TVSquad

I am not one for the traditional holiday fare constantly repeated on television at this time of year (although, I am a sucker for It's A Wonderful Life, and regularly tear up at the very end. Damn you, Frank Capra!) That's why I am very grateful for sites like YouTube, which provide me with an alternative to my holiday viewing. Because of that monster video web site I am able to watch, over and over and over again, perhaps one of my most favorite holiday videos: Twas the Night Before Christmas recited by numerous voice actors.

Yes, I may enjoy this because I am a voiceover wonk, but I just think it's the coolest thing. Not only do you get to hear the story told by great voice actors like Jim Cummings, Gary Owens, Billy West, and Don LaFontaine, but you also get to match the voices you have heard on your television during a normal day with actual faces. In addition, you get to see some television actors -- Nate Corddry and Dennis Haysbert, to name just two -- doing their thing behind the microphone.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. You can view the video after the clip.

If you didn't get your fill of voice actor Billy West when Joel interviewed him awhile ago, you can listen to an audio interview with the voice actor on the Paul Harris Show by clicking here. West, who, as many of you know, did the voices of a bunch of the characters on Futurama, plus the voice of both Ren and Stimpy during part of that show's run, not to mention a ton of other characters both classic and new. West talks about how he comes up with voices for the characters, and tells a funny story about watching The Diary of Anne Frank because one of the actors, Lou Jacobi, was part of his inspiration for the voice of Zoidberg on Futurama. He also talks about how voice actors often get treated like second class citizens in Hollywoodland. A very funny interview, definitely worth checking out.

[via Mark Evanier]

(S01E13) So we've come to the last episode of Futurama Season One (or, if you believe Fox, the fourth episode of Season Two). As you can tell, it was a good start to a show that continued to get better over its four years on the air. Even in this season, you could tell that the characters became more refined, and the episodes got progressively funnier as the year went on. It all seemed to culimnate with this episode, which I think is the funniest of the season. It shows us what's really in the ubiquitous drink Slurm, whose tagline is the one I think Red Bull should use: "It's Highly Addictive!"

(S01E12) Very few writers can somehow lampoon both Independence Day and Ally McBeal in the same episode and somehow make it look like it makes sense. I mean, take a look at Family Guy; it rockets from one pop-culture reference to the next without much of a thought to context or its relatability to the actual plot of the episode. The writers of Futurama, however, seem to take such a juxtaposition and smoothly incorporate it into the plot of the show. It could be the fact that the show takes place in the future, where you can create something like Monument Beach and make it sound plausible. But it might just be damn good writing (or at least, writing that's not done by manatees).

(S01E11) Is it me or does it seem like a lot of television comedies -- especially cartoons -- do parodies of Animal House? I mean, I've seen that movie's ending scene, where each main character gets freeze-framed as a caption describing what happened to them after college flashes on the screen, mocked a number of times. But, as the old adage goes, it's not the topic, it's the writer's take on the topic that counts. The writers of Futurama do a decent job of making their own version of the venerable movie... complete with a chubby robot with the oh-so-simple name of Fatbot.

Oh, and there's a talking monkey in a bowler. But that's a whole 'nother story.

(S01E10) If you watch this episode along with the rest of Season One's set, you might think that this one is a bit on the snappy side, with the jokes coming at a bit of a faster pace than on previous episodes.

There's a reason for that; for the first time, there are more than a couple of stories going on at once, something that David Cohen acknowledged in the DVD commentary to this episode. You've got Leela using Fry to try and get away from Zapp Branigan, Amy using Fry to satisfy her parents, Hermes returning to his limboing roots, Zapp arrogantly steering the Titanic off course into a "swarm of comets," according to his first mate Kif, and Bender falling in love with the Countess de la Roca. Quite a bit for one episode; it's almost Seinfeld-ian in scope, which is something that the brain trust mentions in the commentary.

(S01E09) In the DVD commentary for this episode, David Cohen, Matt Groening, and writer Eric Kaplan all agree that by this juncture, the writers were comfortable enough with the characters to take them in some far-out directions. What's interesting about this episode, though, is that as far out as Leela, Fry and Bender go here, they barely leave Earth (heck, they don't even leave the Northeast).

Oh, sure they go out to the mob planet Sicily 8, but we just see them go out and come back. But that scene is important, for plot forwarding purposes, and for one hell of a funny visual. More on that in a second.

