I, Roommate

"I, Roommate" is the third episode of Futurama and of the first season. It aired 6 April, 1999 on FOX. Fry and Bender moves in together as roommates, and they are established as close friends

Act I: "Somebody's been leaving food around...and it's attracting owls!"
Hermes complains about Fry living in the Planet Express Headquarters. Everyone agrees, so Fry has to find a new place to live. Bender invites him to stay in his apartment, which turns out to be a tiny space only a couple of feet on a side. Since this doesn't work well for Fry, Leela takes Fry and Bender apartment hunting. They finally find a nice rent-controlled place that belonged to a friend of the Professor.

Act II: "Fry, of all the friends I've had...you're the first."
Bender and Fry get settled in at their new apartment, but a problem arises - Bender's antenna interferes with the entire buildings' TV reception. Fry doesn't want to give up the apartment, so Bender is forced to move out. He can't move back in with Fry unless he cuts off his antenna, so Bender moves back into his old place, becomes very depressed, and stops drinking.

Act III: "Bender, you're blind stinking sober!"
Staggering around in a staggering stupor of sobriety, Bender shows up at Fry's apartment and cuts off his antenna. Fry feels guilty, and they find and reattach Bender's antenna and move back into Bender's apartment. Bender reveals there is a "closet", which is actually an entire apartment.

Production
After "The Series Has Landed", Fox wanted an episode with more action taking place down on Earth, and asked the writers to produce such an episode. However, their initial reaction was "worst episode ever".

The story line of "I, Roommate" was designed to establish the relationship between Bender and Fry, and the fact that Bender actually cared, but also to establish the location of where Fry lived, because up until this episode, Fry had been assumed to be living at Planet Express.

Reception
"I, Roommate" aired on 6 April, 1999. And it was the first Futurama episode that would air in its regular spot on Fox's Tuesday line up in a block of four sitcoms, previously, it had aired during its Sunday line up, between The Simpsons and X-Files. As expected, the moving of Futurama hurt its ratings.

Trivia

 * Hermes' line "We'll bill ya for the couch" was added after the animation was complete, and his mouth doesn't move when the line is heard.
 * This episode was named #7 on TV.com's list of Top 10 Futurama Episodes.

Allusions

 * Bender bending the clock and putting it on the edge of the table is a reference to Salvador Dal&iacute;'s painting, The Persistence of Memory.
 * Fry hitting the TV and going "Aaaay" when it turns on is a reference to Fonzie, who used to do the same thing with a jukebox (and making the same two-thumbs-up gesture).
 * Bender and Fry's "Moving In" montage is a reference to "The Odd Couple."
 * The Unique Architecture apartment bears a striking similarity to M. C. Escher's Relativity. Fry quips that they don't want to pay for a dimension that they are not going to use, after which Bender falls through the stairs violating normal laws of gravity.

Goofs

 * After Bender returns to his own apartment (time index 16:34), he casts a shadow on the back wall of his apartment, even though the light is in front of him (i.e. both the light and the shadow are in front of him).

Characters

 * Amy
 * Bender
 * Debut: Boxy Robot
 * Debut: Calculon
 * Debut: Human Friend
 * Debut: Dr. Mbutu
 * Dr. Zoidberg
 * Fry
 * Debut: Hattie
 * Hermes
 * Debut: Huge Assed Woman
 * Leela
 * Debut: Monique
 * Prof. Farnsworth
 * Debut: Randy Munchnik
 * Debut: Suspiciously Fantastic Apartment Salesman
 * Debut: Underwater House Salesman
 * Debut: Unique Architecture Apartment Salesman

Episode Credits

 * Writer
 * Eric Horsted
 * Director
 * Bret Haaland
 * Voice Actors
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Tress MacNeille
 * Lauren Tom
 * Phil LaMarr
 * Maurice LaMarche