Futurama Season 4 Update from David X. Cohen

Robotron2084 writes "Just goes to show that the best animated tv show around has some of the savviest producers around. Futurama producer/co-writer David X. Cohen posted this message on alt.tv.futurama recently. Interesting tidbits for futurama addicts to munch on while we await the season premiere on Dec. 9th. David talks about the prestigious awards they've received, upcoming guest appearances, and the banned christmas episode. I guess the fox executives were a bit scared of 'kwanzabot' at first, but they'll finally be airing a double-Xmas dose on Dec. 23rd!!"

Comments

Re:I like the show

[alexmogil]

I'll hate to see the absolute thrashing you'll get for this comment, but by God, you're right. How many times to we need to see that certain Anime DVD titles *might* come out on DVD, yet... where's the Simpsons Season 1 DVD review? Not that the review would be terribly *good* mind you.

Decoding the Alien Alphabets

[hyyx]

I welcome anything new from Matt Groening. The Simpsons is still the ultimate classic, despite its similarities with CmdrTaco.

I am still missing the discussions of the decoding the alien alphabets at The Futurama Outlet (content has been down for some time). Does anyone know of any other forums where this is being discussed? Is anyone even following me here?

Re:Decoding the Alien Alphabets

[Zocalo]

You could try the revamped Cant Get Enough Futurama site at http://www.gotfuturama.com. They have pretty much the entire old CGEF site back on-line now, including the Alien Language codecs - it's in the "Interactive" menu section.

Bad timing

[ajuda]

I think that December 9th is a bad time to air the premier. The popularity of Futurama probably rests highest amongst the college crowds... Won't they all be too busy with finals and papers to notice and remember that Futurama is on?

Re:Bad timing

[petree]

Although you might think that the primary audience for Futurama is college students, I would tend to disagree. Most college students I know watch television, but they rarely watch it with the kind of consistancy you look for in a target group for a once-a-week show. If I only have a 30minute window in which to catch a show, and that window happens to fall sometime when I would likely to be out (8-10ish) I very likely won't catch the show.

Shows that are truly geared towards college students (Southpark for example) would be aired many times a week, at normal (10pm) an strange (12 and 2:30) timeslots. This is a tactic that I haven't seen show up elsewhere too much in the TV world. Finally, I feel like a network is working it's schedule around me, rather than vice-versa.

Re:Bad timing

[Trepidity]

Most college students I know just download the episodes and watch them whenever they want. There's one guy on campus here with a TV capture card who regularly records some of the more popular shows, so everyone knows where to get them off the local network...

Re:Bad timing

[uslinux.net]

I'd have to vehemontly disagree, here. When I was in college (about 3 years ago), EVERYONE would stop what they were doing to sit around the TV to watch the Simpsons. Furutama didn't attract as many people (probably because its more techy/sci-fi oriented), but it had the same effect. I think both shows particularly attract the 18-24 crowd.

Re:Bad timing

[rnturn]

``When I was in college (about 3 years ago), EVERYONE would stop what they were doing to sit around the TV to watch the Simpsons.''

I'm sure that if I were in college now, Futurama would be the sort of show that we'd take breaks for. When I was in college the show was Monty Python. If the TV in the normal viewing location wasn't working, there would actually be roving bands of us knocking on the doors of dorm rooms that we knew had TVs and commandeering their room to watch the show. We made a lot of converts, too.

And it's not just for college-age folks. I suspect that mainly us old farts would get the humor in something like `Bachelor Chow' and dog food (``Makes it's own gravy!'' [cringe]). I have to explain some of the humor to my daughters because they're way too young to remember those ancient commercials, shows, etc., that Matt G. is poking fun at. I like taping the show so you can slow it down to see the jokes in the signs and billboards that you otherwise miss.

Glad to see that it's still in production. The Fox affiliate in Chicago has the annoying habit of pre-empting the show for just about anything.

Futurama is rising, Simspsons is declining

[mcarbone]

perhaps it should watch an episode or two of _The Simpsons_

Not if you watch an episode or two from the last few seasons. I think it is pretty clear to all Simpsons fans that the last 3 or 4 seasons of The Simpsons show signs of aging. Compared to these recent seasons, Futurama is a far superior and funnier show. However, Futurama still does not surpass Simpsons during its height; i.e., seasons 4, 5, and 6 (maybe 3).

Then again, Futurama's very first season was about as funny as an above-average Simpsons season. So if it has a season 4 comparable to the Simpsons' season 4, we're in for a real treat.

