Professor Farnsworth: "Yes? I see… Good news, everyone! Those asinine morons who canceled us were themselves fired for incompetence. [The crew cheers] And not just fired, but beaten up, too…and pretty badly. [The crew cheers doubtfully] In fact, most of them died from their injuries. [The crew remains silent. Bender laughs] And then they were ground up into a fine pink powder.
Fry: Why?
Professor Farnsworth: Oh, it's got a million and one uses. [Pours some down his pants] Ah, that soothes the fire.

Sometimes shows do come back…

Just announced, Comedy Central has placed an order for 26 new episodes of Futurama to run over two seasons. Apparently the four 2-hour movies released during the 7-year hiatus of the show helped, and I'm glad to see it. The last movie left the crew of Planet Express with an open-ended future, so it'll be great to see where they go with it.  Much as I loved The Simpsons, Futurama quickly took over as my favorite cartoon.

Family Guy? Never got into it. I chuckle when I watch it, but it's never grabbed my interest enough to tune in.

American Dad? Even less so.

King of the Hill? Ditto.

Southpark? A close runner-up, and one of the finest satirical creations ever, but there are two problems with it for me: I hate bathroom humor, and when Cartman killed a kid's parents and fed them to him in chili I was utterly turned off. He went from being a basically-good kid with evil tendencies to being an evil kid, and I lost interest in him, and the show. I'll still watch it if I flip by, and they're still the hottest commentary on society around, but I'm not a regular fan.

The Simpsons? Over the last 4 or 5 years I dropped away from being an avid Sunday night watcher to someone who just picks up the DVDs when they come out, and gets surprised by an afternoon rerun he hasn't yet seen. Once Homer became irretrievably stupid and malicious I got bored, and how many times can Bart learn a lesson about caring? Still fun to watch, but not a must-see anymore.

Futurama hits all the right buttons for me. Funny, snarky, with science fiction in-jokes everywhere and enough attention paid to the supporting characters so that we don't (usually) get tired of seeing Frye and Leela all the time. So bring 'em on

Three years after Fox canceled the show, Matt Groening's "Futurama" will resume production for a 13-episode run on Comedy Central. The new episodes will be added to the network's library of 72 "Futurama" episodes previously licensed from 20th Century Fox Television. Voice talent Billy West, Katey Sagal and John DiMaggio will return for the new episodes, which will debut in 2008.

Celebrate with a cool, refreshing, mandatory Slurm!