COMEDY CENTRAL's® "Futurama" Blasts Back Onto Your Telescreen All-New Episodes Begin Thursday, June 23 at 10:00 P.M.

NEW YORK, June 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Drunken robots!  Lobster people!  A very old man!  Watch in terror if you dare as Matt Groening and David X. Cohen's brilliantly subversive animated sci-fi comedy, "Futurama," returns with 13 all-new half-hour episodes beginning on Thursday, June 23 at 10:00 p.m. on COMEDY CENTRAL.  The all-comedy channel is kicking off the "Futurama" season in style with two new episodes airing back-to-back.  Then, beginning on Thursday, June 30, COMEDY CENTRAL's animated series, "Ugly Americans," premieres its second season at 10:30 p.m., making Thursday nights a one-hour "Thurs-Dimension" animation block.

"Futurama" focuses on the life of Philip Fry (Billy West), a 25-year-old pizza delivery boy who accidentally freezes himself on December 31, 1999 and wakes up 1,000 years later with a fresh start at life at Planet Express, an intergalactic delivery company.  There he meets love interest Leela (Katey Sagal), a sexy cyclops with anger management issues, and best friend Bender (John DiMaggio), a beer-powered kleptomaniac robot.  The series aired for five seasons on Fox (1999 to 2003) earning Emmy® nominations each season while winning three times, including "Outstanding Animated Program" in 2002.

In the premiere episode, "Neutopia," the Planet Express crew crash-lands on an unknown world, where they encounter a bizarre alien who is unfamiliar with the concept of gender.  The creature subsequently conducts a series of experiments, modifying the crew members' sexual characteristics in strange and wondrous ways.

In the second episode, "Benderama," Bender gains the power of infinite self-replication, producing a vast horde of smaller and smaller Benders.  Comedian Patton Oswalt guest-stars as "Unattractive Giant Monster," a repulsive alien who is extremely sensitive about his appearance.  When the giant's feelings are hurt by the people of Earth, it is up to Bender and his minions to fend off the giant's attack in an epic battle of Good vs. Ugly.

Special guest stars this season include Patton Oswalt, Dan Castellaneta, Stephen Hawking, and Buzz Aldrin.  The show's entire original voice cast will be returning, including stars Billy West, Katey Sagal and John DiMaggio.  

The "Futurama" Web site features episode previews, highlights and mash-up videos of some of the funniest moments from the previous seasons.  The site also features exclusive interviews with the show's cast, as well as with Matt Groening and David X. Cohen and the making of an episode mini-documentary.  Starting on Monday, June 6, the site will feature bi-weekly collections of five "Futurama" full episodes selected by the cast and crew, beginning with the "5 Nerdiest Episodes" selected by David X. Cohen.  The "Futurama" Facebook fan base has grown from one million "likes" prior to its return last summer to close to 14 million "likes" today, making it one of the top television sites on Facebook.  On Wednesday, May 4, COMEDY CENTRAL launched the "Countdown to Futurama" on Facebook that features an exclusive sneak preview of season 6B content each day, including sneak peek clips, episode stills, storyboards, character designs and more.  

"Futurama," created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen, is produced by Twentieth Century Fox Television, with Rough Draft Studios, Inc. contributing the animation.

20th Century Fox Television, a division of News Corp, is a leading supplier of entertainment content domestically and around the world.

SOURCE COMEDY CENTRAL Corporate Communications