Futurama: 10 Things It Did Better Than The Simpsons
6. The Irony... Oh God, The Irony!
One of the underlying themes spread across the entire series of Futurama was irony. Just about everything that was presented wasn't what it truly was, or, as Bender sang it in The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings, "The use of words expressing something other than their literal intention... now that... is... irony."
Bender is probably the best example of irony personified in the series. Often, he is referred to as a cold, mechanical robot — devoid of emotions and entirely un-empathetic to his friends and the people around him.
Despite his nature, he is a loving and caring friend who bawls like a baby when he is sad, freaks out screaming about doom whenever he is scared, got addicted to electricity, and has the biggest ego a character could possibly have in the history of fiction.
Other characters are equally ironic throughout the show while some are exactly what they appear. When it comes to The Simpsons and irony, it's certainly an aspect of the series, but it isn't done to the same level as Futurama, which masterfully used the concept throughout the series.