I loved this show as soon as it came out. It's supposedly by Matt Groening, but it's so different from the Simpsons that it doesnt seem trite or cliché. (american dad, *cough* *cough*) Right now it's only on late night on cartoon network and it's safe to say there probably wont be new episodes, but I think it's a pretty funny show and was definitely underappreciated.

Hmm...everybody on all sorts of different message boards I run into seem to sing the praises of Futurama and taut it as this amazing comedic masterpiece...and I just don't see it.

Matt Groening said it was 'How the future will really be', in response to Star Trek's idealism. But...the show came off to me like just a bunch of very predictable cynical social commentary on modern life, except with aliens and futuristic technology. (Like, no matter what the topic was, you knew what direction they were going to go in, and none of the jokes really surprised you.)

But, the thing that made it hardest for me to appreciate the show was that I couldn't stand the characters. Other than Leela the characters were either really annoying like Zoidberg or really stupid like Fry.

You are plain wrong. Zoidberg was hilarious.

I didn't get Futurama at first, but eventually I did, mostly on Cartoon Network reruns. I liked most of the characters, especially Zoidberg and the Rasta guy. I liked Bender the least, but the show (especially the later seasons) was really funny. I wish it were still on instead of some of the stuff they put on Sunday nights (The War At Home...blech!)

Maybe I'll watch some of the reruns, but I just remember most of the plots being incredibly tacky.

Like..that Jamaican guy somehow winds up in a situation where he has to limbo to save everybody, which..just happens to be his random emotional hangup. Or...Santa Claus is somehow turned into this mad killer robot, which ends with an incredibly cheesy parody of 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'.

And all I remember from Zoidberg is a bunch of yelling inane things and his girlfriend hitting on Fry.

I don't think I genuinely found an episode funny since that very early episode where they first introduced Zapp Brannigan.

Miss it and love it

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Maybe I'll watch some of the reruns, but I just remember most of the plots being incredibly tacky.

Like..that Jamaican guy somehow winds up in a situation where he has to limbo to save everybody, which..just happens to be his random emotional hangup. Or...Santa Claus is somehow turned into this mad killer robot, which ends with an incredibly cheesy parody of 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'.

And all I remember from Zoidberg is a bunch of yelling inane things and his girlfriend hitting on Fry.

I don't think I genuinely found an episode funny since that very early episode where they first introduced Zapp Brannigan.

You're crazy, stuff like that is why I love the show. Here are a couple quotes I like:

Amy: My beautiful skin, It's ruined! What happened to my parasol?

Bender: I don't know, it wasnt here when I took your umbrella.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermes: Now I'm going to go relax the traditional Jamaican way...A warm glass of milk and a good night's sleep.

lol, classic

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Miss it and love it

You know, they do have it on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network.

Bob knows nothing about comedy. He just talks bullshit trying to seem like he's intellectual.

On the Onion AV Club, Matt Groening said that they're working on four, count'em, four straight to DVD Futurama movies, like Stewie Griffin The Untold Story. He didn't have any details, and said that they weren't sure if there would be one big story spanning all the DVDs, or a bunch of smaller stories. In any case, it's comforting to know that the book on Futurama isn't completely closed yet.

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You know, they do have it on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network.

I don't think I get this channel in Canada but whatever I own all the DVDs.

I miss it in that there are no new episodes, b'lah!
But wait movies??! Nice!

Futurama sucks.

Ever wonder why it got cancelled? Nobody watched it when it was on! At the start it was on after the Simpsons. If a show by Matt Greoning can't keep a Simpsons lead-in audience, it's not a good sign.

The humor was smug and pop culture based, and just didn't work at all. A few people really liked it, and everybody else hated it. And now they say it was much better than it was because it makes them feel different and hip.

My fave Futurama episode, among many, was the one with Captain Kirk and the casts from Star Trek. That was brilliant.

Smug? Are you one of Bob The Spirit's friends? Because that rivals his posts for choice of words revealing not knowing what the fuck you're talking about.

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Originally posted by Art Vandelay:
Futurama sucks.