(S01E08) This episode had more laugh-out-loud moments for me than any Futurama episode up to this point, which is saying a lot. But this is also a pretty important one in the history of the show, for a number of reasons: 1) This is the first story were we hear a lot more from Farnsworth besides the ritual "Good news, everyone!"; 2) This is the first time we meet his arch-rival, Dr. Ogden Wernstrom; and 3) This is one of Al Gore's favorite episodes.

Well, we don't know about item 3 for sure, but given it's environmental theme, it's not that much of a stretch.

(S01E07) I'm going to start with Billy West's take on this episode, because he says exactly what I loved about it. I'll just put it in in transcript form (from the interview I did with him a in June):

BW: I loved it, because of the people made out of the water, it just looked so cool. It was a real killer; I loved that one. What a thing to say about an episode: "Well, he drinks the emperor."

JK: Well, that just says to me that with a Sci Fi cartoon, you can go in any direction you want.

BW: Right, but you notice that they have their roots in pure Sci Fi. Like drinking the emperor. That's like Ray Bradbury kind of stuff.

JK: Even though they have the crazy characters, they still try to root themselves in traditional Sci Fi literature.

BW: It just semed endless, what you could do.

"Endless". That's just about the perfect term for it.

(S01E06) The ironic thing about Futurama is that, while it's not an earthbound show, its actual "universe" is much smaller than that of Matt Groening's other creation, The Simpsons. What I mean by that is that Futurama doesn't have nearly as many recurring side characters as its predecessor; however, it allows for those side characters to be both more broadly-drawn and better-developed.

We've already seen a few characters outside the Planet Express family -- Nibbler, Zapp, Kif, and Calculon -- and now we're introduced to Mom. Mom's a ruthless businesswoman who is trying to take over the world. Even though the picture she puts out to the public is the kindly old grandmother in a big hoop-skirted dress, she actually smokes, swears, chugs cream soda, and orders around her three sniveling hench-sons. Oh, and she also has it in for Fry.

(S01E04) There's so much packed into this episode, it's hard to figure out where to begin. First, we have the Planet Express crew's first trip to another planet. Then we are introduced to both Zapp Brannigan and Kif Kroker. Finally, we see little Nibbler for the first time, who is introduced as a dumb, so-ugly-he's-cute alien with a voracious appetite and the ability to crap out rocket fuel. But all Futurama fans know Nibbler will play a much larger role later on.

Here's a quickie plot summary: The crew go on a humanitarian mission to Vergon 6, which is about to collapse since its core of dark matter has been over-mined. On the way, the crew runs into Zapp Brannigan and his ship. Zapp is your typical Kirk-esque starship captain, only clumsier and lonlier. He tries to seduce a lonely Leela, who gives him pity sex. He almost has to rescue them from the planet, but Nibbler saves them with his poop.

We've reported on every single little rumor that's come out about Futurama's return. We've asked Billy West, who couldn't tell us anything definitive one way or the other. But -- finally! -- we have some confirmation that Futurama is indeed coming back.

And we can thank Craig Ferguson for it.

When Katey Sagal visited The Late Late Show the other day, she told Craig that the show is coming back to Comedy Central in 2008 for at least 13 episodes (I was watching that appearance, too. Must have slept through that part). Don Kaplan of the New York Post confirmed this; his sources told him that all the primary voice actors signed new deals this week. Also according to the article, FOX may have the option to air the new episodes, but probably won't. The new episodes will also come out on DVD after they air.

I just have one reaction: Huzzah!

[thanks to Alex of BuzzerBlog for the tip.]

(UPDATE: John DiMaggio (Bender) confrims the story even more below. And yes, it's really him.)

(S01E03) So, now we've seen how Fry gets to the year 3000, and we've met the Planet Express crew. Now's the time to tell some stories.

There were a bunch of interesting tidbits from the DVD commentary to this episode. One was the admission from Matt Groening that the storytelling in Futurama was more linear than it was on his other show, The Simpsons, mostly due to the fact that there's so much going on in the background of a typical Futurama epsiode. Well, with all due respect to Groening's genius, duh. I've always equated the storytelling on Futurama to what the early years of The Simpsons were like before the pop-culture asides and other wackiness started to dominate. This episode, where Fry and Bender become rommates, is a perfect example of the show's storytelling prowess; an episode like this would have been told completely differently on The Simpsons, or at least on the show from it's third season onward.

