Episode no. Season 6
Episode 21 Written by Eric Horsted Original air date July 21, 2011 | Directed by Frank Marino Production code 6ACV21 | |
"Yo Leela Leela" is the twenty-first episode of the sixth season of the animated sitcom Futurama. It aired on Comedy Central in the United States on July 21, 2011. The title is a reference to the Nickelodeon kids' show Yo Gabba Gabba!. The show is also parodied within the episode: Leela's show is similar, featuring people dressed up in fanciful costumes as its main characters.
Contents
Plot
Leela visits the Cookieville Orphanarium for a storytelling session with the children there, but fails to make up a good story for the orphans. Hoping to come up with a better story, and seeking quiet from her disruptive crewmates, Leela takes the Planet Express ship to a secret destination that she calls her "quiet place". She returns to the orphanarium with her story at the same time as Abner Doubledeal, CEO of the TV station Tickleodeon, comes to pitch new television shows to the children. The orphans enjoy Leela's new story, called "Rumbledy-Hump", prompting Doubledeal to persuade Leela to write an educational children's television series based on her story.
Rumbledy-Hump, which is filmed in the Planet Express building and performed by Leela and the crew, quickly develops into a successful franchise. After her show wins at the Young People's Choice Awards, she becomes an egomaniac and starts to look down on her coworkers. She takes the Planet Express ship to her "quiet place" to write more episodes, but is surprised when Bender intrudes, having stowed away to make out with a fembot from the awards ceremony. The "quiet place" is actually an unknown planet inhabited by the Rumbledy-Hump characters—"the Humplings"—who are real, and Leela's scripts are revealed to be word-for-word documentations of the Humplings' daily activities.
Despite agreeing to give Bender half of the show's earnings in exchange for keeping the secret, Leela becomes wracked with guilt over exploiting the Humplings for profit. She brings the crew, Doubledeal, and the Cookieville orphans to the planet and confesses her deception, disappointing the orphans. Doubledeal takes advantage of the situation by turning "Rumbledy-Hump" into a reality show and adopting the orphans to work as his film crew. This proves beneficial to both the Humplings (who are paid and thus able to afford better lifestyles for themselves) and the children (who now have full-time jobs and a parent to take care of them all). Leela is horrified that she is able to get away with making a bad example for the children, and pleads to be punished as the Humplings and children cheer and express their gratitude for her.
Reception
Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club generally praised the episode, giving it a B+ rating. Handlen praised the episode's humor and writing, but said that it continued "a general trend this season of competence over risk."