Matt Groening’s and David X.
Cohen’s animated sci-fi comedy series “Futurama” debuted on March 28, 1999.
Only a few months earlier, on January 31, Seth McFarlane’s animated sitcom “Family Guy” also premiered.
They were both primetime animated sitcoms on the same network, and both were part of a wave of “Simpsons”-adjacent shows that tangled the airwaves for years.
“Futurama” had the advantage over all the others, however, as it was co-developed by “Simpsons” creator Groening himself.
1999 also saw the release of the “Dilbert” animated series, “Home Movies” on the Upn, “Mission Hill” on the WB, and the stop-motion series “The PJs,” as well as “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Batman Beyond,” and “Ed, Edd n Eddy.” It was a banner year.As such, “Futurama” and “Family Guy” were often mentioned as a unit in conversations.
Many fans of one watched the other, even though one was a sci-fi slapstick program and the other was a crass,…
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