It's Back! (Insert Your Own Futurama Reference Here)

Finally! After years of hints and hopes, Futurama is finally coming back to TV, and in the form of real episodes instead of mediocre movies!

I'm a huge fan of the show and have been praying to the TV gods that this would would happen for a long time. The direct to DVD movies were decent, but they never quite captured the spirit of the show. This time we've got 26 actual episodes on the way, and the writers won't have to be tied down to the four episode=one movie formula. The show will be free to really grow creatively again, bringing back more characters and going in new directions. I'm eager to see where Groening, Cohen and co. take us next.

Sadly, Futurama is the second major show in recent years to be resurrected from cancellation, the first being the far inferior Family Guy. That show is funny, sure, but lately the strings have really begun to show. They long ago abandoned characters and stories in favor of random and cruel frat-boy quality humor. Even when it was good, Family Guy could never hold a candle to Futurama's well drawn characters, fully realized sci-fi universe, and overall storytelling quality. A subtle joke with amusing characters is a thousand times more effective than an over the top shock-seeker with no grounding in anything. I have enjoyed both shows, but Futurama is in a league all its own.

And yet Family Guy surged back to Fox after only a two year hiatus, bringing with it throngs of cheering fans and an undeserved reputation as the beacon of animated comedy. Now that the show has gone so far off the rails, even long time fans are starting to realize that there was never very much to stuffing a show with 80s references and obscure pop culture nonsense. But for a while, it did seem that Family Guy would be remembered forever and Futurama relegated to animated obscurity.

No more. Come 2010 we can look forward to more nerdy humor than we'll know what to do with. More of Fry and Leela's romantic fumbling! More of Bender's ruthless antics! More Zoidberg!

Conan's taken over the Tonight Show and Futurama's coming back to TV. Could it be good things are in the air?

UPDATE (7/31): Looks like this post will not become tragically ironic, as I'd feared: The whole voice actor madness has apparently ended. Everyone will be back for the series! Huzzah!