Futurama (1999)
New season on the horizon.
The adventures of a late-20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J. Fry, who, after being unwittingly cryogenically frozen for one thousand years, finds employment at Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery company in the retro-futuristic 31st century.
| Type | TV series |
|---|---|
| First aired | 28 March 1999 |
| Status | Ended, last episode 28 September 2026 |
| Genre | Animation, Comedy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy |
| Created by | Matt Groening |
| Starring | Billy West, Katey Sagal and John DiMaggio |
| Seasons | 11 seasons, 164 episodes |
| Episode length | about 22 min |
| Time to watch it all | about 60 hours |
| Rated | TV-14 |
| Scores | TMDB users 8.4/10 |
Where to watch Futurama
Futurama is streaming on Hulu ($18.99 a month) in the US. It is also on Fubo. At ten hours a week, all of the series takes about 2 months of Hulu, or $37.98 at list price.
We check availability daily. Page last updated 30 September 2026. Prices are standard monthly plans and change often, so check with the service before you sign up.
What kind of watch this is
Futurama is a sci-fi comedy from Matt Groening, the man who decided the future would be just as messy as the past. It runs 22 minutes per episode, a tight timeframe for a show that treats the cosmos with the same indifference as a pizza box. With 11 seasons and 164 episodes, the total commitment is 60 hours. That is roughly the length of a long argument about where to eat, stretched across a millennium. It is for anyone who finds the absurdity of modern life funny, provided they have the patience to watch a delivery guy navigate a galaxy that runs on bureaucracy.
What the critics said
Critics did not hold back. Rotten Tomatoes places the first season at 82% approval, based on 32 reviews, with an average score of 8.75 out of 10. The consensus calls it "an inventive, funny, and sometimes affecting look at the world of tomorrow." Later seasons held higher marks. Season 5 and Season 6 both reached 100% approval, though from smaller review pools of 7 and 16 respectively. Season 8 settled at 86%. The praise remained consistent, even if the sample size shrank. TV Guide ranked it among the 60 greatest TV cartoons of all time in 2013.
How it did with audiences
Futurama debuted on March 28, 1999, drawing 19 million viewers and tying for 11th in weekly Nielsen ratings. The following week, it pulled in 14.2 million. That third episode, the first to air on a Tuesday, dropped to 8.85 million. While those numbers trailed The Simpsons, the first season outperformed King of the Hill, Family Guy, Dilbert, South Park, and The PJs. By the first half of its fourth broadcast season, the average stood at 6.4 million. On TMDB, users rate it 8.4 out of 10.
Awards
Futurama collected 4 awards. The list includes the Annie Award for Best General Audience Animated Television Production in 2010 and 2013, plus the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in 2002 and 2011. No other nominations appear in the record. It kept the hardware without the usual noise.
What came next for the cast
Katey Sagal entered 1999 as the face of Married... with Children. The years after brought Sons of Anarchy, Shameless, and a role in Pitch Perfect 2. The timeline suggests momentum, not causation.
Tress MacNeille came in with Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. The Animatrix followed in 2003. One data point does not make a trend. It is just the next entry on a list.
If you liked this
TMDB's recommendations for people who watched Futurama.
Sources
- Futurama on TMDB — synopsis, cast, ratings and recommendations
- Wikidata Q73622 — review scores, box office and awards (CC0)
- “Futurama” on Wikipedia, by its contributors (history) — reception, audience figures and legacy, summarised and adapted here under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Where to watch and prices: Binge Boss, from TMDB watch-provider data (powered by JustWatch) and our own provider list
Watch it without paying for the whole year
Binge Boss tracks the series you are on and tells you which services you need this month, and which you can cancel.
Add Futurama to your list