the space cats, Amy and Nibbler watch helplessly as the device stops the Earth. Katz transfers the stored rotational energy to Thuban 9 and departs, leaving the Earth in disarray and freeing the crew from their hypnosis. Earth begins burning on its sun-exposed face while the opposite face freezes. The crew attempt to reverse the machine and restore Earth's rotation, but find it can only turn in one direction. Lamenting that her invention doomed Earth, Amy realizes that by continuing to turn it, they can restart the Earth's rotation, albeit in the opposite direction. The plan works and the machine reclaims Earth's rotational energy from Thuban 9, now spinning in the opposite direction. In recognition of her achievement, Amy receives her doctorate, now "Doctor Wong". She remains with Planet Express because the job market is poor while Nibbler reconciles with Leela, appreciating that she cares for him. Production The episode was written by The Simpsons veteran Josh Weinstein and directed by Frank Marino. Weinstein had previously worked as a show runner for The Simpsons along with his writing partner Bill Oakley during seasons seven and eight. "That Darn Katz!" marks the first episode written by Weinstein, who had previously served as a consulting producer for Futurama since 2001. Cultural references The episode largely references the Lolcat phenomenon, imitating posters and phrases such as "I Can Has Cheezburger?". Broadcast and reception "That Darn Katz!" originally aired on August 5, 2010 on Comedy Central and was viewed by an estimated 1.950 million viewers receiving a 1.3 rating/2% share in the Nielsen ratings and 1.0 rating/3% share in the 18-49 demographic, going down slightly from the previous week's episode. The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club enjoyed the episode, rating it an A−, stating that the jokes were strong throughout the episode. Handlen felt the episode was "a return to pure wackiness" and found it a nice change of pace from the more emotional issues of the season. He particularly praised the season's continuation of unlikely pair-ups in Nibbler and Amy, feeling that both received good character development from the episode. Danny Gallagher of TV Squad gave the episode a positive review, also praising the focus on Amy away from her relationship with Kif and the exploration of Nibbler's relationship with Leela. Alex Zalben of UGO.com likewise enjoyed the use of both characters, feeling that "it