The story
Hapless pizza delivery boy Philip J. Fry gets accidentally frozen at the turn of the millennium and wakes up a thousand years later in a future full of aliens, robots and absurd bureaucracy. He lands a job at Planet Express, a shabby interplanetary delivery firm, alongside one-eyed captain Leela and Bender, a hard-drinking, light-fingered robot, on missions that send up science fiction and present-day life in equal measure.
Why it matters
Futurama has outlived two endings. Fox stopped ordering episodes in 2003, Comedy Central's revival wrapped in 2013, and Hulu's 2022 order turned it into a streaming original more than two decades after its debut. With further seasons and specials commissioned, it shows how a streamer can turn a dormant cult favourite into an ongoing series again.
How it was rescued
Fox never formally cancelled Futurama but stopped buying episodes, letting it go out of production in 2003. Comedy Central revived it from 2008 until the then-final episode aired on 4 September 2013. In February 2022 Hulu ordered 20 new episodes, and the first premiered on 24 July 2023.
Filed under: Ended, then revived online
Notable facts
- Under Hulu, the opening titles briefly rename the show "Hulurama". (source)
- Its Comedy Central return on 24 June 2010 gave the channel its highest-rated night of the year. (source)
- Because its future was so often uncertain, four separate episodes or films were written to serve as a series finale. (source)
- In 2010 Guinness World Records named it the "Current Most Critically Acclaimed Animated Series". (source)