I should clarify; I've seen all of Rick and Morty and have a love-hate relationship with it really. Eyepatch Morty is a fantastic creation (I don't know where is he lately, aside from in "Never Ending Ricky Morty" which I loved. Meta humor is my scene). I agree about the fanbase but we're just as bad
Good points, Gorky, and I know, taking inspiration and nod to the same concept are fine, even appreciated - it's homage in that case. Just like how R&M burying their own dead bodies to take care of the time paradox is from The Late Philip J Fry, but played out very differently, with Fry finding it darkly funny whereas Morty is traumatised for a long while, leading to that beautiful talk with Summer about her birth being an accident. It's great to have different angles of these concepts explored - almost like having more Futurama in a way.
I see elements of Futurama (and The Simpsons) in many cartoons, because it's so iconic (the newsreaders in Harley Quinn the Animated Series are homage to Futurama, for instance), the commercial for the Story Train was real Futurama-esque in Second 4 episode 6 of R&M. It brings about a nice, warm, nostalgic feeling, and can add depth for the viewer because it's already building on ideas we already hold from The Simpsons or Futurama.
But that's not what I'm talking about here. I think the reason they felt the need to actually name Futurama was that that entire epsiode was taken from Meanwhile, aside from the vat of acid (hilarious btw), every single thing in that episode can be traced to Meanwhile. It's like they were doing their whole, take and idea from Futurama and have your characters interact with it differently angle but took it too far. It was a Meanwhile reworking, even to the point of giving Morty a very long time with that girl he fell in love with, and showing their relationship progress via a montage (just like Fry & Leela), again obviously done differently as is customary, with Morty eating some human flesh.
However, Morty getting a do-over with Jessica after screwing up asking her out was exactly what happened when Fry was proposing to Leela at Elzar's - he screwed up and got a do-over. Watch 'The Vat of Acid Episode' again with Meanwhile in mind (or watch back-to-back) that's all I'm gonna say. Although, the ability to have infinite do-overs just to try stuff without consequences wasn't explored by Fry, who was preoccupied by his personal life and he's too much of a thrillseeker to want the no-consequences part of the do-over button, plus Fry tries whatever he wants in life anyway.
I won't send more anchovies to Dan Harmon, TotalNerdCanada, you're completely right about buying Simpsons, Futurama & Disenchantment merch instead (we couldn't do that the first time we sent F*X all that fish; we were just helpless, it was troubling but made us feel better). I really appreciate the inclusion of Disenchantment in what you said (it's vital to support because we might get a crossover / more new content). The more money with give them, the more Futurama we get, and I'd be so hyped for new comics! Then I can finally stop substituting it with Rick n Morty... just kidding