Bringing Up Buster

Lore & Background

The episode introduces the Cornballer, a device George Sr. attempted to market in the mid-70s. The machine was made illegal in the United States and several other countries after multiple people burned themselves while using it, but it managed to become popular in Mexico. The Cornballer was a metajoke from series creator Mitchell Hurwitz, who knew the episode would "end with a father-son rapprochement" and originally wanted to include the phrase "That's a little cornball." The prop was made out of parts of a deep fryer and an aquarium. The Cornballer would become a recurring gag, reappearing in "The One Where They Build a House" and "Good Grief." During Buster's swearing rant, his speech is bleeped for a prolonged period; Tony Hale claims he "[screamed] out the alphabet" to make it look like he was actually swearing.

Reader's Guide

The episode was directed by producer Joe Russo, and written by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz and consulting producer Richard Rosenstock. It was Hurwitz's third writing credit for the series, and Rosenstock's first. It was the second episode of the ordered season to be filmed after the pilot. In the United States, the episode was watched by 5.78 million viewers on its original broadcast.

It received a 2.6 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. The A.V. Club writer Noel Murray praised the episode's main message overall, stating that "A lot of 'Bringing Up Buster' is concerned with the characters’ opinions of each other’s parenting choices, which means a public family squabble suits the theme." Olivia Armstrong from Decider praised the simplicity of the episode, stating that "As far as television writing goes, 'Bringing Up Buster' is as flawless as it gets."

In 2019, Brian Tallerico from Vulture ranked the episode as the twelfth best of the whole series. Tony Hale later screened the episode in 2014 at the Ruby Diamond Concert Hall, to open his talk entitled "Hey Brother! An Evening with Buster Bluth featuring Tony Hale."