schaal), Gene (Eugene Mirman), Tina (Dan Mintz) and Teddy (Larry Murphy). The hour was billed as a joint “Bob’s Burgers” and “Futurama” animation panel, with the two shows back to back. The short itself is not new news. It was first announced at the San Diego Comic-Con panel on July 25th, with nothing more specific than “this holiday season” as a window. New York added the date and a first look. That first look is a 16-second sneak peek, posted the same day by the verified Bob’s Burgers Side Orders YouTube channel with the line “NYCC got us in the holiday spirit.” Warning beyond this point there are spoilers for “Bob’s Burgers” and for the first look at “On the Fort Day of Christmas”.
Because FOX has pushed season 17 into 2027, this short is the only new Belcher story on the calendar for the holidays.”
The sneak peek is two shots in the restaurant, and it never leaves the counter. The wide shot has the place dressed for Christmas. String lights run along the ceiling and around the front window. Stockings and candy canes hang on the glass, and the sign for Jimmy Pesto’s Pizzeria sits across the street. The Burger of the Day chalkboard reads “The Frosty the Snowpeas Burger” at $6.95. Linda stands at the end of the counter and aims a remote at something off screen. The three kids sit at the counter in holiday sweaters. Gene’s is green with a snowman on it. Louise wears a red argyle one under her pink bunny ears, and Tina’s is blue with a pair of antlers. The second shot is a straight-on close-up of the three of them staring ahead. Then the wide shot returns. Bob turns around beside Linda. Louise climbs onto the counter and grabs her father by the mustache while Gene watches in alarm.
There is no snow in either shot. The view through the window shows none, so whatever has the kids worked up is still a forecast. ComicBook.com reported that the kids are hoping for a record amount of snow “following a weather report”, and Deadline wrote that “the Belcher kids are getting their hopes up for some wintertime fun.” That matches what the clip shows. It is a setup scene, and the fort itself is nowhere in it. The chalkboard is the detail longtime viewers should catch. In the season 16 premiere Bob agonized over raising his prices by a dollar and went through with it. A $6.95 special fits that new menu. It suggests the short sits after that change on the show’s timeline instead of floating outside it, which is not a given for a holiday one-off.
The room may have seen more than the internet did. One Laughing Place report from the panel said a short 15-second clip from the special was shown. Its fuller panel recap described a different scene from the short. In it Tina is sick in bed on Christmas morning while Gene and Louise try to coax Bob and Linda out of her room so they can finally open presents. The same recap says Bouchard confirmed the short is a musical. Collider ran a Hulu image with Bob and Linda on a brown couch next to a decorated tree, with the three kids beside them holding wrapped presents. Hulu’s announcement calls it a short and gives no running time. ComicBook.com wrote that because it is a short, “it likely won’t be running for the length of a full episode like with past holiday specials.”
So why is a FOX show doing Christmas on Hulu at all? The answer is the schedule. Collider reported that “Bob’s Burgers” joins “Family Guy” and “American Dad” in premiering at midseason this year, with “Animal Control” taking its usual slot after “The Simpsons”. Hulu’s release says season 17 returns to FOX in 2027, and Variety put it at early 2027. The series is renewed through season 19, the 2028 to 2029 season. According to Laughing Place, Bouchard opened the panel by reminding fans that the show is not on the air this fall. The same report says he admitted he hates the arrangement and said he is pushing FOX on the matter.
He has reason to push. ComicBook.com pointed out that the schedule change means the show misses the fall run of holidays, and the outlet called its Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas episodes some of the best in the series’ history. By Collider’s count, the show has not skipped a Christmas since season three’s “God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins”. This short is what keeps that run alive with no broadcast episodes in the fall. It is a patch, not a replacement. ComicBook.com also noted that “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons” have already released exclusive specials on Hulu and Disney+, so the Belchers are following a path the network’s other cartoons have already tested. Laughing Place reports that Bouchard promised more holiday content, because fans seem to like it and the team enjoys making it.
The panel did not stop at Christmas, and Laughing Place’s recap carries most of the rest. The show is enlisting artists to cover songs from the series, and the songs are then animated. Bouchard’s point, as that recap tells it, is that the show often writes songs meant to be bad, and it is fun to hear a great artist make one of them good. R&B artist Kiana Ledé chose “I Love You So Much (It’s Scary)”, a song by the show’s fictional boy band Boyz 4 Now. Robert Valley, known for his work on Gorillaz music videos, animated it. The recap says the video drops this Friday.
Laughing Place also reports clips from four upcoming episodes. In one, Teddy falls asleep on the restaurant counter and dreams he is a bald action star in the mold of Jason Statham, then adds time travel. In the clip, action-hero Teddy comes face to face with regular Teddy. Another, shown as an animatic, is an episode Bouchard called a love letter to teachers. It centers on Ms. Merkin (Brian Huskey) and how Gene would feel if she announced her retirement, and Kenan Thompson guest stars. An episode titled “Booby Trap” gets Linda stuck in a mammogram machine, while its B story sends Teddy to the school when Tina forgets her gym clothes. The last animatic has Jimmy Jr. falling off his dad’s Vespa, with Tina secretly nursing him back to health in her room. Asked about a second movie, Bouchard said nobody has asked the team to make one yet, though he would love to.
Here is where that leaves the short. Sixteen seconds of a musical tells you almost nothing about the musical. It tells you the look, the sweaters and the setup, and that is all it is built to do. The date is the real news. December 7th lands almost three weeks before Christmas, which gives the short the rest of December to become a rewatch. The empty fall is a FOX decision, and by Laughing Place’s account Bouchard told the room he does not like it. A snow fort on Hulu will not fix that, but it beats an empty December.
What Do You Think? Will a short on Hulu feel like a real “Bob’s Burgers” Christmas, or does it only make the missing fall season sting more? If the short really is a musical, which Belcher do you want carrying the big number? And should FOX bring the show back to its fall slot in 2027, or is midseason the new normal?
See you on the next binge!