In case you've missed it -- perhaps you were busy trying to find a Father's Day gift -- here are some highlights from the last week at TV Squad:



Breaking News

• Sandra Bernhard sparks catfight on The View.
• Someone organized all the Lost theories.
• Dan Rather set to leave CBS.
• Is he going to work for Mark Cuban's HDNet?
• Anderson Cooper gets first post-baby interview with Jolie.
• Ad sales pay back Katie Couric's salary.
• President Bush signs law increasing indecency fines.
• Billie Piper quits Doctor Who.
• Robert Donner dies at 75.
• Suspect in Josh Holloway's robbery case is arrested.
• Bob Woodruff visits ABC newsroom.
• McKellan and Gervais to share on-screen kiss.
• Jason Bateman and his wife expecting first child.
• Lisa Kudrow signs development deal with NBC.
• CBS says complaints about Without A Trace are not from viewers.
• A&E airs the Rock Paper Scissors Championships.
• Firefly's Baccarin joins Stargate SG-1.
• Jerry Lewis has a mild heart attack.
• Maury and Connie are gone from MSNBC.
• The NY Times reports on the line to get into The Price is Right.
• John Cleese to retire from sitcoms.
• Dan Abrams named head of MSNBC.
  

Discussions

• I talk to Billy West about Futurama, Ren & Stimpy and Howard Stern.
• So... what are you watching on Father's Day?
• Is that Mac from Night Court asking, "Who's agitiating my dots?"
• Are Idol fans old enough to buy the cars Taylor Hicks is selling?
• The Cinglular umbrella girl was a guest on 24.
• 355 readers tell Dustin Diamond where he can stick his t-shirts.
  

The Five

• Worst TV dads.
• Best TV dads.
• Best vehicles on TV.
• Best fake bands.
• Best real TV bands.
  

Opinions

• Bob details the many ways that Letterman is better than Leno.
• Mike chimes in on the Carlin-Coulter non-event on Tonight.
• Anna wonders about Folgers' potency after seeing ad.
• She also extolls the virtues of Comcast On-Demand... Karaoke.
• Adam's schocked at seeing drowned kittens on a Tom & Jerry cartoon.
• Bob wishes more TV characters would say goodbye on the phone.
• Annie hates when TPiR bidders one-up other people's bids.
  

Retro Squad

• The X-Files: "Squeeze"
• NewsRadio: "Inappropriate"
• Firefly: "Bushwacked"
• Strangers with Candy: "Dreams on the Rocks"
• Sports Night: "The Hungry and the Hunted"
• The Simpsons: "Another Simpsons Clip Show"
• Seinfeld: "The Pen"
• The Prisoner: "Dance of the Dead"
• The Office (BBC): Episode 3
• Angel: "Lonely Hearts"
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: "Witch"
• NYPD Blue: "Brown Appetit"
• Futurama: "The Series Has Landed"
  

Episode Reviews

• Game Show Marathon: Card Sharks
• Rescue Me: "Torture"
• Last Comic Standing: The final seven finalists are chosen
• The 4400: "The New World"
• Hell's Kitchen: Episodes 1 and 2
• Saved: "A Day in the Life"
• The Closer: "Blue Blood"
• Huff: "Tapping the Squid"
• Deadwood: "Tell Your God to Ready for Blood"
• Entourage: "Aquamom"

If you've watched any cartoon on TV in the last fifteen years, chances are you've heard Billy West's voice. West is one of the premier voice actors working today, and during those fifteen years, he's used his versatile voice to create new characters -- and resuurect old ones -- all over the television and movie landscape. From Shaggy to Bugs Bunny to Woody Woodpecker to the Cherios Honey Bee to the Red M&M, the 54-year old West has put his imprint on all of them. But most people know him from two classic cartoon series: On Ren & Stmpy, he did the voices of both main characters (he picked up Ren after creator John Kricfalusi was fired after the first season), and on Futurama he did the voices of Philip Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Dr. John Zoidberg, and Zapp Brannigan, among others.

In this wide-ranging interview, conducted by phone on May 31, Billy and I talked about his history with John K., the way he went about creating some of his Futurama characters, his early-'90s role on "The Howard Stern Show", and the influx of celebrity voices in current cartoon movies (let's just say he's against it). We also went over all the Futurama Season One episodes in the 90-minute (!) interview, which you will see in my Retro Squad coverage of the show. He was even nice enough to do a Futurama / R&S -themed intro for our APB podcast, which we used to open podcast #13 last week. Needless to say, Billy West is a mensch.