What You Didn't Notice In The Hall Of Presidents In Futurama

One of the earliest running jokes that "Futurama" introduces is the Head Museum, a building in the heart of New New York containing the severed heads of history's most famous individuals, each kept alive in some sort of futuristic pickle jar. The building makes an appearance in the series' very first episode, where Fry has interactions with the heads of both Leonard Nimoy and Richard Nixon. Nixon's head, as "Futurama" fans know, goes on to become the president of Earth later on in the series. However, he isn't the only dead president head that we meet along the way. The Head Museum has an entire wing dedicated to our former Heads of State called "The Hall of Presidents," where everyone from George Washington to George Bush hangs out and remembers when they weren't just a bunch of zombie brains in jars.

This has opened the door to several other gags throughout the series, like "The Hall of Presidential Losers," a broom closet stuffed with the heads of every politician who failed to get elected. However, there is one other minor joke in the Hall of Presidents that viewers are likely not to notice.

During those crucial scenes in the Hall of Presidents, eagle eyed "Futurama" fans may have noticed something odd about the shelved heads in the background. For some strange reason, there are two instances of President Grover Cleveland. Even more odd is the fact that the two Clevelands aren't even next to each other. Of course, it could be a mistake, but given that TV animators can spend hours on a single scene, and would have probably caught something like that, this seems unlikely, especially since it happens in two different episodes ("Space Pilot 3000" and "All the Presidents' Heads").

The truth is that this is a small visual gag for all the history nerds out there. It is a reference to the fact that Grover Cleveland is (so far) the only president in United States history to serve two non-consecutive terms. Evidently, serving in this manner earns you two immortal heads in the world of "Futurama." According to the official White House website, Cleveland is both the country's 22nd and 24th President, serving one term in 1885 and another in 1893 after Benjamin Harrison beat him in the election of 1889.

That isn't the only minor history joke "Futurama" has hidden away. The series is chocked full of background references to all sorts of subjects, from pop culture to math and science. As far as presidential easter eggs go, however, that might just be the series' best one.