Who knows what the 'Futurama' could bring?

You may have not seen the Seinfeld pilot, originally titled The Seinfeld Chronicles. There was no Elaine, Jerry's apartment was a penthouse, and Michael Richards' character was named Hoffman. Freshmen won't remember the first Cheers, which had no Woody, no Frasier, and a skinny Norm. And any Simpsons fan knows the first season was an adjustment period for the writers and animators.

But now and again a show like FOX's new Simpsons-style animated series Futurama , which aired its first episode this week, surfaces: big budget, pretty good writing, fairly original idea. So it's not a laugh-factory right away. Neither was Hoffman.

Not that every show that comes on the air deserves the benefit of the doubt. With the departure of Seinfeld, staple television has been gasping for air, and network doofuses have been crowding the airwaves with second-rate sitcoms and bellow dramas, most of which aren't worth the three calories it takes to press the "off" button on the remote.

No, the reason we should give Futurama a chance is the simple fact that the show made it this far. All fledgling shows have to deal with making a big impression quickly enough to avoid the ax, but how many have to fight their way from under the shadow of the longest-running show on television, let alone the most popular animated cartoon in history? The Simpsons has been around so long that we're usually willing to forgive a 10-episode slump. That's precisely because we know a good one's on its way, and when it does, it'll be damn good.

But Futurama will get no benefit of the doubt from an audience expecting to see a show that's on par with The Simpsons. Folks, Springfield wasn't built in a season. Elements of a long-running show, like character history and nuance, pervasive theme and self-reflexive humor, are unavailable to a premiere. Homer's "D'oh!" is funny because it was funny last time. Bender the Robot (who?) has no such luxury.

But Futurama definitely has potential. How could it not with a plot like this: Fry (voiced by Billy West), a pizza delivery boy, gets teleported via cryogenics to the year 2999. He is immediately processed for job placement (by DNA analysis), and the government computers determine he would function to societal optimum as--a delivery boy. Dreading the prospect of being labeled for life as a lowly jalopy jockey (and in this future, refusal to submit equals death), he attempts to escape this fate, pursued by a sexy one-eyed alien operative named Leela.

Unfortunately, Leela's voice is that of Katey Sagal, Peg in Married with Children. No matter how hard you try, it's impossible to get Peg's big red beehived head of out your mind. Maybe they could have gotten Jennifer Grey to do the part instead. The final character is the aforementioned Bender (voiced by John DiMaggio), an alcoholic, filthy-mouthed robot who was built to bend girders in half, but wants to quit.

After a few zany adventures--including a visit to a New Year's Eve celebration for the year 3000 hosted by Dick Clark's head in a jar--they eventually wind up in a confrontation with Leela and manage to convince her to join them in their quest to legitimize unemployment. By the end of the show, the group somehow gains command of an intergalactic spaceship and obtains a lucrative deal as cargo transporters, setting the stage for future episodes.

Creator Matt Groening managed to get the Futurama premiere into the time slot following The Simpsons, his other brainchild, and it looks to have paid off. Futurama was among the highest-rated shows this week in several age groups, surpassing FOX's expectations for the pilot. The show will air once more on Sunday, then fall into its regular slot on Tuesdays, alongside the sputtering King of the Hill--a classic example of a show that runs for a season, then gets tired and disappears.

Futurama just might be able to make it past the honeymoon if it lives up to Groening's standards. Though it isn't quite there yet, at least it's like, you know, not a piece of crap.

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