Re:Futurama is rising, Simspsons is declining

[Corporate Troll]

Ratings have nothing to do with the quality of a show, it is all about the popularity of the show. The Simpsons are popular, mainly because of the quality of the earlier shows, and I suppose many people are like me: they watch the Simpsons because they used to be good, and you hope that a good episode will come along. Of course I am really disappointed every time I watch and I don't even know if we are watching the latest season here (Europe is always at least one season behind)

Someone in this thread mentioned X-Files being bad and being milked, but I actually like the new character which took the place of Scully's partner (I forget the new one's name all the time). It brings some fresh air in the series (which was dying, really). Of course this is personal meaning

Re:Futurama is rising, Simspsons is declining

[Talanvor]

"So who knows how long Simpsons will continue. "

Until the show becomes unprofitable - Troy Maclure.

Re:Futurama is rising, Simspsons is declining

[uslinux.net]

I think it is pretty clear to all Simpsons fans that the last 3 or 4 seasons of The Simpsons show signs of aging.

I'd have to say that there are one or two episodes each season that I don't find funny (the recent one where Moe changes his bar to a post-modern bar is one that comes to mind), but I still think the Simpsons is as funny (or funnier) than when it started. The writing has changed somewhat, since they hire a new writer every few seasons (anyone remember 89-91 when Conan O'Brian used to write for them?)

What I'm surprised about is that Futurama has lasted so long. Don't get me wrong, I love the show, but it targets a smaller audience - namely, the technology/sci-fi savvy. The Simpsons has survived so long because the show targets a wider audience. As kids, we found it funny because we could relate to Bart. As we've grown up, he show has changed its focus to Homer, and now that we've all got jobs, we can better relate to him. After all, Homer is a big slob who's family doesn't respect him, he hates his job, and loves beer. My parents (who are almost 50) watch the Simpsons and find it just as funny as I do, but I don't think they feel the same about Futurama.

Of course, the crappy timeslot Fox had it running in last season didn't help either. What genius schedules a show for 7pm, expecting a football game to end on time, and then comes in to the show IN THE MIDDLE of the NEW episode. Fscking genius scheduling.

Sure, they'll be studying

[barzok]

But most mortals take study breaks. You can't do everything in one marathon session.

Clever Nick Name, where are you?

[John Harrison]

in an episode that will likely be our season finale in May, all of the following: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, Walter Koenig, and Nichelle Nichols

Wil,

Maybe you should sign up for this. I am sure that you could have lots of fun on Futurama. Besides, it seems that you've been ignored in your quest to be on The Tick, or anything with Bruce Campbell or at least to have your questions answered. It seems that Futurama has a guest star every other week or so, same with The Simpsons so your odds should be good.

Re:Clever Nick Name, where are you?

[Legion303]

Remember Sesame Street? The part where they showed four objects and sang about which one didn't fit?

Moderators: read the parent and this again if you think this is offtopic.

-Legion

Re:Clever Nick Name, where are you?

[John Harrison]

Sorry, should have been less specific. I didn't mean that he should sign up for that particular episode. Though there could be some humour ing being the odd man out.

Yeah right... Re:Bad timing

[PsychoKiller]

Coming from someone who was up at 2:00am watching Ultimate Fighting Championship when his Phys 170 final was at 8:30am last year, I must say that this will be perfect for me to procrastinate.

Thanks Futurama, I'm probably going to fail EECE 356 because of you!

And the show loves all of us.

[fireboy1919]

Offtopic for a moment: perhaps others had trouble logging in so couldn't post, as I couldn't about ten minutes ago, and thats the problem.

Back on track:

I've heard it said that love makes the world go round.
After countless hours of research sitting in front of the TV, I've learned that CARTOONS MAKE THE WORLD GO ROUND. I know because I once saw a cartoon where a bunch of them where actually pushing the earth along its axis. Can you believe it? Love makes the world go round, and so do cartoons. Cartoons must be love. I suppose that means if I behave like a cartoon, I'm showing the love.

'Scuze me. I'm going to go spread the love, Bender style. Has anyone seen my liquor and my mallet?

Let's face it, people...

[Murdock037]

"Futurama" is the best animated show on television today.

Tough to swallow, I know. And this is coming from a guy with over a dozen Simpsons tapes. And I don't think anybody could argue against the fact that The Simpsons is probably the best animated show to ever hit the airwaves-- but even the die-hard fans realize deep down that the show today is a pale imitation of what it once was.

Most of the key creative minds behind the best seasons of The Simpsons-- seasons three to five or six, or so-- have moved on. I've read that even Matt Groening devotes most of his energy these days to Futurama, only keeping a vague guiding hand over his original creation and sitting in on script readings.

Futurama is marvelous. It's clever, consistently fresh, and it's got the spark and bite that The Simpsons has lost. The fact that there was a censored Christmas episode demonstrates a lot-- not that the show is any better for having material worthy of being censored, but simply that the writers are obviously trying to do something different from the norm.

