Attention Deficit Delirium

Thankfully Futurama has been given a second shot at weekly series life, and because it already amassed a sizable collection of episodes with its previous five seasons (if you include those four recent feature-length movies), the mirthful, animated sci-fi spectacle celebrates its 100th episode tonight. It also happens to be the sixth season finale. Having caught some of the new episodes already, it’s obvious that the writers still have fresh ideas, whether parodying the cult of Apple (if that’s how you view it) or hypothesizing how outer space cats were actually the aliens that brought advanced technology to mankind (hey, it could have happened).

Here are two sneak peeks at tonight’s episode, which airs tonight at 10 PM EST on Comedy Central and includes a great cameo by Devo. And here’s to 100 more!



Futurama	Thursdays 10pm / 9c
Preview – 100th Delivery
www.comedycentral.com
Futurama New Episodes Big Lake A New Comedy from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay




Futurama	Thursdays 10pm / 9c
Preview – The Devo-lution Revolution
www.comedycentral.com
Futurama New Episodes Big Lake A New Comedy from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay




Futurama returned in regular series (not movie) form tonight for the first time in seven years. Comedy Central aired two new episodes: The first was about Professor Farnsworth bringing the crew back to life after a horrible spaceship crash plus the perceived death of Leela. The second found Leela and Zapp Brannigan flying into space to battle and save the Earth from the Death Sphere; ultimately crash landing on a planet where they could possibly become the new Adam and Eve (shudder) in the wake of human annihilation. The verdict? ADD decided to skip the play by play and pick out some thoughts from the Twitterverse to see what Futurama fans are saying about this double dose of new stories. I personally enjoyed them — the snarky, witty humor is still there, the rich pop culture references still abound and the characters remain their lovable selves — but I get the sense the writers are warming up again after having been in a (sort of) deep freeze, even though they did four Futurama movies recently. The first two episodes were pretty good, but I suspect they will get better.

Here are what some of the fans had to say, in 140 characters or less:



@tlarn: My thoughts on the new Futurama? Definitely feels like the writers have more freedom, so it’ll be interesting what they’ll do now.

@mynameisdunn: Futurama I give you 3 stars good to be back not that great of episodes

@talkingorange: Futurama has still got it again. Welcome back #Futurama

@Dammit10586: I have seen the new #Futurama. It’s…you know…almost there.

@sky7285: Cute !!! Love the new season ##futurama

@nitroslick: This episode is satirizing STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE and the Bible. Nice one, Groening! #Futurama #DavidXCohen

@SteveStreza: New Futurama was excellent. 8/10. It was the necessary bridge episode between the movies and the new series.

[more quotes below]

@ajhan: They just didn’t feel like Futurama to me. The characters seemed like pale imitations of themselves.

@phillryu: Premiere ep of futurama since cancellation is hilarious so far! much better than the movies

@AndyRea: AAAGHHHHH HEAVYHANDED FUTURAMA I DIDN’T WANT YOU BACK I WANTED IRREVERENT FUTURAMA

@danfaust: The first seven minutes of FUTURAMA was funnier than the last three seasons of FAMILY GUY. #science

@jetskvetch: New #Futurama is getting all Blade Runner on us now. Loving it.

@sagefreehaven: Well, #Futurama is back and better than ever. This bodes well for the summer.

@meganphosho: I forgot how much I enjoyed Futurama.

Proving that there is life after cancellation death — particularly when your DVD sales rock — Matt Groening’s beloved cult show Futurama returns for a sixth season next Thursday, June 24th at 10 PM on Comedy Central. Sixth season, you say? When was the fifth? Quick recap: There were four straight-to-DVD movies that came out between November 2007 and February 2009. They were meant to be chopped up into four episodes apiece. At least that’s what Billy West (aka Fry, Zoidberg and many others) told me when I chatted with him at a Chiller Theatre convention back in 2007. That slice and dice plan does not seem to have transpired — the movies ran in full — but it doesn’t matter. The series
stayed alive.

Ultimately the resurrection of Futurama on DVD, as with Family Guy, has helped bring the show back. Granted, Family Guy returned to Fox and Futurama is on Comedy Central, but Futurama was always a cult show that appealed more to sci-fi buffs and technogeeks than mainstream folks anyway. It has a devout following that has watched the reruns (it has never left the air), bought the DVDs and even snagged the merchandise, and they have undoubtedly picked up new disciples along the way. Being a cable hit is as viable as being a middle tier network show these days, and you’re still potentially reaching millions of viewers. (Futurama averaged over six million when it was canceled.) It’s truly impressive that seven years after it left prime time, Futurama is back on the air.

For those of us who have been awaiting this day, it’s time to celebrate. For those of you who are new to life among the intergalactic Planet Express delivery team, welcome aboard. It’s going to be a wild and funny ride. Again.






Futurama	Thursdays 10pm / 9c
Recap-O-Rama: 5 Seasons in 7 Minutes
www.comedycentral.com
Futurama New Episodes Futurama New Episodes Ugly Americans




In truth, it’s been back for nearly two years, but in an unusual way: new home video releases.  Fox originally canceled Matt Groening’s irreverent, animated sci fi series due to low ratings back in August 2003. But remember, the network changed its air time frequently enough to confuse people and ultimately placed it at 7 PM on Sundays, which meant it was repeatedly pre-empted by football. After it left prime time, the show was regularly rerun on Cartoon Network until the end of 2007, then it was revived on DVD starting in November 2007 with four original, full-length movies. The last installment came out in March 2009, and all of them were for sale at retail and aired on Comedy Central along with the previous four seasons of episodes.

Thanks to the combined success of the new movies and reruns, Fry, Bender, Leela and their quirky Planet Express peeps and frenemies are being brought back full blast into our homes every week starting mid-2010.

The direct-to-DVD series is an unusual home video tactic that paid off. Beginning with Bender’s Big Score, Futurama has blossomed anew with some highly creative adventures — including The Beast With A Billion Backs, Bender’s Game and Into The Wild Green Yonder — that hold up surprisingly well in a feature length format. The art still sparkles, the dialogue still elicits laughter and the quick-witted sight gags keep on coming.

While I loved the show from the start, I have been a life-long sci fi and fantasy fan, and even I had to concede that much of the humor was best understood by sci fi and computer geeks. Anyone remember the Tetris construction joke from the “Planet of the Robots” episode? That’s a classic example right there. But the series did offer fun and puns for a broader audience, cleverly referencing everything from American history to Star Trek, so it seemed odd to me that it did not find a bigger audience. And seriously, if the lame American Dad can stay on the air, why can’t Futurama?

It was recently announced that Fox is resurrecting Futurama in mid-2010 for a full 26-episode run on Comedy Central, with Fox having the option to also show it in prime time. This will be only the second animated show in history to be revived thanks to cable reruns and solid DVD sales, the first being Family Guy. Except in that latter case, the strong ratings and sales of existing seasons encouraged the return to prime time, not new material, although an original Family Guy movie for DVD later emerged.

I’m sure there are many fans that will grumble that Futurama should never have left the air to begin with. Let’s be thankful that not only have we gotten four feature-length movies out of the deal, but we’ll be getting 26 more original episodes as well. Most shows these days never get a second or, considering the scenario here, third chance. It also means that Morbo won’t be coming to crush the puny humans who sought to kill the show any time soon.