Saturday Morning Fun Pit

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"Saturday Morning Fun Pit"
Futurama episode
Episode no.Season 7
Episode 19
Directed byCrystal Chesney-Thompson
Written by Patric M. Verrone
Production code7ACV19
Original air dateJuly 17, 2013 (2013-07-17)
Guest appearances
Episode features
Opening caption Brought To You By Regretto Permanent Clown Makeup
Episode chronology
 Previous
"The Inhuman Torch"
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"Calculon 2.0"
Futurama season 7
List of episodes

"Saturday Morning Fun Pit" is the nineteenth episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama , and the 133rd episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on July 17, 2013. The episode was written by Patric M. Verrone and directed by Crystal Chesney-Thompson.

Contents

Plot

Amid angry protests from anti-television groups on the White House lawn, the head of Richard Nixon and the headless clone of Spiro Agnew try to watch a Saturday morning cartoon block, which features some of the series' characters in parodies of some well-known Saturday morning favorites:

Reception

Dennis Perkins at The A.V. Club gave this episode a D, [1] while Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a 7.7/10 "Good" rating, saying "This week's Futurama featured an overall enjoyable lampooning of Saturday morning cartoons, with no exceptional dud." [2]

Patric M. Verrone was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Writing in Animation at the 66th Writers Guild of America Awards for his script to this episode. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

"Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series and live-action programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre was a tradition from broadly the mid-1960s to mid-2010s; over time its popularity declined, in the face of changing cultural norms, increased competition from formats available at all times, and heavier media regulations. In the last years of the genre's existence, Saturday-morning and Sunday-morning cartoons were primarily created and aired on major networks to meet "educational and informational" (E/I) requirements. Minor television networks, in addition to the non-commercial PBS in some markets, continued to air animated programming on Saturday and Sunday while partially meeting those mandates.

<i>Futurama</i> 1999 American animated sci-fi sitcom

Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company and later revived by Comedy Central, and then Hulu. The series follows Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1,000 years and revived on December 31, 2999. Fry finds work at the interplanetary delivery company Planet Express, working alongside the one-eyed mutant Leela and the robot Bender. The series was envisioned by Groening in the mid-1990s while working on The Simpsons; he brought David X. Cohen aboard to develop storylines and characters to pitch the show to Fox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patric Verrone</span> American television writer (born 1959)

Patric Miller Verrone is an American television writer and labor leader. He served as a writer and producer for several animated television shows, most notably Futurama.

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"Space Pilot 3000" is the pilot episode of the American animated television series Futurama. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 28, 1999. The episode focuses on the cryogenic freezing of the series protagonist, Philip J. Fry, and the events when he awakens 1,000 years in the future and is the first episode to be set in the 30th century. Series regulars are introduced and the futuristic setting, inspired by a variety of classic science fiction series from The Jetsons to Star Trek, is revealed. It also sets the stage for many of the events to follow in the series, foreshadowing plot points from the third and fourth seasons.

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"The Sting" is the twelfth episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 66th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on June 1, 2003. In the episode, the Planet Express crew is sent to collect space honey, and find themselves in a harrowing battle with giant bees. The episode's plot originated from the writers wanting to do a story where it seemed as though a major character had died. The episode was then produced faster than normal and was well-received by critics.

"Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences" is the eleventh episode in the sixth season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 99th episode overall. It aired on Comedy Central on August 26, 2010. In the episode, the ruler of the planet Omicron Persei 8, Lrrr, experiences marriage trouble with his queen, Ndnd. He departs for Earth, invading it in an attempt to overcome his mid-life crisis and reignite his marriage.

