On June 19th, 2013 my DVR recorded 18 different episodes of Futurama. That has to be a record. Of course, I may be the only person in my region recording this show on syndication. Still, it’s such a fun show. I usually rotate a couple, depending on how many of my fiance’s shows are in season, of shows I can use to unwind at night. It was time to make a switch, King of Queens was morphing into King of the Hill. I’ve seen every single Simpsons episode that I care about, add Seinfeld and a Raymond episode every now and again. My fear was out of boredom I would start to venture down the wrong path, and become a violation who watches shows like How I Met Your Mother. Enter Futurama reruns.

A good majority of my love affair with this cartoon stems from being a Simpsons child. Right around the time the former Ullman skit turned epic program was booming, creator Matt Groening had something brewing. You could tell the talking suits at FOX were starting to curb the Simpsons, not coincidentally I believe, the same time Futurama was getting pitched then produced. It doesn’t feel like a side project. It never did. It felt like his baby. Maybe a second born, but the girl he always wanted after having a son. Or vice-a-versa, I’ll leave the metaphors on this one to you.

It was brilliant, same witty humor you would expect with some edge. New characters to welcome into our homes, apprehensively at first, then with open arms after a couple of episodes in. Similar to the Simpsons, but minus Conan, the early episodes always seem to be the better ones. I’m on a Season 1-3 kick right now, the good thing is there are plenty of episodes running non-stop!