Probably my favorite moment during the TCA press tour week -- and this is a week where I joked around with Greg the Bunny and visited the set of Scrubs -- was when I met Matt Groening at FOX's party on the last night of the tour. Because just about all the questions I had about The Simpsons were asked during the show's press session earlier in the day, I took the opportunity to concentrate on his other show (and a perennial favorite amongst our readers), Futurama, and its impending return to TV.Groening gives the show's loyal fans all the credit in the world for helping the show come back. "The continued devotion of the fans, chiefly on the Internet, kept us thinking that maybe we could bring this back," he said.
"And so, whenever people would ask, I'd say, 'Futurama lives,'" Groening continued. "And, you know, that was wishful thinking on my part." But the continued fan interest, including online petitions, good ratings on the Cartoon Network, and high DVD sales, couldn't be ignored, especially when Family Guy was brought back based on its DVD sales "That gave us a blueprint," said Groening.
Groening and the show's executive producer, David X. Cohen, were happy that the demand was there, because they both felt they had more to say. "Not that I think our show is like Star Trek, but (the original) Star Trek didn't last that long, but it went on and on and on (after it was cancelled). And David Cohen and I talked about it; we had so many story ideas and so many characters that we hadn't gotten around to introducing yet. So I'm so pleased."
Something he really enjoys about the show is that below it's cartoon exterior lies some really sophisticated science-fiction. "Our goal in the beginning was... We know that it looks like a silly cartoon show, with a cyclops girl and a lobster alien and all that stuff. But that we were actually going to have, underlying the goofy comedy, was going to be legitimate literary science fiction concepts," Groening said.
He acknowledges that Futurama got more "science-fictiony" as the show went along, and he gave an example of how complex things got. "Like the one where Bender gets shot out in the universe, and a civilization grows on him, and he becomes their god? That's great!"
It's a nod to the fact that Groening, Cohen and the other writers don't underestimate the intelligence of their audience, even if that audience is smaller and maybe a little geekier than the average fan of The Simpsons. "I love the character of Fry," he gives as an example, "but the reason that Fry exists is that we thought maybe he would be somebody the audience could relate to that was from our times." But the audience bought into the world of New New York in the year 3000 sooner than they planned. "We quickly realized in the second episode was that everybody was on board, and he just became another character."
During the Simpsons session earlier in the day, Groening had mentioned that, even though he's still very involved with The Simpsons his "day job" is creating the sixteen new episodes of Futurama that will be airing on Comedy Central starting in 2008. But he also still draws Life In Hell, the weekly comic strip he's been doing for almost thirty years (he told reporters that he "puts it off for as long as possible," doing the strip on Friday afternoons -- it's due at 5:30 PM on Fridays).
He clarified the Simpsons / Futurama balance to me during our brief interview: "I would say David Cohen runs Futurama and I'm along for the ride. And Al Jean is the show runner for The Simpsons, and he's running (both) The Simpsons and The Simpsons Movie. I get to go wherever I want to go." Ah, the luxuries of being the mogul of the bunch.
Groening "loves" the fact that Futurama has landed on Comedy Central, because "we have a lot of leeway" there. He didn't give me too many details about the episodes they're developing for the new season (David Cohen gives more details in this interview), but he left me with an interesting preview of what I'd imagine would be the first episode: "We have a really funny run about being cancelled; it's a metaphor for being cancelled; it's very funny." So, instead of a straight take on cancellation, like Family Guy did, cancellation will be represented by something else. Wonder what it is?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
1-31-2007 @ 7:21PM
David said...
16 episodes? I thought it was going to be 13.
"Like the one where Bender gets shot out in the universe, and a civilization grows on him, and he becomes their god? That's great!"
That was an amazing award winning episode.
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1-31-2007 @ 8:16PM
tcc3 said...
As far as the show tending more toward true Sci Fi as it went on? I also enjoyed "The Sting." Its a legitimate sci fi story and has some real drama in it too.
Im so psyched about this coming back. Is it 2k8 yet?
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1-31-2007 @ 9:17PM
empt said...
so you can't just slip in "I joked around with Greg the Bunny" and then let it go...
What the f did he have to say?
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2-01-2007 @ 2:37AM
jeff stiefer said...
Wow, what a week, Joel! Thanks for bringing back all the great info; the Futurama news was most welcome.
And i agree with empt above; we better hear more about meeting Greg...that sounds like it had to be a blast!
kudos
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2-01-2007 @ 7:51AM
RSL said...
Did someone say G da B?
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2-01-2007 @ 1:52PM
Joel Keller said...
You'll have to wait on the Greg stuff, folks... there are parts of the video we still need to shoot, then of course we have to put it together. But it's coming....
