Recap / Futurama S 4 E 6 Bender Should Not Be Allowed On Television

Controlling you through a chip in your butt since 1999

After a child acting unit has a (literal) breakdown during a live taping, Bender gets a part on All My Circuits, and his shameless antics quickly make him an idol. But when children start imitating him, it doesn't take long for parents to start complaining.

Tropes

• Abstract Scale: The Cool-O-Meter measures coolness in megafonzies.
• Always a Live Transmission: Antonio malfunctioning and Bender ad-libbing seemingly appear live on the broadcast. In fact, the show's ratings (albeit just with a test audience) go up the moment Bender does his scene. It gets a Hand Wave when Calculon invoked refuses to do a second take because "amateurs do two takes."
• Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: When they look for a replacement for the child robot actor in All My Circuits, Bender asks the orphan robot kid if he thinks the same thing as he does. Of course Bender was only thinking of himself.
  Tinny Tim: You raised my hopes and then dashed them expertly. Bravo sir.
• As Himself: The show is starring Bender as "Bender".
• Bad "Bad Acting": Bender's acting leaves much to be desired. This was Calculon's reaction to his tryout:
  Calculon: That was so bad I think you gave me cancer!
• Bait-and-Switch: In one episode of All My Circuits, there seems to be another melodramatic plot twist coming when Antonio suddenly glitches out and is rendered unable to reveal his mother's Dark Secret. Turns out the show is broadcast live and the actor malfunctioned on-air.
• Breakout Character: In-universe: Bender becomes this by going wildly off-script and being his obnoxious, self-centered self. The former Trope Namer is even used as a measurement of coolness (megafonzies) by the Farnsworth's Cool-O-Meter!
• Call-Back: Bender mispronounces "guacamole" the same way Zapp does in "The Problem with Popplers".
• Credits Gag: The end credits music is the cast singing Black Flag's "TV Party," but the last lines has the cast screaming titles of the shows seen throughout the series.
  Cubert: All My Circuits!
  Dwight: Everybody Loves Hypnotoad!
  Amy: Scary Door!
  Leela: Blernsday Night Blernsball!
  Bender: Futurama!
• Do Not Do This Cool Thing: In-universe. After Dwight, Cubert, and Tinny Tim decide to rob Bender, Dwight says, "TV gave us the idea." It then cuts to the Futurama title card and Bender's voice over saying: "You're watching Futurama, the show that does not advocate the cool crime of robbery."
• Do Not Try This at Home: During one episode of All My Circuits, Bender lights himself on fire and tells the kids at home to try doing it. At the same time a disclaimer appears across the bottom of the screen telling them not to try this at home.
• Easy Amnesia: Practically rampant on All My Circuits.
  Calculon: Let Me Get This Straight.... Does anyone here not have amnesia?
• Executive Meddling: In-universe: Calculon was ready to fire Bender after one take, but the network execubots insisted he stay on because Bender's filthy antics increased ratings.
• Faux Fluency: Bender's "flawless" Spanish accent.
  Bender: I will see adeeos, Padre. Come, Jesoos, my faithful chee-hua-hua. Tonight we eat some gee-oo-ack-a-mole by del ree-o.
• Finger-Snap Lighter: Bender does this in the cottage scene of the show.
• Foreshadowing: The Donbot being part of the F.A.R.T. group hints at a later episode which reveals that Donbot has at least two daughters.
• From Bad to Worse: As Calculon and the Director observe Bender's footage in the editing room, it's interrupted by different footage:
  Calculon: (while watching footage of Bender whistling nonchalantly as he empties a chest of drawers) I don't even remember shooting this scene...
  Director: We didn't. That's security camera footage from your dressing room.
  Calculon: He stole the scene and my money?! That's it! I demand you fire this felonious ham!
• Fun with Acronyms: The Anti-Bender group is called "Fathers Against Rude Television".
• His Name Is...: The original actor kid breaks down while trying to deliver his lines.
• Hypocritical Humor: Bender has no problem with people imitating his television antics, until Cubert and Dwight steal his stuff while doing so. Likewise, Prof. Farnsworth resorts to violence to stop Bender, inspired by something Bender did on television.
  • Calculon, too.
    Calculon: That was so terrible, I think you gave me cancer! I don't care how popular you are; you will never work on my show!
    Fry: Yay, Bender!
    Leela: We demand Bender!
    Calculon: However, you've got the job.
• I Resemble That Remark!: Bender finds the notion that he's a terrible role model to be wrong... while spinning two scissors right next to Zoidberg.
• Informed Attribute: Played for Laughs. In his audition, Bender claims to be able to speak in a flawless Spanish accent, then proceeds to mispronounce literally every word in the script.
• Incendiary Exponent: At one point, Bender suggests his character to be on fire.
• Insane Troll Logic: During the auditions, Calculon believes Bender is the studio audience, despite the woman he's with trying to point out they're not in a studio.
