Yo Leela Leela

"Yo Leela Leela" is the one hundred and ninth episode of Futurama, the twenty-first of the sixth production season and the sixth of the eighth broadcast season. It aired 21 July, 2011 on Comedy Central. Leela becomes a Hollywood big shot after creating a hit children's television series.

Act I: "We don't got books no more."
Leela visits the Cookieville Minimum-Security Orphanarium where she grew up in order to read a story to the orphans. However, she is informed that the orphans ate all of their books long ago (being unable to afford food), leaving nothing left to read. Leela tries to improvise a story on the spot, but does a poor job of it, and the orphans are vocal in their disappointment. Dejected by her failure to entertain them, Leela decides to try and write a children's story of her own, but is unable to concentrate in the noisy Planet Express building; she takes the Planet Express ship to another, unseen planet where she will be able to write in peace.

Later, Leela returns to the orphanarium to tell her new story; she has invented a whimsical fantasy setting named "Rumbledy-Hump", which is inhabited by cartoonish creatures called "Humplings" who sing moralistic songs. While the children are initially reluctant to listen, fearing Leela's new story will be just as bad as the first, they are quickly won over by her latest effort, and eagerly ask her to return to tell another story. Leela is then approached by Abner Doubledeal, now working as a television producer, who was watching her presentation from another room. Doubledeal had earlier subjected the orphans to a test screening for a new lineup of children's shows, but none of the flashy, fast-paced programs caught their interest; in contrast, the simple, colorful world Leela created was able to hold their attention. Doubledeal proposes adapting Rumbledy-Hump into a basic cable television series. Leela hesitates, wary of the corrupting influence of Hollywood, but when the orphans encourage her to further develop something that brought them so much joy, she accepts.

Act II: "Cheap lights. Off-brand camera."
Leela arrives late for the filming of the first episode of the Rumbledy-Hump series, having just returned from her "quiet place" with the script in hand. Production goes smoothly, and the episode airs as planned, with the costumed members of the Planet Express crew acting as the main cast. Leela is proud of the work they've done, although she expects little to come of it, claiming that good television series are always canceled... sometimes two or three times. However, when the next day's television ratings arrive (from the future), Rumbledy-Hump is revealed as a smash hit, and its popularity explodes; the show is adapted into a series of books and children's toys, and Leela becomes famous overnight. She is honored at the Slurm-sponsored "Young People's Choice Awards", and attends a celebration that evening, although her newfound fame has caused a change in her attitude; Leela has become snooty and arrogant, regarding herself as a creative genius, and disregarding her friends' contributions to the show.

When Doubledeal tells Leela that he needs the script for the next episode, despite the late hour, she takes the Planet Express ship to her "quiet place" in order to work on it. A dazed Bender stumbles out of the ship, having seduced a fembot at the party, and discovers Leela observing a group of aliens who are identical to the Humplings; it turns out that Rumbledy-Hump is a real place, and is the planet that Leela has been retreating to.

Act III: "Be it parsnips or peppers or kale or zucchini."
Bender learns that Leela never actually wrote any of the scripts for her show; she stumbled upon Rumbledy-Hump while searching for a quiet place to write, and has merely been transcribing the words and actions of the native Humplings, then claiming it as her own work. Bender admires Leela's hypocrisy, although he swiftly blackmails her, threatening to expose her as a fraud unless she shares half of the show's gross profits with him.

Filming of the show continues as normal until Leela is approached by Sally, who shows her a simple drawing of her own magical cast of characters from a place called "Butterscotch Hollow". Leela is surprised that Sally was able to develop an original setting using her own imagination (when Leela herself could not), but Sally replies that Leela's work serves to inspire her. Overcome with guilt, Leela takes the crew to the real Rumbledy-Hump, where she confesses that her scripts are plagiarized from the life experiences of the Humplings. She admits that she should have come forward sooner, but she took great pride in being able to make the orphans happy, and didn't want to disappoint them.

Doubledeal is shocked to learn that the Humplings are real, but quickly turns the situation to his advantage; rather than make a Rumbledy-Hump adaptation using scripts and actors in suits, he simply films the Humplings directly as a reality television show. Leela is outraged by what she perceives as the exploitation of the innocent creatures, but the arrangement is actually a beneficial one. The Humplings are introduced to the conveniences of modern technology, greatly improving the quality of their lives, while Doubledeal himself adopts all of the orphans, putting them to work as the show's production crew and providing them all with full-time jobs. Leela, however, is still wracked with guilt, and has developed a psychological need to be criticized for her deception, demanding to be "punished". She cries out in despair as the assembled children and Humplings sing and dance around her, proclaiming their love and appreciation for her.

