He changed his middle initial around the time Futurama debuted due to Writers' Guild policies prohibiting more than one member from having the same name.

[1] Both of his parents were biologists, and growing up Cohen had always planned to be a scientist, though he also enjoyed drawing cartoons and writing.

In high school, Cohen wrote in MOS 6502 assembly language, an Apple II compiler, and video game, and unsuccessfully tried to publish the latter through Broderbund.

[7] After three years of graduate school, Cohen took a leave of absence and started writing sample TV scripts.

Cohen served as head writer, executive producer, co-showrunner, and voice director of the series.

In a situation similar to the animated Family Guy, however, strong DVD sales and very stable ratings on Comedy Central brought Futurama back to life.

When Comedy Central began negotiating for the rights to air Futurama reruns, Fox suggested that there was a possibility of also creating new episodes.

When Comedy Central committed to sixteen new episodes, it was decided that four straight-to-DVD films—Bender's Big Score (2007), The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008), Bender's Game (2008) and Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009)—would be produced.

However, Groening had expressed a desire to continue the Futurama franchise in some form, including as a theatrical film.

"[21] Two episodes were in the process of being voice-recorded at that time, with an additional "six scripts ... in the works, ranging in scale from 'it's a crazy idea that someone's grandmother thought of' to 'it's all on paper'.

[citation needed] He makes some brief cameo appearances in cartoon form, first in the Futurama episode "A Bicyclops Built for Two", along with several other people who worked on the show, and second on "I Dated a Robot" as a member of the eBay audience.