• Misplaced Accent: Subverted In-Universe, Bender hopes Antonio will now have a British accent after the director said he re-wrote his part to better suit his acting abilities. Then the director reveals Antonio is in a coma, much to Bender's chagrin.
• Large Ham: Bender outhams Calculon here.
• Literal-Minded:
  Cubert: Hey, dad, bite my shiny metal ass!
  Farnsworth: What?! Such an act would be most uncomfortable for both of us!
• Look Behind You: Bender gets the Network President to turn away by pointing in the other direction and announcing "hey, look, the prop guy has a lamp!"
• Pandering to the Base: In-universe. What the producers do to All My Circuits.
• Playing a Tree: Bender's role is rewritten to fit his talents - his character is now in a coma. And he can't even manage that.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: In-Universe. After Antonio's original actor malfunctions, Bender replaces him and keeps breaking the script. Since Calculon refuses to do multiple takes, the writers have to work Bender's antics into the show.
• Reckless Gun Usage: Bender wielding and shooting Farnsworth's gun at the studio.
• Record Needle Scratch: Can be heard when the adults crash the kids party.
• Running Gag: Hypnotoad.
• Saw It in a Movie Once: During the climactic confrontation at the Hollywood studio, Farnsworth pulls out his gun, remarking that he saw it work on TV.
• Seasonal Rot: In-universe: Fry claims that Everybody Loves Hypnotoad has been going downhill since season three. How a still shot of the Hypnotoad staring at the camera can decline in quality is anyone's guess ^note though that could be because Fry was born without a delta brainwave which makes him impervious to brainwashing or any kind of mind control and not because of the show's quality or lack thereof.
• Shout-Out:
  • One of the mother robots at the All My Circuits audition sees several loose wires inside her son's chassis, rips them out and begins beating him with them in a full-tilt rage, screaming "NO! MORE! HANGING! WIRES!!."
  • One of the child actors auditioning is Macaulay Cul-con, who, according to Leela, hasn't been cute since he got puberty installed. He even does the Home Alone scream when he gets rejected from his audition.
  • There's a poster for "Planet of the Clams" hanging in the studio's waiting room". Also a Call-Back, as it was the film Zoidberg wanted to watch back in the season two episode "Raging Bender".
• Speaks in Shout-Outs: One of the network execubots speaks only in Character Catchphrases.
• Spexico: In-universe, Bender describes his "flawless" accent as Spanish, even though the character he is playing is Mexican.
• Spoof Aesop: "Have you ever tried simply turning off the TV, sitting down with your children, ... and hitting them?
• Strange Minds Think Alike: Bender wasn't the only adult robot to turn up for their audition. A pair of Former Child Star robots (one who once robbed a convenience store and one who became a convenience store) also make appearances.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial:
  Farnsworth: The ruffians (Dwight) smoked one of your cigars.
  Hermes: That's not a cigar. Uh... and it's not mine.
• Take That!: After Hermes and Professor start protesting All My Circuits:
  Leela: Kids don't turn rotten just by watching TV.
  Fry: Yeah. Give a little credit to our public schools.
• Thing-O-Meter: Farnsworth's Cool-O-Meter, which measures the level of "cool" in any area.
• Third-Person Person: Bender lapses into this after getting mad that his stuff had been stolen because of kids imitating his actions on TV:
  Bender: Bender must be stopped! I've gone too far! Who does that guy think I am?!
• Throw It In!: Happens in-universe with Bender's off script shtick.
• Title Drop: Funnily enough, the episode's title is spoken by Bender himself after he realizes that Cubert, Dwight and Tinny Tim stole his stuff:
  Bender: What? What's going on?
  Farnsworth: I'll tell you what. Our boys have taken up stealing! One of the worst and coolest of crimes.
  Hermes: And all from watching you on TV, you cool jerk.
  Bender: Hey, lay off me. TV would stink if everyone on it was a positive role model. Bender is about entertainment, baby! You can't hold me responsible for what kids do when— Hey! This is my stuff they stole! That's the last straw! Bender should not be allowed on television!
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Happens when Dwight attempts to smoke what looks like a cigar while imitating Bender.
• We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: The original Antonio malfunctioning during broadcast is cut off by a card reading "Oops! Broken Actor!" alongside an image of damaged robot with smoke coming from its neck.
• Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: Fry wonders what kind of losers would start a protest group against Bender. The Professor then announces that he and Hermes have started a protest group against Bender.
  Zoidberg: That was uncanny!

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