“(The robot mafia) commit a violent crime and Bender witnesses it. And he is going to testify in court, but in order to do that, he’ll have to go into witness protection,” Rogers said. “That’s the very simple idea.”
Rogers began working on “Futurama” in 1998. After the third season, he went to write for “NYPD Blue,” but returned to “Futurama” as a full-time staff writer when the show was picked up by Comedy Central in 2009. Thursday’s episode is Rogers’ first solo-credit story, though he co-wrote another episode in season two. He’s also been writing “Futurama” comic books since the series was conceived by “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening.
“Because I’ve been writing the comic books for over 10 years now, I’m always thinking of “Futurama” ideas and writing them down on Post-its,” said Rogers, who graduated from Miami in 1995.
The ideas are usually just a few sentences long, Rogers said, like main character Fry realizing there’s a tiny alien civilization living on his toenail.
“Just really goofy, short ideas like that,” he said. “They start somewhere simple and they end up somewhere zany, and that’s what makes it so fun to be on the show.”
In the case of his new episode, Rogers said Bender witnessing a mafia crime may seem dramatic on the surface, but the story includes a grand robot wedding, an elaborate scene in court and the alcoholic robot working as a moon farmer in his new secret life.
“There’s a lot of stuff that we mined some crazy comedy out of,” he said. “I don’t think you have to be a die-hard ‘Futurama’ fan to watch it and enjoy it.”
Though Rogers has seen his episode a few times, he’s still excited for the TV premiere.
“There’s no way to be nonchalant about it. It’s still a thrill to hear your jokes and see your hard work pay off,” he said.
Rogers’ mother, Lana Benton, who lives in the area, said she’ll be tuned in for his new episode.
“This is a huge step for him,” she said.
Getting to this point wasn’t easy, she said.
“It was scary and he did a lot of various jobs working his way up,” Benton said. “It’s been a challenge for him. It had its up and downs.”
Rogers credits his family, friends and former teachers at Miami and Edgewood for his success.
“It’s people like that, they’re the reason I was able to have the confidence to even come out here and do this,” he said. “I try to keep that in mind often, and remember where I’m from and take a lot of pride in the fact that I was able to come from a small town and come out here and succeed, to the small degree I have so far.
“It took a lot of hard work,” he said. “When you want a career like this, you can’t really give up on it.”
“And I hope I represent the area well. I always try to figure out if there is some way I can get an Ohio joke in here,” he said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 523-4139 or mengle@coxohio.com.
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