!!! Good lord, can it be true? I sure hope so! Futurama has (somewhat ironically - more in a moment) become one of my favorite cartoons over the last year or so. This has me really excited, I must say.
It's funny because when it was actually on the air I didn't really think much of it! I saw a few episodes while it was still on the air and chuckled a bit, but it didn't really stick. A friend of mine was really into it and used to watch it at his girlfriend's house all the time, but I seldom saw it, and it never really grabbed me. After it was cancelled I happened to be living with someone who loved the show so I watched more of it and it didn't take long before I was hooked. I've now watched every episode at least 10 times (no, really). Zoidberg is my favorite character by a mile - I think he's completely hysterical - but I really love almost all of them. It's a wonderfully quirky show. Some folks on /. also pointed out the character development as the show progressed which I agree is a big part of why it's cool. Characters get older (at least to some degree), have girlfriends/boyfriends for long periods of time (aside from Maud's passing in The Simpsons there hasn't been much cross-episode romance there), and progress is even made on long-term conflicts (like the Fry/Leela romance).
So is Futurama better than The Simpsons? Yes, it's better than Simpsons *now*. Old Simpsons? Maybe not. But you know, they're both Matt Groenig shows, they are both weird and violent and yet oddly touching and endearing. They both have characters who are really just bad "people" in many ways, but are really good at heart and make you love them (Homer, Bart, Bender, Hermes).
One of the things I love about Futurama is the diversity of characters. Almost everyone is rather likeable IMO too. The same can be said of The Simpsons of course, but I think some of the Futurama characters are more unlikely and thus (IMO) more surprising and fun to find likeable.
Anyway, bottom line whether you like the show or not I think most can agree that there are far worse shows on TV that should have been cancelled before it. It joined the ranks of many of my other favorite shows that were cancelled well before their time - Family Guy and Firefly being the most notable examples. It's good to see that with Family Guy and now Futurama coming back there may be hope for other shows with enough fan support. Let's hope Firefly is next! And then Airwolf.
- Oshyan
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