Movies - TV
The Episode That Taught Futurama To Never Take Fox’s Advice
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
In the “Futurama” DVD commentary tracks, series creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen expressed that Fox never fully “got” the show and seemingly disliked its very concept.
Groening shared, “[T]he network really, really was freaked out by the show, with the suicide booths and lobster creatures and Bender being so antisocial.”
To stop Fox from trying to interfere with the show, Groening and Cohen followed every note the studio gave in one of the early episodes of “Futurama” called “I, Roommate.”
The episode saw Fry and Bender become roommates and move into a new apartment. The only conflict arises when Bender’s antenna interferes with the apartment’s TV signals.
Given the show’s futuristic setting, this problem seemed rather mundane. Groening explained, “This was our attempt, the third episode, to bring the show back to Earth.”
Fox’s suggestions backfired. Groening said, “[T]hey really hated this script [...] [T]his was the point at which we decided that we were gonna do the show that we wanted to do.”
He continued, “Their notes made no sense anyway, they were completely contradictory, and so we did what we wanted.” Sadly, Groening did not share any specific note or demand.