Compare and Contrast the Comedy Central Run to the Fox Run

[on:]

Well, since the CC run is officially over and some time has passed to let it sink in, I thought it'd be time for us to fully compare it to its previous run on Fox. In its way of storytelling, character, comedy, emotion, and overall goodness, how does it compare? In what ways did it do things better on the show, and in what ways did it make the show worse? Talk about it all here why not.

[Reply #1 on:]

I chose the third one.  It pretty much sums it up perfectly, and I'm guessing it will be the most popular option.

[Reply #2 on:]

I chose the third one.  It pretty much sums it up perfectly, and I'm guessing it will be the most popular option.

I also chose the third option.

Why? It's not because I think the new seasons were bad, or even average. I just think the original four seasons were very good, and the chances of the CC run matching the lofty standards were always going to be ridiculously low, especially after such a long hiatus.

Overall, the quality dropped by a noticeable (though not seriously concerning) amount. It could be very hit-and-miss at times, but a handful of the hits were very strong. "The Late Philip J. Fry" is quite easily a contender for my favourite episode of all time, and several other stand-outs ultimately made the return worthwhile, in my opinion. "The Prisoner of Benda", "Reincarnation", "Fun on a Bun" and "Murder on the Planet Express" are some of the show's best episodes.

Of course, there were also a few really terrible episodes such as the dreaded "Futurama Holiday Spectacular" and a number of dull ones that simply aren't very entertaining (examples include "The Duh-Vinci Code", "Fry Am The Egg Man" and "Near-Death Wish"). This is unique to the CC era, because there isn't a single episode from the Fox run that I find painful to watch. Even the typically unpopular episodes such as "The Cryonic Woman" have their moments.

The storytelling is probably the most notable change in the show, and it's most noticeable in the latter half of season 6. Many episodes had very rushed endings that felt like they didn't have much time to develop, or in some cases they were virtually "blink and you miss it". "Law and Oracle", "Ghost in the Machines", "Neutopia", "Yo Leela Leela" and especially "All the Presidents' heads" all had extremely rushed endings, all of which were pretty crap (with the possible exception of LAO).

The character development was fairly minimal, though that's not really a big deal in a show like this (season 2 also had very little of this). An over-arching plot similar to the brainspawn saga from the original run would've helped.

The comedy is something I've already kind of touched on. For the most part, it was fine in the CC run. Maybe not quite as good of the Fox run, but still good. But as I said earlier, there were a few episodes that really weren't very entertaining.

The original run had some amazing emotional moments, and it feels like a number of the ones in the CC run fell flat. The endings of "Cold Warriors" and "Near-Death Wish" spring to mind, for example.

Really though, Futurama had a good life. If the Fox run is a 10/10, then the CC run is a 7/10.

[Reply #3 on:]

I'm positive we already had a near-identical poll, but my searches haven't yielded anything.

I voted option #2. Futurama has never been truly consistent in quality; even in its heyday, the show had a few duds. The hit-to-miss ratio of the CC run has given us a few more stinkers than I would have liked, but it's also given us an equally number of great episodes, and I don't understand the disdain for it. My only gripes with the CC run specifically were an over-reliance on modern day pop culture references/satirical episodes on current events, which didn't quite fit the tone of the show, coupled with a bit too much cartooniness for my liking, and not enough regard for continuity. Humour-wise, they're pretty much even. Plot-wise (creatively speaking), they're almost on par, but I guess the Fox run slightly wins here as it utilised the futuristic setting much better.

I'd give the Fox run an 8.5/10 and the CC run a 7.5/10.

[Reply #4 on:]

Beamer pretty much summed up my feelings, except I'd give the original run an 9.5/10 and the CC run a 8.5/10.

Still a really great show, and every new episode beats whatever else was on TV by a pure mile. The quality did drop, yes. But the Seasons were all generally solid, and still knew how to hit the right notes. It's not an entirely whole lot different than the FOX run. Just a little, with the writing and whatnot. I will agree on UnrealLegends part, about there being some really bad episodes from the CC run that outweighs the bad from the original.

Still, the new episodes were all pretty great. I much prefer them over anything else on TV, and don't see a whole lot to whine about.

[Reply #5 on:]

This is hard for me because I have such different opinions on seasons 6 and 7.

When it comes to season 6, I think it's every bit as the original run, overall.

There are some of the show's lowest moments in there but there are also plenty of the best episodes ever made and the overall quality is great. I love it. I'd take it over seasons 1 and 2, in fact.

But then, season 7 is hugely weaker than everything else, if you ask me. It's not bad exactly, it's just sort of like seasons 11 and 12 of The Simpsons compared to everything that came before them.

[Reply #6 on:]

I chose option #2. The poor episodes, like TFHS, Yo Leela Leela, and SMFP, occur more often than they did back in the FOX days, which drags down the quality of the CC run down noticeably. Luckily, when the episodes were good, they were usually really good. Episodes such as TLPJF, Mobius Dick, and (to a somewhat lesser extent, in some people's opinion) MOTPE, are great examples of this. In all, though, the CC run seems to have had more average 7-8/10 episodes, think Benderama, Cold Warriors, The Six Million Dollar Mon, and plenty more, than the FOX run did. The FOX run was, in my own opinion, consistently above average, with very few episodes being 'just OK'. As a side-note, it also had many more classic episodes in it than the CC run had, featuring episodes like 'Why of Fry','Roswell that Ends Well', The Sting, and Devil's Hands, to name a select few. This makes the FOX run obviously superior - although, like I said, when the CC episodes were, good, they truly were. This makes CC's run almost make it to an equal level, but it's abundance of poor episodes drags it down quite a few notches below the FOX run. I'd give the FOX run an above average rating of 9/10, with the CC run at an average 7.5/10.

[Reply #7 on:]

I voted for option #3; while the CC run provided some enjoyable episodes, some of which matched the Fox run in quality, it also had more average to poor episodes by Futurama standards (plus the only one I actually hated to the point I won't re-watch it, AotKA).

9/10 sounds about right for the Fox run, and 7 for the CC run.