"Ghost in the Machines" is the nineteenth episode in the sixth season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 107th episode of the series overall. It originally aired June 30, 2011, on Comedy Central. The episode was written by Patric M. Verrone and directed by Ray Claffey. American actor Dan Castellaneta guest stars in the episode, voicing the Robot Devil. In the episode Bender, angry at Fry for valuing human life over robot life, kills himself in a suicide booth. Afterwards, he becomes a ghost, and learns from the Robot Devil that he is in limbo, and he cannot leave. Sharing a mutual dislike towards Fry, the Robot Devil offers to return Bender to his old body in exchange for using his new ghostly powers to scare Fry to death.

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"Decision 3012" is the third episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 117th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on June 27, 2012. The episode was written by Patric M. Verrone and directed by Dwayne Carey-Hill. The plot is a parody of the Birther Movement.

"Fun on a Bun" is the eighth episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 122nd episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on August 1, 2012. The episode was written by Dan Vebber and directed by Stephen Sandoval. Additional Oktoberfest music was provided by polka band Brave Combo. When the team attends an Oktoberfest, Fry discovers that the traditions he is familiar with have changed and rebels, Bender enters a sausage-making contest, and Leela deals with an apparent loss.

"Naturama" is the thirteenth episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 127th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on August 29, 2012. The episode was written by Eric Rogers, Michael Saikin and Neil Mukhopadhyay, and directed by Crystal Chesney-Thompson.

"T.: The Terrestrial" is the sixteenth episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 130th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on June 26, 2013. The episode was written by Josh Weinstein and directed by Lance Kramer. In the episode, Fry becomes marooned on a distant planet, where he befriends an inhabitant who helps protect him and find his way home.

"2-D Blacktop" is the 15th episode in the Seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 128th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on June 19, 2013. The episode was written by Michael Rowe and directed by Raymie Muzquiz. Professor Farnsworth joins a gang of street racing punks, and ends up in a two-dimensional world. The title is likely a reference to the movie Two-Lane Blacktop.

"The Inhuman Torch" is the eighteenth episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 132nd episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on July 10, 2013. The episode was written by Dan Vebber and directed by Frank Marino. In the episode, Bender becomes a firefighter, and ends up housing a solar flare who wants to blow up the Earth from the inside.

"Assie Come Home" is the twenty-first episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 135th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on July 31, 2013. The episode was written by Maiya Williams and directed by Raymie Muzquiz. Bender searches the universe for his missing body parts after an alien street gang has him stripped down to his bulb eyes and mouth grille.

"Leela and the Genestalk" is the twenty-second episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 136th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on August 7, 2013. The episode was written by Eric Horsted and directed by Lance Kramer. Leela develops a mutation which causes her to sprout tentacles all over her body, and ends up at a genetic engineering facility owned by Mom's Friendly Robot Company. The episode parodies many well-known fairy tales including Rapunzel, Chicken Little, and especially Jack and the Beanstalk among other references.

"Game of Tones" is the twenty third episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 137th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on August 14, 2013. The episode was written by Michael Rowe and directed by Edmund Fong. The Planet Express crew enter Fry's dreams and find themselves back in the year 1999 in search of a mysterious alien song.

"Murder on the Planet Express" is the twenty-fourth episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 138th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on August 21, 2013. The episode was written by Lewis Morton and directed by Frank Marino. In this episode, the crew get trapped aboard the Planet Express ship with a horrific alien creature. The episode's title derives from Murder on the Orient Express and parodies Alien and The Thing.

"Simpsorama" is the sixth episode of the twenty-sixth season of the animated television series The Simpsons, and the 558th episode of the series overall. The episode was directed by Bob Anderson and written by J. Stewart Burns. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 9, 2014.

References

  1. Perkins, Dennis (July 18, 2013). "Futurama: Saturday Morning Fun Pit". The A.V. Club . Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  2. Nicholson, Max (July 18, 2013). "Futurama: "Saturday Morning Fun Pit" Review". IGN . Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  3. Milligan, Mercedes (December 5, 2013). "'Simpsons' & 'Futurama' Dominate WGA Nominations". Animation Magazine. Retrieved February 23, 2019.