Fox effectively screwed the show when they dumped it to the Sundays-at-7pm slot a few years ago. Most everybody I know who liked the show stopped watching, because it's just an inconvenient time. The ratings are probably abysmal, and Fox probably keeps the show on just to keep Groening happy-- but as long as it's out there somewhere, I'm happy, too. The DVDs should be marvelous.

Let's just hope they don't fall prey to the temptation to overuse celebrity guests like The Simpsons has; at least the Futurama writers tend to use their guests in ways that kinda sorta fit into the story, instead of bland and obvious ass-kissing. With the list that Cohen supplied, at least they're keeping some variety, but it's something worth a little bit of concern.

We all know how reflexive Simpsons fans are, because anybody reading Slashdot either is one or at least knows one. I'm hoping this isn't going to start any sort of flame-war or be seen as pissing on hallowed ground. I'll admit I'm wrong if anybody can describe a Simpsons show from the past three years to me that made them laugh half as hard as the classic, say, Homer Goes to College episode.

Re:Let's face it, people...

[Greyfox]

It's good, but I think Invader Zim has a slight edge, especially for us folks who appreciate those twisted, surreal plot lines. If you haven't checked it out yet, you really should.

Re:Let's face it, people...

[Masem]

I disagree; Futurama's better than the Simpsons currently, but as others pointed out, there's a lot of Simpsons rehashing going on too, and some of the plots are just boring.

IMO, the best animated cartoon as made in the states currently is 'Samurai Jack', on Cartoon Network; it's created by Genny T. of Dexter's Lab and Powerpuff Girls fame, but his focus on this show is on the style and feel, and not the jokes. It is very visual, and the music in the background is very important; neither of the main characters speak much, and dialog is only subsidary to make the visual elements work well. If you haven't caught this yet, definitely set aside time to do so: it's on at least at Mondays at 9pm EST, with repeats on Saturaday and possibly Sunday.

Re:Let's face it, people...

[dinivin]

And I don't think anybody could argue against the fact that The Simpsons is probably the best animated show to ever hit the airwaves-- but even the die-hard fans realize deep down that the show today is a pale imitation of what it once was.

That may be, but it's still one of the two best TV shows currently running (Buffy being the other).

Dinivin

Just thought I would get ready. . .

[Newt-dog]

If you are in anticipation of the kick off of a new season - Here's a place to catch up on the latest gossip and even download a wallpaper for your puter. For those of you into ASCII art, they even have a few pics for you. If you are looking for a few original sketches or cells you might want to look Here.
But if your a real die-hard, you can download a few MPEG episodes Here at around 220 meg per episode (also 56k'er versions available for the bandwidth impaired)
I for one like the snappy comebacks and the semi-adult humor. My personal favorite is Bender drinking and smoking cigars!

Newt-dog

Re:people are also stupid

[Sarcasmooo!]

I don't see what's wrong with friends. Seems to me like it's a modern, wholesome, realistic portrayal of a New York City where people of color are never around in any capacity.

The backside of futurama

[pacc]

What did they send on Futurama's slot
the last three months?

"World" Series Baseball? - That's almost as sad as the choice of Hollywood action movies that are running months at my local cinema, blocking anything worth seeing.

Re:The backside of futurama

[neosnooze]

"'World' Series Baseball? - That's almost as sad as the choice of Hollywood action movies that are running months at my local cinema, blocking anything worth seeing."

This year's world series was the best ever played. With 39 Million viewers tuning in to watch game 7 (http://tv.zap2it.com/news/ratings/networks/011104 network.html, the series blew Titan 'Friends' out of the water. I have been looking through the archives and I don't even see Futurama rounding out the top 20.

Re:The backside of futurama

[Masem]

You also have to blame the football double headers on FOX. Games are scheduled for a 3 hr block of TV time but notoriously go over; FOX has yet to complete it's coverage of a second game (save for last week, they didn't show a second game, opting for the Phantom Menace) by 7pm EST, and typically will bounce to other games they are covering if any are still being played when another game is over. Plus their 'team' has to get in their last words, so not only has Futurama not been seen (save for West Coast), but poor King of the Hill has been pre-empted nearly every week too (and IMO, this show is getting too little respect; it's not laugh a minute, but is very close in the combination of laughter and human emotion that Simpsons had in seasons 1-6.)

Re:The backside of futurama

[phillymjs]

With 39 Million viewers tuning in to watch game 7

Well of course, half of them were Yankee fans hoping to see 'their' team win, and the other half were Yankee-haters, hoping to see the arrogant bastards lose what they think they deserve every year just because they're the New York Fucking Yankees. I fall into the latter category (could you tell?), but I didn't watch Game 7.

What really chapped my ass was how the D'backs weren't even viewed as a match for them, like the Yankees should've been given the World Champions title after winning the ALCS. I distinctly remember one FOX promo's voiceover after the Arizona was leading the series 2-0: "NOW it's a Series!" Like the Yankees threw the first 2 games to make it a challenge for them to win it all. Dicks.

