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1ACV08: A Big Piece Of Garbage
First UK airing: Sky One, 8:00pm, 9-11-99
"Who's the gross nerd?"
This was actually the first ever episode of Futurama I ever saw. I was in Los Angeles
for the 1999 E3 videogame show (which is nowhere near as much
fun as it sounds, and LA is bloody horrible as well) and I was
looking forward to seeing Matt Groening's new show.
I wasn't impressed.
To be honest, viewing conditions were not ideal. I
was in a crap hotel in downtown LA (the Stillwell, if you're
ever in LA and looking for a hotel to avoid), sharing a very
small room with my then-boss, who while a decent enough guy is
also one of those people who makes a lot of noise when they breathe.
Because the room was swelteringly hot the air-con was on, very
loudly, and the TV seemed to date from the era of the Kennedy
assassination. I watched the show, smiled a couple of times at
the movie references, and ended up thinking "Well, it was
all right, but it was no Simpsons."
How times change, eh?
Watching the show again at home, on my comfortable
couch, on a big-screen TV, with a decent speaker system and beer
-- and more importantly, after having seen all the earlier episodes
and getting familiar with the characters -- it was a lot
better. It wasn't just a matter of home comforts influencing
my judgement, either -- I also saw Family Guy in LA and didn't
think much of it, and my opinion stayed the same even when Sky
showed it right after Futurama.
Apart from one joke about carbonite which cracked me up, Family
Guy did nothing for me. Futurama,
on the other hand, is currently my number one, must-see, 'phone
me up while it's on and I will kill you!' show.
But getting back to 'Garbage'; while not one of the
best shows, it was still pretty funny. "Dibs on his CD player!",
Simon the fish, somebody finally taking up the challenge
and eating Bart Simpson's shorts, the 'Welcome back, losers!'
banner and the Internet 'pornumentary' were the highlights. More
to the point, the episode actually gave some characterisation
to the Professor, who along with Hermes has been one of the most
under-used people on the show. Maybe there'll be a Hermes show
along soon. Hey, whaddya know?
Rating: 
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