Can a show that’s hung around for 14 years — during which it’s been nominated for the animated-program Emmy seven times and won twice — be underappreciated? Did you know that “Futurama” is starting its last batch of episodes on Wednesday night? Case closed.

Matt Groening’s blackhearted but good-spirited science-fiction spoof, created in 1999 to capitalize on the success of “The Simpsons,” started strong (19 million viewers!). Then it faded as Mr. Groening and Fox feuded over content, and the show was taken from the Sunday animation block and sent to Tuesdays. Fox dropped it after four seasons, but its popularity in reruns and on DVD led to its revival in 2008 by Comedy Central. Now canceled for a second time, it will spool out its last 13 episodes this summer, leading to an assuredly nonsentimental finale on Sept. 4.

It isn’t fair that “Futurama,” which follows the misadventures of the hapless multispecies crew at the 31st-century delivery outfit Planet Express, gets less attention than any number of inferior animated series or live-action sitcoms, and the show’s treatment by Fox is partly to blame. But some of its problems have been self-generated.