The charming — if ever so slightly dysfunctional — Belcher family at the heart of "Bob's Burgers" is what makes the show so popular.

Hard to believe that they were originally meant to be a coven of cannibals.

In a new oral history about the Fox cartoon in "The Hollywood Reporter," creator Loren Bouchard explained that his first idea for the series involved eating human flesh.

"I originally thought the show should be about a family that runs a restaurant who are cannibals," Bouchard explains. "Very early on, [Fox] said, 'Well, do you need the cannibalism?'"

Bouchard, who had previously created shows like "Home Movies" and "Lucy: The Daughter Of The Devil" for Adult Swim, explained that the more mature nature of the channel influenced his decision.

"I had really put it in there because I thought they would want it," he said. "I'm coming off of working for Adult Swim, and the darker, more shocking aspect seemed like what you needed in order for an animated idea to cut through the noise."

It's probably for the best that Bob, Louise, Tina, and the gang didn't end up being a bunch of craven cannibals. As Suzanna Makkos, Fox's executive vice president of comedy, noted, "Do you want to do 100 episodes worth of cannibal jokes?"