Production
During May 2011, Countdown to Futurama began released three items of promotional material for the episode: concept art of Amy and Zoidberg dressed up as other characters from the episode on 24 May, concept art of Bender wearing a fur coat and a bling on 25 May, and part of the storyboard showing two babies engaged in Extreme Toddler Wrestling on 26 May.

Comedy Central released a video clip set in the Cookieville Minimum-Security Orphanarium featuring Leela telling Warden Vogel that she has a new story for the orphans and Abner Doubledeal visiting to conduct market research on 14 July, 2011.

Reception
In the original U.S. broadcast, "Yo Leela Leela" scored a 0.7 share among adults aged 18-49, and had 1.407 million total viewers, up about 1000 since "The Silence of the Clamps".

Songs

 * Rumbledy-Hump Song
 * Don't Lick It
 * The 98 Words We Don't Say
 * We Love Our Vegetables
 * Pastrami Song

Trivia

 * Just as he was in Bender's Big Score, Tom Kenny is given a "Special Appearance" credit.
 * The daycare center where Extreme Toddler Wrestling is broadcast from was originally named after wrestler . Due to the poor timing of this episode, airing more than three months after Savage's death, the center was renamed to the Rowdy Roddy Piper Daycare Center in Glasgow, Scotland.
 * This episode is one of the few in this broadcast season that uses the full opening sequence with cartoon and all.
 * The opening sequence of Popular Slut Club features two of the orphans.
 * The theme tune to Popular Slut Club was sung by an autotuned Eric Rogers, another Futurama writer.
 * The official Comedy Central website spells the Rumbledy-hump show as "Rumbledeehump".
 * Leela's line about how all good shows get canceled before their time is a reference to a lot of 21st century shows (mostly on the FOX Network) have been canceled, despite having a loyal following of viewers. The "sometimes two or three times" line is a reference to both Futurama (which has been canceled by FOX, pulled from Cartoon Network after the rerun rights ran out, and is now ending its run on Comedy Central) and Family Guy (which was canceled in 2000 for a time, then canceled from 2002, only to be revived in 2005 thanks to high DVD revenue and big ratings from Adult Swim reruns).

Allusions

 * The title of the episode, and the concept of the show she creates, Rumbledy-hump, are parodies of the TV show . Amy's line about how kids will love it because it's so cute and how their hipster parents will ironically "love" it due to how low-rent it looks is a reference to the audience reaction to Yo Gabba Gabba!


 * The caption under the Futurama logo for this episode which reads "PENETRATES EVEN THE THICKEST FOIL HAT" is a reference to Futurama's film Into the Wild Green Yonder seeing as foil hats in the film were suppose to protect everyone's minds from The Dark Ones.
 * It could also just be a general reference to conspiracies, which Into the Wild Green Yonder also references.
 * When Leela first attempts to write a story, she says she only need to come up with three of some animal. This is a reference to such fairy tales by  as, , and  as well as the  in writing.
 * When Fry is playing trombone, he is playing "When the Saints Go Marching In" and mentions it is the only song he knows. Commander William Riker on Star Trek: the Next Generation was a trombone player and on most of the occasions he played in the series, he was playing that song.
 * The name of the television network, Tickelodeon, is a pun on the 20th/21st century kids channel  and the word tickle. Both Nickelodeon and Comedy Central are owned by.
 * The daycare center where Extreme Toddler Wrestling is broadcast from is named after wrestler . As mentioned above, it was supposed to be named after Macho Man Randy Savage, but Savage died in a car accident three months before the episode aired, so it was changed at the last minute out of respect.
 * The term, as used by Abner Doubledeal, is professional wrestling slang which (among other things) can be used to describe a fan who believes they know more about the workings of the business than they really do.


