At Planet Express, Farnsworth realizes that sometimes you just need to turn off the TV for a while. However, after browsing through channels and finding nothing good on, they continue to watch when they stop on "Everybody Loves Hypnotoad". In its initial airing, the episode received a Nielsen rating of 2.7/6, placing it 79th among primetime shows for the week of July 28 – August 3, 2003. "The A.V. Club"s Zack Handlen gave the episode a B, writing: "There’s some satirical bite in the idea that Bender’s random jackassery would be such an immediate hit, but it’s not really explored. It really only exists so Dwight and Cubert can be inspired to steal Bender’s stuff, which in turn inspires him to join the group (Fathers Against Rude Television) to protest himself. Which has a certain appealing surrealness to it, but nothing in this episode lasts long enough for it to register. Yes, it would’ve been more predictable if we’d spent more time building up Dwight and Cubert, or if Bender had really gotten invested in his television career, but sometimes predictability isn’t a bad thing. The structures that "Futurama" spends so much time skewering serve a purpose, and while the show doesn’t need to adhere to them unironically, if it’s going to spend so much time tearing them down, it ought to have something to erect in their place."