Bender Should Not Be Allowed on Television

"Bender Should Not Be Allowed on Television" is the sixtieth episode of Futurama, the sixth of the fourth production season and the fifteenth of the fifth broadcast season. It aired 3 August, 2003 on FOX. Bender joins the cast of All My Circuits as himself, but the effect it has on youth leads to protests against Bender.

Act I: "For I have AMNESIA!"
Cubert and Dwight are dreaming of imitating anything they see on TV, particularily anything on All My Circuits, like amnesia which seems to have every character in its grip. As Calculon is throwing a big birthday party on screen, Cubert wants to have a big party too - but do clones even have birthdays? Professor Farnsworth says no, but he concedes that they can celebrate the day he scraped the cells for the cloning process off his back - thirteen years ago next week. Around this time it will be Dwights birthday too, so Hermes has the idea of combining both events in one party at the office and writing it off as business expense. Meanwhile, on "All my Circuits", Antonio Calculon, Jr. is having a technical breakdown, instead the popular show "Everybody loves Hypnotoad" is put on. Dwight's and Cubert's party is not a success, no one has turned up except the crew, their families and Tinny Tim, but Bender brings the news that All my Circuits is holding an open casting call for a child robot to replace Antonio Calculon, Jr. and that he is intending to take it. At the audition, Bender boos out every competitor which makes Calculon reject them, and when it is Benders turn, he is accepted because Fry and Leela are cheering madly, despite the fact that Bender can't act worth a damn.

Act II: "Now my character has a British accent?"
The first shooting in the studio starts with a disappointment for Bender, as his character is supposed to be in a coma. Bender, however, decides to do a little improvisation and does what he does best - singing, dancing, and smoking. Calculon decides to take the scene, as he never does two takes. After seeing the result, Calculon decides to fire Bender. But then, the Execu-Bots who run the network show up and decide that Bender stays on the show, for he stimulates the audience and is likely to make them rich. Bender becomes a TV star by doing the things he loves - smoking, drinking and stealing. Cubert, Dwight and even Tinny Tim embrace their new role model at once and imitate everything they see him do on TV. The Professor and Hermes are apalled and decide to form a protest group, Fathers Against Rude Television a.k.a. F.A.R.T.. Cubert, Dwight and Tim decide to rob Bender in a desperate effort to imitate him without throwing up from drink or cigars.

Act III: "I once put a laugh-track on a sitcom that had no jokes in it!"
The burglary at Robot Arms Apts. goes as planned, and the three of them throw a huge party for all children they know with the cool stuff they nicked from Bender. The Professor and Hermes crash the party, and Farnsworth finds out with his Cool-O-Meter that Dwight and Cubert are exceptionally cool with all the stuff, and ask where it came from. Cubert and Dwight break down and confess, strengthening their parents resolve to do something against their role model. Bender suddenly emerges from a safe stolen by the boys, where he was apparently sleeping. At first Bender defends himself, but when he finds out the kids stole from him, he immediately does a 180° turn and now says that Bender should not be allowed on TV himself. Logically he joins F.A.R.T. and organizes a march on Hollywood. He wants to quit, but the network does not let him go and forces him to stay by force of arms. The Professor wants to resort to violence to solve the problem, bringing Bender between the fronts. He tricks both armed persons and seizes their guns so he can hold a climatic speech in peace. He states that violence, crime and drug abuse should not be shown to kids, but that a big share of the blame rests with the parents who just can't shut off the TV once in a while. With their differences solved, the crew has learned an important lesson - and congregates in front of the TV to celebrate this fact.

Trivia

 * This is one among few Futurama media featuring its title, as the name of the episode is directly quoted by Bender.
 * This episode's theme song is remixed with John DiMaggio beatboxing and Billy West providing some "Zoidberg, Zoidberg, Z-Z-Z-Z-Zoidberg" interjections.
 * Emotitron Jr., one of the child robots who auditions for the part of Antonio, is a spoof of the classic movie Mommie Dearest. In the episode the mother hits her child screaming "no more hanging wires!" while in the movie she hits her daughter with clothes hangers screaming "no more wire hangers!".
 * Fry is seen reading a Space Boy in Outer Space comic, the cover of which matches the 1979 issue previously seen in "Monkey Sea, Monkey Doom!"
 * There is a cardboard cut-out of Slurms MacKenzie facing out Fry and Bender's window.
 * The song "TV Party" by the punk band Black Flag is featured in this episode twice: First, in Act 2 when Bender is introduced in the theme song of All My Circuits but right before Dwight smokes his dad's "cigar". The second time is during the ending credits; however, this version is sung by the voice actors.
 * The sound effect during the Curiosity Company logo at the end is replaced by the Hypnotoad's "angry machine" sound effect.

Inside References

 * The Hypnotoad from "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" now has its own TV series, Everybody Loves Hypnotoad.
 * As the FARTers are marching down the street, a poster for The Scary Door, a popular TV show in the Futurama universe, is seen on one of the studio doors.

Outside References

 * All My Circuits is running up to new heights of soap opera in this episode, imitating just about every other soap opera. Especially the much-liked amnesia is omnipresent in the first two minutes.
 * The Execu-Bots are a spoof of the executives of every TV network and their weird policies that at times seem like random mental spasms.
 * Calculon said that he only did one take. This may be an allusion to filmmaker Ed Wood, who usually used only one take to make his films.
 * The alarm that is set off when the Execu-Bots are coming is the same as the Red alert in Star Trek.

Goofs

 * When the FART mob shows up, Calculon mentions "great Shatner's ghost", even though William Shatner's head is still alive. However, some argue this may simply be a thespian quip.
 * It's possible that the majority of Earth believed Shatner and the rest of the original "Star Trek" cast minus Leonard Nimoy, of course, died when they left Earth, and Calculon didn't hear they returned.

Characters

 * Amy
 * Debut: Antonio Calculon, Jr.
 * Bender
 * Blek
 * Brett Blob
 * Calculon
 * Cubert
 * Debut: Director
 * Donbot
 * Dwight
 * Debut: Emotitron Jr.
 * Debut: Executive Alpha
 * Debut: Executive Beta
 * Debut: Executive Gamma
 * Professor Farnsworth
 * Fry
 * Hermes
 * Horrible Gelatinous Blob
 * Hypnotoad
 * LaBarbara
 * Leela
 * Linda
 * Debut: McCauley Caulcon
 * Monique
 * Morbo
 * Sal
 * Debut: Stage Mom 7.0
 * Tinny Tim
 * Zoidberg

Episode Cast

 * Voice Actors
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * DVD Commentary
 * Matt Groening
 * David X. Cohen
 * Rich Moore
 * Lewis Morton
 * Brian Sheesley
 * John DiMaggio
 * Billy West
 * Maurice LaMarche