Stars (voices): Billy West, Katey Sagal, John Di Maggio, Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche
Writer: Eric Rogers
Director: Frank Marino
Network: Comedy Central, airs Thursdays @ 10 PM
Original Telecast: July 21, 2011
FUTURAMA had a shot at bringing the funny back this week and just didn’t pull the trigger as this week’s episode, “Yo Leela Leela,” featured an easy target but went the PC route instead.
The episode concerns Leela (voiced by Katey Sagal) visiting the Cookieville Orphanarium where she was raised. The orphans want a better story told to them than Leela’s life, so she goes off and writes one.
Hollywood producer Abner Doubledeal happens to be there using the orphans as a focus group when Leela returns with her story of the Rumbledy-Humps. It’s a hit. Doubledeal makes Leela’s stories into a kids’ show sensation and the usual transformation from humble Cyclops to Hollywood elite ensues. After a night at the Young People’s Choice Awards, Bender (voiced by John DiMaggio) finds that Leela’s storyline was in fact just documenting real characters that lived on another planet.
Here’s the problem – there’s a great hook with this interplanetary orphanage and the show didn’t go for broke with it. Come on, it’s a cartoon and you have orphans in the future – the possibilities are endless.
There are so many missed opportunities that make it obvious that being the slightest bit offensive was not an option. Instead, the Abner Doubledeal character was at the core of the moral of the story (we were kind of hoping there wouldn’t be one). As Abner, in the end made the creatures into a reality show, the greedy producer jokes were a given – and even they fall short.
It would have been great to see the Organ Harvesting Clown that was alluded to at the orphanage. Better yet would have been more songs from the Rumpledy-Humps characters with lines like, “If it’s alive, don’t lick it.”
“Yo Leela Leela” isn’t bad. It’s base humor – but still good stuff. Finally, they did address the orphans having to eat their books because they lacked food, which shows that some thought was put in there.
After last week’s “Silence of the Clamps,” this evening’s episode appears to continue a bit of a downhill trend for FUTURAMA. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed for next week.
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Click on Link: Exclusive Interview with David X. Cohen on the future of FUTURAMA – Part 2
Click on Link: Exclusive Interview with David X. Cohen on Season 6B of FUTURAMA – Part 1
Click on link: AX’s review of FUTURAMA – Season 6B – “All the Presidents Heads”
Click on link: AX’s review of FUTURAMA – Season 6B – “Yo Leela Leela”
Click on link: AX’s review of FUTURAMA – Season 6B – “Silence of the Clamps”
Click on link: AX’s review of FUTURAMA – Season 6B – “Law & Oracle”
Click on link: AX’s review of FUTURAMA – Season 6B – “Ghost in the Machines”
Click on link: AX’s review of FUTURAMA – Season 6B premiere – “Benderama”
Click on link: AX’s review of FUTURAMA – Season 6B premiere – “Neutopia”
Click on link: AX’s review of THE FUTURAMA HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR
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Article: Futurama review – “Yo Leela Leela”
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