 * When Zoidberg sings the lyric "Like a horse, a turtle or a cricket", Bender (in his Garglie character) says "I like turtles!", referencing the viral video of a young boy who says the same thing when being interviewed on the news.
 * This is also likely a reference to "Crimes of the Hot", where Bender professes a fondness for the reptile.
 * Leela said a show that is slightly good often gets cancelled, sometimes two or three times. This is an obvious reference to the handling of Futurama throughout its history.
 * Abner Doubledeal says that Leela's show would be bigger than SpongeBot SquareBolts, a reference or upgrade to . Tom Kenny, the voice of Doubledeal, also voices SpongeBob.
 * Albert eats a book called Go, Ladybuggle, Go, a parody of the book .
 * The Young People's Choice Awards are a parody of the and the . They also briefly mention the "Old People's Choice Awards, also known as the ". Leela being "Slurmed" is a reference to people being "slimed" on the Kids' Choice Awards.
 * Some of the nominees for Best New Kids Show are parodies of real life childrens' shows:
 * Yo Gimme Gimme! is another reference to Yo Gabba Gabba!
 * Dora the Destroyer is a parody or reboot of or sequel/spinoff series to the Nickelodeon show, .
 * The Adventures of Pit-Bull and Scaredy Squirrel is a reference to , also known as The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.
 * Leela says to Fry, "It's nice to have the support of ," a reference to the last sponsor of every single PBS program.
 * The fembot acting unit that Bender meets plays the role of a high school student who is secretly a rock star. This references the TV series , which revolves around a high school student who is secretly a rock star. The acting unit resembles the main character of the series, /Hannah Montana.


 * The aliens singing "And poo poo, and pee pee, and penis and gay, these are the 98 words we don't say." alludes to the 2011 bill passed in Tennessee known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill (which prohibits teachers from even mentioning homosexuality in any grade before 9), and possibly the infamous comedy routine '7 Words You Can't Say on Television.'
 * Fry mentions to Leela that she may have become a "Lady Gaga-esque fame hag", a direct jab at American singer and her amount of popularity, as well as a possible reference to her 2008 album .

Continuity



 * This is one of the only five episodes of season 6 with a full opening sequence. The other four were "Rebirth", "6ACV08", "Benderama" and "6ACV23"


 * When Abner Doubledeal presents himself, Leela says that she already knows him. She did in fact know him as the owner of the New New York Mets blernsball team, in which she was the star in "A Leela of Her Own" and before that, the owner of the Ultimate Robot Fighting League, which she helped Bender train for in "Raging Bender".


 * Scruffy appears male in this episode even though he was still female at the end of "Neutopia", the previous episode. Though, the gender switch could have been temporary all along, since the big rock alien doesn't have an actual concept of gender, or when The Borax Kid changes them back, he could have just sped up the reversal process.
 * Calculon seems to have healed from his injuries, sustained in "The Silence of the Clamps", which, as the previous episode in broadcast order, was a rather quick recovery.
 * Bender's liking of turtles in his Garglie suit seems to recall his experiences with one in "Crimes of the Hot".

Goofs

 * Bender pronounces "Christmas" as "Christmas," but in "Xmas Story," Leela says "Christmas" spelled with "Christ" at the beginning is an archaic pronunciation that barely anyone in the 31st century understands.
 * When Albert says there's someone standing on him, he should know that it was Bender since Bender had adopted him in "The Cyber House Rules".
 * Although Albert may have been unable to see who it was.
 * The can of Diet Slurm next to Leela when she is getting distracted whilst trying to write turns into a normal can of Slurm.
 * The "disgusting secret" of Slurm that would ruin them doesn't seem to be much of a secret any more, if a Slurm Worm is being used to slime Leela during a live broadcast of the Young People's Choice Awards.
 * They just might not care, especially given how many in-universe years have passed since the PE crew learned about it. Fry certainly didn't care back in that same episode.
 * The Humplings constantly change size in the episode.
 * When Zoidberg is poked in the eye by Fry while in costume, he reacts in pain even though he wouldn't have been able to feel it.

Characters

 * Abner Doubledeal
 * Albert
 * Debut: Actress-Rockstar Fembot
 * Amy
 * Bender
 * Debut: Bottomless Boy
 * Calculon
 * Debut: Captain Mega Meat
 * Debut: Doingg
 * Debut: Dora the Destroyer
 * Debut: Feffernoose
 * Fry
 * Debut: Garglie
 * Debut: Space Gorilla (mentioned)
 * Hattie McDoogal
 * Debut: Jake Finkelberg (mentioned)
 * Debut: Lady Buggle
 * Leela
 * Debut: Monkey
 * Debut: Mr. Funny Bunny
 * Nibbler
 * Nina
 * Debut: Pachinko Robot
 * Debut: Princess Num Num
 * Debut: Reverend Pickens (mentioned)
 * Sally
 * Sam
 * Scoop Chang (deleted scene)
 * Scruffy
 * Slurm Queen
 * Slurms MacKenzie (statuette)
 * Debut: SpongeBot SquareBolts
 * Warden Vogel
 * Zoidberg