YMMV / Futurama S 2 E 16 Anthology Of Interest I

• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The first act features Zoidberg destroying a building similar to the real life One Chase Manhattan Plaza ("Deny my credit card application, will you?") and Bender getting impaled on the Empire State Building, leaving Manhattan like a war zone. The military tried to stop the destruction, to no avail. Despite being a parody of monster movies, there is a little bit of a cringe factor after the 9/11 attacks brought three skyscrapers down (The Twin Towers and 7 World Trade Center), and put the United States Air Force in the air above Manhattan. (Making the scene more awkward, in real life, One Chase Manhattan Plaza is currently located mere blocks from the World Trade Center Complex/Site: the episode puts it across from the Apollo Theatre.)
  • Bender fills up Shea Stadium with water to boil Zoidberg. The parking lot sign reads "Home of the 1969 and 1986 World Series Champions"; obviously a jab at the weaker performance of the occupants, the New York Mets. Later in 2000, the Yankees (the more successful crosstown rivals of the Mets, for those unaware) won the World Series IN Shea. The Mets never saw another World Series at Shea again. (In fact, the last two seasons at Shea ended with the Mets eliminated from playoff contention on the very last day of the regular season.) Arguably more hilarious to fans of the team's fiercest rivals (the Yankees, for one), but still eerie for Mets fans.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The conceit of the first of the "Tales of Interest" is Bender being giant. A giant Bender (made of many smaller Benders) would later feature as part of another episode.
  • Leela switches the lights off to murder people in the parlour in the second segment. 11 years later, Devil would use a similar premise.
  • Stephen Hawking in a pizzeria is cited as the Professor’s reason for Fry’s segment being ridiculous. 5 years later, an episode of The Simpsons has Hawking buying a pizzeria as a hand wave for his presence.
• Nausea Fuel: That noisemaker that Fry blows on? He says he found it in a toilet bowl.