The long-awaited renewal of Futurama highlights yet again how 20th Century Fox got it wrong

FOR some of us, the future really began in 1999. I remember watching TV3 one night in those long gone days, rather late, and a cartoon show came on. It was from the same people who made The Simpsons and it had a name: Futurama!

There was no turning back from that point on. We were glued to the TV as we followed the 31st century adventures of delivery-boy Philip J Fry, impatiently violent cyclops Turanga Leela and the alcoholic, kleptomaniac, sex-mad robot Bender. From the opening "slogans" ("Painstakingly Drawn in Front of a Live Audience") to the madhouse adventures (Bender gets a sex-change to keep his five Olympic gold medals) and general nuttiness (suicide booths and guest stars like Pamela Anderson's head), it was fun on the bun — and won Emmy awards to prove it.

Above all, the show had the funkiest theme tune to ever grace the idiot box. The original version itself was already catchy, never mind the remixes by the shows actors as well as the Beastie Boys, who guest-starred in Hell Is Other Robots. According to that episode, the Boys produced seven albums by the year 3000. Since their eighth album is due for release in a few months time here in 2009, Bender would probably have to knock their heads together (all conveniently located in jars, of course).

Sadly, for some reason, the folks at 20th Century Fox didn't get the message Matt Groening was trying to put across. They kept pushing the show to times when audience impact was diminished, mixed up the airing of the episodes (the DVD box sets are in correct chronological order, but the airdates were not) and they ignominiously cancelled it halfway through Season 4. As Groening's famous yellow superstar from his first TV hit would say: "¡Ay, curamba!"

It was apparent how much the makers of the shows were frustrated — listen to the DVD commentaries, and you will hear snarky comments about Fox. It got to the point where the commentaries were so subversive, they gave rise to the disclaimers at the start of every DVD, which often stated that the views on the commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of Fox or its subsidiaries. Makes you wonder — those marketing braniacs would probably be unable to sell cheap and delicious hot dogs at the Super Bowl.

Futurama wasn't the only victim — frat-boy funny-fest Family Guy and sci-fi/cowboy adventure Firefly also got canned, after being given the same irreverent treatment by the network. Funnily enough, all these shows start with the letter F — enough to get you to smell a faint whiff of conspiracy, even if you don't own a smelloscope.

However, they all had another thing in common — rabid fans who voiced their disdain for Fox by supporting the shows above and beyond the call of duty. Family Guy's offices were actually filled with new diapers and baby food for Stewie, DVD sales were fantastic for all the shows (in particular, for Firefly) and the clamouring resulted in a wholesale return (for Family Guy first and — now — Futurama) and movies (Serenity, which picked up where Firefly left off and tied up some loose ends, as well as FOUR movies for Futurama).

Well, good news, everyone! Comedy Central, the new home for Fry and friends, managed not only to squeeze four brilliant movies from Fox, it was recently reported that they extracted another 26 episodes that are set to light up the small screen again from mid-2010.

This means the return of Mom's Friendly Robot Co (with the megalomaniacal Mom forever slapping her three sons), Slurm ("It's highly addictive!"), hilarious TV soap-opera All my Circuits ("Oh, Monique, why did we wait so long to bathe in champagne?") and much, much more. All glory to the Hypnotoad! Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop!

Ahmad Azrai can quote dialogue verbatim from any Futurama episode or movie. Yes, it is just a legend. Still, they called the Tooth Fairy a legend, and now he's head of the FBI...