Lord Yeezus said it best on the track ‘Big Brother’; “If you admire somebody, you should go ‘head, tell em’… Cause people never get the flowers while they can still smell em’.” With only 3 episodes left in the current life of Futurama I had to speak up and share my thoughts on one of my favorite shows of all time. I say “current” life because these days it seems everything gets a 2nd, 3rd, even 4th chance at life on TV. Just ask Family Guy. And even though I feel like the show will return at some point in some capacity, you can never be too sure. Hell I thought Happy Endings would live to see another day, even if it was on TNT. I’d still watch it. But low and behold good shows, with good people, die all the time, while shows like Glee seem like they’ll never go away.
It’s no stretch of the imagination that I like Futurama. I love cartoons. It would be more surprising if I didn’t watch Futurama, but of the few friends I know that don’t really care for two dimensional comedy, most, if not all make the exception with Futurama. I’ll do my best to not get too hyperbolic, but Futurama in my books is probably the most fulfilling cartoon out there. Do I think South Park is absurdly poignant at times, sure. And do I think Family Guy can be extremely clever at times too, yes of course. But neither of those cartoons, or really any other cartoon, have the ability make you run the full gambit of emotions. Futurama is smart. It balances quick jabs of comedy with long lingering jokes that sometimes take a moment to be fully appreciated. But any cartoon can be funny. Very rarely does the comedic potency of a show decide whether a show becomes part of our cultural references. The Simpson will never be considered the funniest show, even at it’s peak (It was certainly hilarious, just saying not the funniest thing of all time), but it certainly spoke to us enough to a point that I can’t even imagine when/how/why that show will ever get cancelled. Certain shows just have that “wine” affect, where they never go bad, and with re-watching get even better with age. Show’s like Seinfeld come to mind. But there’s something Futurama does to me that none of those greats do. It can spar with the best of them in terms of comedic timing, but then all of sudden hit a switch and before you know you’re on the verge of tears. I’m not ashamed to admit it. Futurama has made me tear up more times than I’d like to admit. Sure other comedies have made people tear up; Friends, The Office, etc. But by the time they had us in that emotional situation, were they even comedies anymore. Or had they shifted into full on dramedy mode. I remember season 1 of The O.C. having more laughs than the final season of Friends. And The O.C. was a full on teen drama. My point being no show has made me laugh at something so silly one moment and exactly 1.3 seconds later had me wishing I wasn’t watching near one of my best guy friends so as not to seem soft.
I mention this on the tail of yet another one of those episodes that Futurama decides to have every 6 months. If you haven’t kept up with the season, I don’t want to spoil it. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you do see it. It’s reminiscent of episodes like ‘Luck of the Fryish’; when Fry thinks his brother stole his lucky seven leaf clover and identity to accomplish all these great things, only to find out his brother named his only son after Fry in memory of his long lost brother, whom he missed terribly. Or ‘Jurassic Bark’; which shows what happened to Fry’s dog after he had been frozen, he waited everyday for Fry to return by the pizza shop till he was old and gray, it was sad to say the least. ’Game of Tones’ (the episode from last week I’m referring to) reminded me why I’ll definitely watch this show long after it’s gone. Beyond the great cast of characters-Bender is one of my favorite characters on television ever and Zoidberg is the Tobias Funke of this crew with his subtle off hand comments. And beyond the hilariously silly moments like a kangaroo pimp getting arrested by a robot cop that sounds like Shaft; Futurama gets me with its enormous heart. A heart big enough to make you have a spit take one moment and tear up the next, and for that Futurama we’ll miss you.
P.S. The only other show that has this similar level of comedy and heart that I thought was worth mentioning, especially since you’ll need your fill once Futurama is gone, is Park and Recreation on NBC, definitely worth the watch.
About Matt Cargile
Matt Cargile is the Editor in Chief of rookerville.com. He also works in finance, but refuses to read any news printed on pink paper. He is a child at heart with adult means. His childhood dream was to either become a magician or the leader of the next great empire and somehow both these things make complete sense. He's contradictory in nature, but is always consistent.
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