I actually didn't hate last night's episode just for those bit-players and quirky gags. The main plot is stupid, unfunny, preachy and lacking in balls. I mean a male robot and a human female getting it on...puh-lease. Their preachyness would be more logical and therefore funny if it was a male robot and a human male or the opposite.

Yep, this last episode did nothing to change my outlook. Once again, another episode built around preaching a message about current events. I'm in the same camp as major; it the show continues this way I might not make it through the season.

The callbacks to old characters really bother me. After last week's episode ended, I literally said to my brother, "Which character have they not brought back yet? Oh yeah, that evil red robot who likes stabbing things! He's due to make an appearance sooner or later." And guess who shows up in this week's episode?! There's no point to it besides fan service.

The callback's didn't bother me one bit, I really don't see what the problem with this "fanservice" is, some of actually like see recurring characters again, anyways also enjoyedthe last episode, I don't take issue with the message about current events like as you guys do, all that mattered to me was that it managed to make me laugh.

Last two episodes have been slightly better. Still, Da Vinci Code jokes haven't been funny for years now, and that sappy ending to the most recent one tried and failed to deliver the big emotional punch of The Luck Of The Fryrish and Jurassic Bark.

I threw in the towel with the Da Vinci Code episode -- I'm just not interested in the kind of humor (highly referential) the show is now offering. I'll catch up with bits and pieces of the series when it's in perpetual reruns -- that's basically any time now.

Can't say I blame ya. These last few episodes have given me a sliver of hope, but if another godawful one comes along, I'll be jumping ship as well.

I found the new episodes pretty enjoyable overall(though the Da Vinci one felt sorta uninspired and wasn't that funny, espeically the ending), even though it's not at the level of greatness that it once was, i'm not quite as ready to give up on the show as mos tof you guys are, i'm sticking with Futurama until the very end.

I liked The Duh-Vinci Code, thought it was a decent adventure episode even though it would made MUCH more sense to rip-off National Treasure instead of DaVinci Code.

The show is a fair watch if there's nothing else going on but it's current mode is a continuation of the formula the movies set up. The movies weren't particularly very good. The move to more plot-centered action is something that I'm just not interested in; every animated program that goes this route (The Simpsons, for example) seems to set the bar high for absurdity rather than amusing studies of character. Futurama, in its current form, is just another animated sitcom that is out to create ridiculous situations for its characters. That's almost as bad as the infamous introduction of 'new characters' that leave the fan base cold.

Well I personally enjoyed the movies, so I really don't have a problem with the show continuing in the same path as the movies but i can definitely see why alot of people aren't too enthusiatic with the show's direction, but i'll be perfectly content with Futurama as long as it dosen't sink to the excruciatingly unfunny humor of King Of The Hill.

King Of The Hill was a very good show where the humor was found in the charcter's behavior in the daily life of Arlen, Texas. Its humor much more subtle than some of the other popular animated shows.

Well more subtle dosen't automatically mean "better" and I could never get into KOTH's humor style, for me it just got more and more unfunny as time went on, and the humor got much less "subtle" in the later seasons and the characters began extremely wacky all of a sudden, i've heard KOTH fans say that they gave up on the show at that point. For me the day that show got cancelled was one of the single happiest days of my entire life!

I haven't seen every single episodes. but I can speak for myself that the humor is more along the line to bring out the truth of how one man, Hank Hill, goes about his life using his life experience to react to the different changes in his life. If you didn't like the show, then that's your opinion.

I didn't like King of the Hill very much because the episodes I saw all followed the same formula: trouble brews and Hank Hill's no-nonsense conservatism fixes everything. That said, it was far more character-based than what's popular now (Family Guy, American Dad, whatever the hell else is drawn by hand and colored by computers). That's my kind of quality even if I found KOTH too homespun and predictable.

Personally i cant get by the fact that "our" Leela died, sad and lonely, in the time is circular episode. Everything worked out ok for the crew in the end, but tecnically they have replaced that universes them (if you know what i mean) and the Leela we have watched since the pilot died broken hearted and fryless.

I saw, and liked, the episode but know what you mean. The Futurma of Past realized the characters could be brokenhearted and treated them with some real sympathy (the finest example of this being "Time Keeps on Slippin" with everyone ending up brokenhearted and disappointed) but the new iteration is a little indifferent to the characters' plight and milks comedy out of what would have once been considered ubearably sad. Not that Futurma is great literature but, really, come on writers.

"The Sting" is my favorite episode.

In the scene where Fry is restored by "space honey and skin dna from the couch" i was gutted at the idea that "our" fry was dead and his clone was going to keep the show going (but it all worked out in the end!) this time it didnt work out, Leelas dead and Fry does not seem to care.

Although we do have some insight into the theory that our particular universe is the only one that may exist. By eliminating fate, and championing absence of true free will, Futurama has taken a bold stance that our universe is perfect by virtue of it being a veritable closed system.

No, I don't really believe this. But sometimes you just have to let the writers have their way.

I haven't watched since the fourth or fifth new episode. I've been meaning to catch up but haven't just yet. Has the show found its groove or is it still very hit and miss? Is it worth trying to catch up?

Yeah i'd say so, Lethal Inspection and The Late Phillip J Fry both felt like they could've been written during the show's golden years, the other two new episodes-That Darn Katz! and A Clockwork Origin were OK-ish but not all that memorable. Just so you know, all of those episodes are availible to watch on Amazon's Video On Demand, that's how i've been catching up with them since I don't have cable.