I'm kind of surprised people are reacting to this post as if it's the first news they've ever seen about Futurama's return. The show's comeback was announced six months ago; I still get comments on the original post I did on that.
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2-01-2007 @ 9:12PM
Mike E said...
My kids and I love that episode where Bender's lost in space. We always repeat the line that Leela says at the end when Bender drops in front of them at the North Pole -- "That is, by a wide margin, the least likely thing that has ever happened." It works in lots of situations. Bever gets old. Great show. I've seen all the episodes a dozen times. Ready for new ones.
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2-01-2007 @ 9:20PM
Punkie said...
I am glad to seem them taking on more serious sci-fi themes in their own comedic way. But there have been some touching ones, too, like the one about Fry's dog (especially the end), the one where he keeps asking Leela to wake up (wow, I didn't see the end of that coming at all), and the final episode with the holographic instrument (holophone?) where Leela says, "I'd like to see how it ends."
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2-02-2007 @ 4:42AM
Edward said...
The episode "Time Keeps on Slipping" is one of my favourite half hours of TV ever. If they can come close to that with these 16 eps, I'll be happy.
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2-02-2007 @ 6:02PM
Doug said...
I can't even stand to watch the episode about Fry's dog. It seriously makes me cry at the end. Tears my heart out, and it isn't even a real dog owned by a real boy... That's some writing!
And the selection of music "If it takes forever, I will wait for you...", with that series of "time-lapse" "dissolves"... Probably the most emotive animation scene in any show, ever.
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2-02-2007 @ 6:54PM
John said...
"Godfellas" (Bender as God) and "Roswell that Ends Well" (the crew goes back to the Roswell landing) are back to back on the DVD. Those represent the high-point in terms of the show's intelligence.
For Godfellas - the physics, not only can't the ship catch up because "they were going as fast as they could, and they shot bender faster", but when bender spins the trash can lid, he starts spinning. This is the first time angular momentum has been conserved in a cartoon.
As for "Roswell" - the Grandfather Paradox has never been funnier:
Fry: But won't that change history?
Professor Hubert Farnsworth: [ultra sarcastic] Ohh, a lesson in not changing history from Mr. "I'm My Own Grandfather"! Let's just steal the damn dish and get out of here! Screw history!
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2-02-2007 @ 9:19PM
Yon said...
Whoever's interested in making bachelor chow a reality check here, I set it up just yesterday, and then this article comes up....... it's *a sign* .
bachelorchow.forumer.com
Bachelor chow's human kibble stuff in futurama - "now with flavor!"
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2-02-2007 @ 10:17PM
qbrad said...
I'm a superfan! My favorite aspect is the consistancy of the show. The fact that Nibbler's shadow is in the very first ep but isn't explained until season 3. Genius! Only thing I want from the new ones probably won't happen though... 16:9 aspect ratio. I mean... all the TV's in the show are widescreen, may as well draw the whole show in that format. Damn the expense!
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2-05-2007 @ 5:49PM
qbrad said...
Oops! I meant the final season - The Why of Fry whichever number that is
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2-03-2007 @ 3:12AM
Daren said...
'Jurassic Bark' was my favourite episode. It's also one of the greatest TV episodes of any programme, ever.
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2-03-2007 @ 5:56AM
Josh said...
Both episodes mentioned are definite high points, but the best episode and the one that most completely captures the emotions of the audience is the one in which Fry finds his old dog's fossil. That ending is by far the saddest moment in TV history. Aside from Hawkeye dying or other moments which rely upon more than a single episode for history and setup. I cried. I bawled.
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2-03-2007 @ 7:11AM
dangitman said...
2008?
Somebody put me in a cryogenic freezer. I can't wait that long!
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2-03-2007 @ 7:50AM
hollowex said...
Also "TheLuck of the Fryish" is a really great and sad episode.
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2-03-2007 @ 8:50AM
bibe said...
Ah yes I agree the episode in which Fry finds his old dog's fossil is such a good "cinema like" moment, the song, that final scene followed me for a week. The characters and the story have so much detail, they suck u into their world, and one just can't but to suffer with them. That just great art.
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2-03-2007 @ 2:23PM
Sunfish said...
Please tell me there will be more Amy Wong. Preferably sans clothes and in a hot spring on planet Xeldaphron. More air surfing, too. Someone needs to design that and I'll hang up my kiteboard. No such thing as too much Amy Wong. That said, my favorite episode is "Three Hundred Big Boys" - it satirizes current pop culture in a hilarious climax that still cracks me up every time I watch it. I don't need tearjerkers when I'm watching comedy. I want well-crafted scathing satire ala Walt Kelly or Breathed. That episode was awesome. Whenever my friends need to move fast (or do something in record time) we say "Gotta pull a Fry." I started reading Life in Hell in high school and still love it. Groening rocks!
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