Has Futurama Brought Back the Funny?

I remember the days that I would wait for the next Futurama episode on Fox. I remember my pure sadness of its cancellation and begged for a Futurama DVD set for my birthday. Happily, I gained the second season, which was soon lost in the course of moving to different states within the country. However, I then gained the third season DVD set, containing some of the best episodes including the Emmy-winning "Roswell That Ends Well", further increasing my craving for more Futurama. And then, I happily heard the announcement that Comedy Central picked up Futurama for several DVD movies and a new full season afterward. Flash forward after the movies and I was left with a somewhat bittersweet taste in my mouth. The movies felt too crammed, something that is understandable considering the hour-and-a-half runtime of each movie. So, then, with a new season of 22-minute long episodes, can Futurama regain the humor that it has carried for all nerds and geeks?

So far, the main consensus has been a "Not bad". From the beginning of the season, episodes like "Attack of the Apps" were filled with annoying and unfunny gags such as the Susan Boil and the overdue Apple jokes. People were afraid that Futurama was downgrading itself into pop culture references instead of actual character humor. Over time, however, was when "The Late Philip J. Fry" came on board. It is practically a true sequel to RTEW in the sense that time travel is utilized once more, but in an even funnier way of looking forward into the future. "The Prisoner of Benda" as well held a very complex and hilarious plotline, one that would have been better suited for one of the movies, but is fine as a 22-minute episode.

Overall, however, it seems the Groening gang has got their heads on straight still as the season comes to a close. I am one of those who will be highly anticipating the next season. Hopefully there will be some true gems soon.