Futurama Had A Hidden Crossover With Eddie Murphy's Forgotten Claymation Show

In the "Futurama" episode "I Second That Emotion" (November 21, 1999), the crass alcoholic robot Bender (John DiMaggio), having become fed up with Leela's pet whatsit Nibbler (Frank Welker), flushes him down the toilet. Leela (Katey Sagal) is distraught, but Bender is fecklessly unapologetic. The Professor (Billy West) finds that Bender may be incapable of empathy, and solves the issue by hammering a high-tech emotions chip into his head. The chip psychically links to Leela, and Bender begins feeling horrible. To solve their mutual sadness, Bender and Leela decide to go into the sewers to rescue Nibbler.

In the lore of "Futurama," the ruins of Old New York are deep underground and the city of New New York was built on its ruins. 

Before going into the sewers, though, Leela finds a nearby manhole cover and removes it with a manhole hook. The manhole cover bears the face of a bored-looking man, resting above bubble letters that read "The PJs." This is a reference to the opening titles of the 1999 stop-motion animated series "The PJs," which ran on Fox concurrently with "Futurama." Although "The PJs" starred Eddie Murphy, won three Emmys, and lasted 44 episodes over its three seasons, few seem to refer to it in 2024.

On the DVD commentary for the episode "The Luck of the Fryrish," "Futurama" co-creator David X. Cohen talks about the two times his series paid homage to "The PJs." Indeed, after Cohen made his "PJs" reference in "Emotion," "The PJs" made a clever and subtle "Futurama" reference the following year. Not to be outdone, Cohen included the same "PJs" manhole cover in "Fryrish," nodding again to their animated neighbors on Fox.

"The PJs," to remind any viewers who might recall it, took place in the run-down Hilton-Jacobs housing project (a PJ) in an unspecified American city. It centered on the plight of Thurgood Stubbs (Murphy), the building's crass, hard-drinking superintendent, and his eccentric friends and family. The show explored themes of poverty and racial politics, but in a lightweight, sitcom light. It was produced by Will Vinton Studios and took a long time to make; stop-motion animation is a time-consuming process. The series also starred Loretta Devine, Phil Morris, and Kevin Michael Richardson. Its theme was written by George Clinton and Quincy Jones III.

After "Futurama" winked at "The PJs" in "I Second That Emotion," "The PJs" paid the reference back in kind in the episode "Cliffhangin' With Mr. Super" (August 15, 2000). In that episode, Thurgood is having a meal with his family and idly reaches for a carton of milk. One can see clearly that Fry from "Futurama" is listed on the carton, a missing child that needs to be located. For many years, real-life missing children were printed on milk cartons to raise awareness of their cases. As "Futurama" fans know, Fry was cryogenically frozen in 1999 and awakened in 2999. He would have been missing.

On the "Fryrish" commentary track, Cohen noted the above reference exchange between his show and "The PJs":

"We showed that manhole to just celebrate 'The PJs' –  which was an excellent claymation show for those who didn't see it — and they reciprocated by having a little milk carton on 'The PJs' with a lost child thing on the side for Fry. 'Have you seen this missing child?' Something like that.

Very kind of them both.

As mentioned above, the same "PJs" manhole cover appeared briefly in "The Luck of the Fryrish" when Fry, Bender, and Leela trekked into the sewers to locate a missing seven-leaf clover, which had been hidden in Fry's old house a millennium ago. At that point, "The PJs" was still on the air, although it was to be canceled in 2001. The first two seasons of "The PJs" aired on Fox, while the third season aired on The WB. Murphy left the show in its third year, at which point the role of Thurgood was taken over by Phil Morris. 

All three seasons of "The PJs" were released on DVD back in 2011, so one can still find copies on the second-hand market if one were to look hard enough. One can also watch "The PJs" on Hulu, Tubi, and Fubo. It was also in syndication for many years, and one might have snagged a rerun on MTV at some point.

It may be considered somewhat obscure 23 years after its cancelation, but it awaits any curious media travelers. It's also quite possible that a mass audience is passingly familiar with "The PJs," given its ubiquity in reruns. The series is pretty funny, although crass and broad (by design, of course), and Murphy sells his role with enthusiasm.

"The PJs," of course, is only one of many, many Fox animated shows that the network tried to tie onto "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill" over the years. The length of Fox's animation blocks was even joked about in "Futurama" a few times, as when a TV announcer declared that Fox was to cancel a hit new show in favor of eight animated shows in a row. "The PJs" was lost in the shuffle. Seek it out.