Ever wonder why it got cancelled? Nobody watched it when it was on! At the start it was on after the Simpsons. If a show by Matt Greoning can't keep a Simpsons lead-in audience, it's not a good sign.

A lousy argument, if you consider that Family Guy had lousy ratings but was resurrected because the "few people" who liked it snowballed into cult popularity.

Futurama averaged 10-12 million viewers in its 8:30 timeslot. The season premiere of Season 4 of the (resurrected) Family Guy drew just under 12 million, in the 9:00 timeslot. Futurama's ratings slumped (dropping to below 6 million) when Fox moved it to 7:00 and 7:30, which are dead zones for shows.

I get that you don't like Futurama, but to imply that nobody watched it is plain silly. In its heyday, it drew better ratings than Family Guy, King of the Hill, or American Dad. You can give the Simpsons lead-in credit for that, but people still watched.

Futurama was an excellent, well-written, funny show. I think the core audience of Simpsons fans liked it, but I think the people who watch the Simpsons (but aren't rabid fans) didn't get it. It wasn't the Simpsons 2.0, which is what the casual fans wanted. It was VERY different from the Simpsons, and that bothered people.

If the people who claim now to like Futurama do it to feel "different and hip", I guess that means the people who started watching Family Guy on Cartoon Network were trying even harder to be different and hip. If you want to be different and hip by ragging out Futurama fans, though, get your facts straight.

^ What he said !

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Originally posted by Buck "Sweetie" McGuck:
Smug? Are you one of Bob The Spirit's friends? Because that rivals his posts for choice of words revealing not knowing what the fuck you're talking about.

Ding ding ding.

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Futurama sucks.

Ever wonder why it got cancelled? Nobody watched it when it was on! At the start it was on after the Simpsons. If a show by Matt Greoning can't keep a Simpsons lead-in audience, it's not a good sign.

The humor was smug and pop culture based, and just didn't work at all. A few people really liked it, and everybody else hated it. And now they say it was much better than it was because it makes them feel different and hip.

Very intelligent analysis, Art. I bet they're missing you over at Harvard.

Seriously, who knows why it didn't catch on the way it seems to be doing now.

Maybe it's that Simpsons fans expected something similar to the Simpsons, but were instead greeted with something completely different. Unlike American Dad and Family Guy, Groening actually shied away from the format of his other show, rather than making an exact clone of it.

Maybe Fox didn't give it enough time to grow a substantial fan base.

One of the big factors was probably the characters. Futurama is one of the few cartoons these days that doesn't center around the typical suburban American family. The characters, which include a guy from the 20th century, his elderly great great...great-nephew, and a lobster doctor, might have seemed so outlandish and hard to relate to for most viewers that they never got into the show.

The last reason I would peg it on is the jokes. I don't know how to describe it, but I guess the jokes are more subtle than Simpsons jokes, like you wouldn't realize they just made a joke until a few seconds after. Again, jokes about aliens and robots were probably less appreciated than conversations between Homer and Moe at the town bar.

I didnt like Futurama at first, but I love it now, so it doesn't really matter why Fox cancelled it years ago. Like Eric said, look what happened to Family guy. Sometimes great shows don't get popular right away.


One more thing, Art Vandelay (if that is your real name)...If you don't like a show, that's fine, don't watch it, but don't speak for what other people thought because it makes you sound pretty smug and pompous.

Nice points, Smoog.

I don't care one bit whether someone likes what I like. So Art doesn't like Futuruma...big fuckin' deal. But making factually false claims (about the viewership) or intimating that people only CLAIM to like something to be cool isn't the same as saying "I don't like Futurama."

I'll hold my tongue, and refuse to return the ad hominem, but it's in the chamber and ready to fire.

The most retarded thing about what he said was that nobody watched it. The show lasted five years and was a hit on Adult Swim and DVD.

On the Late Late Show the other night, Katey Sagal told Craig Ferguson that they are making new episodes and that they will be on Comedy Central.

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On the Late Late Show the other night, Katey Sagal told Craig Ferguson that they are making new episodes and that they will be on Comedy Central.

Really? Hmm... I heard that Cartoon Network's contract on Futurama was going to run out soon and that it would move to Comedy Central, but the new episodes are news to me.