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Joined: Jun 01 2006 Posts: 70

"Futurama" Pulls a "Family Guy"

By Gina Serpe
Fri Jun 23, 10:59 AM ET

Comedy Central is going back to the Futurama.

Three years after the show last aired on prime time, the cable net has signed a deal to resurrect the former Fox animated series for a minimum 13-episode run.

Comedy Central will start airing the new shows in 2008.

"We are thrilled that Matt Groening and 20th Century Fox Television have decided to produce new episodes of Futurama and that Comedy Central will be the first to air them," said David Bernath, the cable net's senior VP.

The new episode order is part of a larger deal Comedy Central made with the production company last year, when they bought the syndicated rights to Futurama's 72-episode library.

"There is a deep and passionate fan base for this intelligent and very funny show that matches perfectly with our audience, and it is great that we can offer them not just the existing library but something they've never seen as well," Bernath told the Hollywood Reporter.

The offbeat show was the brainchild of The Simpsons mastermind Groening and writer David X. Cohen and debuted on Fox in March 1999. The series revolved around Fry, a pizza delivery boy who is accidentally frozen for a thousand years. When he wakes up in the year 3000, he befriends a sassy one-eyed pilot, Leela, and a cranky robot, Bender, who both work for an intergalactic delivery service run by a distant nephew of Fry's.

In August 2003, after five seasons and three Emmys, including the 2002 award for Best Animated Series, Futurama was canceled due to low ratings.

Reruns of the show, however, were picked up by Cartoon Network, and just like cable home did with Family Guy before it, the move paved the way for a Futurama revival.

Both shows aired on the Cartoon Network and quickly built up unexpectedly robust ratings.

In 2004, Stewie & Co. were resuscitated by to Fox thanks to staggering DVD sales--the show ranks as the fourth-biggest TV series seller ever--and its proliferation in reruns.

In January of this year, 20th Century Fox began talks with Comedy Central to revive the long-gone Futurama as well, thanks to its resurgence in popularity courtesy of its second life in reruns and high--though not Family Guy high--DVD sales.

The cable net has already re-signed voice stars Billy West,
Katey Sagal and John DiMaggio to reprise their animated roles.

In the meantime, new Futurama plots can already be had in comic book form, with Groening's Bongo Comics releasing the stories.

Joined: Apr 14 2006 Location: Lake Michigan Posts: 3332

Yep, great news. I just wish the episodes were going to be on Adult Swim. I guess they didn't have the money for it.

Joined: Feb 24 2006 Posts: 2578

Cattivo wrote:

Yep, great news. I just wish the episodes were going to be on Adult Swim. I guess they didn't have the money for it.

They blew it all on Saved by the Bell.

Joined: Jun 01 2006 Posts: 70

DarkMaze wrote:

Cattivo wrote:

Yep, great news. I just wish the episodes were going to be on Adult Swim. I guess they didn't have the money for it.

They blew it all on Saved by the Bell.

Don't forget Pee Wee's Playhouse.

Posted: Jun 23 2006 05:25 pm

*is still holding out hope The Critic will be revived*

Joined: Jun 01 2006 Posts: 70

Syd, did you ever see the webisodes, I don't have the direct link to the episodes but they're on cybernetjump.com, there are 10 of them. For the futurama fans, here a clip of Al Gore and Bender http://youtube.com/watch?v=5BjrOi4vF24

Posted: Jun 23 2006 05:35 pm

Yes, I have seen them. They were on Shockwave.com at one point and they're on the Critic DVD set.

Al Gore is a Level 8 Vice President.

Posted: Jun 23 2006 05:38 pm

Syd Lexia wrote:

*is still holding out hope The Critic will be revived*

Tebor's theory on the Critic: The World Trade Center Towers were iconic images for the Critic both on the show and the webshow. The last episode of The Critic produced was on the web, which focused on the release of Pearl Harbor before 9/11. Stands to reason Jay Sherman was killed in the 9/11 attacks and why we haven't seen him in five years.

Posted: Jun 23 2006 07:23 pm

Actually you can still catch like 2 hour blocks of The Critic on Comedy Central's "Why the hell haven't you passed out yet?" hours heh.

In regards to ressurecting Futurama, I'm glad it's going to be on Comedy Central and not FOX (which would likely die off because not everyone would be willing to sit through an assanine sitcom with maybe two decent jokes to fill its 22 minutes of script--I'm looking at you War at Home).

Is it me or does FOX just not have a clue as to when and how they should show their animation? Granted, I don't care that much for American Dad (I give it two more seasons, tops), but it almost seems like the guys in charge of Sunday evening programming just got drunk and threw darts.

Posted: Jun 23 2006 07:58 pm

Syd Lexia wrote:

*is still holding out hope The Critic will be revived*

Like lordsathien said, isn't it still around on CC? I've definitely seen it there, but I don't know if it's still around.

I'm glad Futurama is making a comeback, it was weird, but it was a pretty funny and good show sometimes.

I know you may think this is strange, but I wish the Dilbert series would come back. It's not over-the-top funny, but it has its moments. It's much like an animated Office Space.

Posted: Jun 23 2006 08:09 pm

rj815 wrote:

Like lordsathien said, isn't it still around on CC? I've definitely seen it there, but I don't know if it's still around.

I know you may think this is strange, but I wish the Dilbert series would come back. It's not over-the-top funny, but it has its moments. It's much like an animated Office Space.

I think Syd meant new episodes of The Critic. CC still airs the old episodes (available on DVD Wink

)

I was a fan of the Dilbert show, but it was hardly the animated "Office Space" I wish it was. Mutants, Bob Bastards, and Stephen Hawking aside the show was still mighty weird, grounded in fantasy rather than humor in the real workplace. Occassionally, you had moments of it on the show though. My favorite being: The name is the last thing you do (developing a product)! (Dilbert also available on DVD. At Amazon, you could usually buy the two shows together and save $10.)

Joined: Apr 24 2006 Posts: 292

Old news

Joined: Feb 24 2006 Posts: 2578

Man, I'd love to see more episodes of The Critic. I wish that was even a remote possibility.

As for Dilbert, I definitely agree it was grounded more in fantasy than office humor. Probably the best example of that is the absolutely-on-crack season/series finale, which managed to be almost -- but not quite -- entirely unlike Dilbert. Not to say it wasn't a highly enjoyable series, though.

Posted: Jun 23 2006 11:04 pm

The part of Futurama coming back is that we will now be able to see more Zapp Brannigan. He's one of my favorite cartoon characters ever!

Posted: Jun 23 2006 11:21 pm

"When I'm in command, EVERY mission is a suicide mission!"

Posted: Jun 24 2006 10:14 am

Oh, and I said an animated Office Space because it was the only Office humor thing I could think of besides Dilbert. In any case, I wholeheartedly agree it was kind of insane and filled with fantasy. It was still enjoyable though.

Posted: Jun 24 2006 01:35 pm

I just hope they don't try to make Futurama more "edgy" or "hip" or "over the top" like Spike did when they brought back Ren & Stimpy.

Posted: Jun 24 2006 03:16 pm

Black Zarak wrote:

I just hope they don't try to make Futurama more "edgy" or "hip" or "over the top" like Spike did when they brought back Ren & Stimpy.

Speaking of which, that show was absolute garbage. I'm glad it was cancelled almost instantly. In fact, I do think after their first (or second, don't remember how many) episodes, they were never aired again.

I think CC should do a good job with Futurama, they try to show the best of their shows. For instance, they only show the old MadTV reruns with people who where actually funny some of the time. All the new ones on Fox are pretty much crap minus a handful of good scenes.