Back on topic, I, too, hated the World Series and continue to hate the football shit disrupting my viewing habits. I have workdays when I *need* to come home and see an hour of The Simpsons to unwind, and nothing inflamed me more than clicking on the TV at 6:30 only to find the stupid fucking World Series pregame show on.

I can only hope that when the time comes to renew these stupid TV contracts to carry sports, FOX gets outbid by someone whose shows I don't give a shit about. Maybe ABC, since they have killed all interest in 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' by giving it Vanilla Ice-level overexposure. One headline The Onion never used: "ABC proposes eight-day week to allow more airings of 'Oprah', 'Millionaire'."

~Philly

Bah!

[Yakman]

That sucks, here in Australia we haven't even had Season 3 shown yet. I've resorted to downloading DivXs from Morpheus to feed my habit. Although I just noticed the next story down from this one is about Kazaa shutting down, I wonder how that will affect Morpheus.

Anyone know if/when 7 plans to show Season 3 here?

Slashdot is powered by Fry and Bender

[scrutty]

Check the http headers

506 $ lynx -source -head http://slashdot.org | grep X-
X-Powered-By: Slash 2.003000
X-Bender: There's nothing wrong with murder, just as long as you let Bender whet his beak.

There's either a X-Fry or an X-Bender with a random quote each page.

Re:Slashdot is powered by Fry and Bender

[scrutty]

use a mod perl handler

in the UK

[squaretorus]

Here in the UK c4 shows Futurama at about 6pm on seemingly random weeknights - and sometimes earlier!

I've probably only seen about 6 episodes ever because of this. I know I could tape it, but I'm not that organised, and anyway, I probably don't care enough to bother!

If it was on later, anywhere between 7:30 and midnight, it would get a bigger audience. Unfortunately, those hours are reserved for chick programming like Allie McBeal, Make over shows, and soaps!

I think it goes out first on Sky or e4 at a better time but because I've got a posh old house I'm not allowed a minidish because I have an evil neighbour who puts in planning objections... bitch! And the Monkey signal is too weak on my street.

I really liked Futurama until...

[Captain Zion]

... I watched the Lucy Liu episode, which has some heavy RIAA-aligned propaganda against P2P file sharing. It was somewhat disturbing to see that in such a cool show.

Re:I really liked Futurama until...

[Ozan]

... I watched the Lucy Liu episode, which has some heavy RIAA-aligned propaganda against P2P file sharing. It was somewhat disturbing to see that in such a cool show

Heh heh, you didn't get the greatest meta-humour the show ever had. Do you remeber the 'Don't date robots!' propaganda when Fry had the idea to download a celebrity? The story of the whole episode is in the same style as the small clip, made up as a propaganda against file sharing. The space-pope-propaganda was obviously overdrawn in its ridiculousness while the whole episode was not. It is just a big, subtle piece of meta-humour, showing that the modern propaganda do not need to be as obviuous as one might think.

"guardians of good taste at the Fox Network"

[sharkey]

Some more sentiments in the same vein:

Military Intelligence
Bureaucratic Efficiency
Microsoft Quality
George W. Bush's Oath of Office

Re:"guardians of good taste at the Fox Network"

[MrFredBloggs]

American culture

Re:"guardians of good taste at the Fox Network"

[sharkey]

Humble America

Re:"guardians of good taste at the Fox Network"

[sharkey]

Irish Sobriety

Thank god!

[BillyGoatThree]

Week after week of homoerotic "sports" were beginning to make me think Futurama wasn't coming back. Unfortunately it won't be THIS Sunday. *sigh*--another Junkyard War rerun it is, I guess. I wish they'd kill off that idiot Tyler and bring back Robert.

Suggestion to Slashdot: Interview with David Cohen

[Masem]

Given that Futurama (and by collarary, the Simpsons) are much watched shows at Slashdot, why not arrange for an interview with him? He's probably much more accessable and net-savvy than Groenig, and as they should be in the final editing process for this season of Futurama, probably has a sufficient amount of free time to do so.

The Family Guy

[superdoo]

I'd have to say that The Family Guy is funnier than the Simpsons or Futurama right now. It is fresher in every way, animation, humour, pop-culture ripping, relentless cynicism. Doesn't anyone else agree?

Re:The Family Guy

[Jaycatt]

I definately agree... I still enjoy the Simpsons, and occasionally they have something completely unexpected (my favorite part of animated shows since that kind of thing is very hard for live action to accomplish). Futurama more so, for the same reason (being set in the future leave open all sorts of possibilities for weirdness). However, Family Guy has surprised me almost every single episode with something like Stewie suddenly breaking into a Broadway dance number or one of the characters carrying on in some sort of odd tirade... Just last night I laughed my head off at Peter being in a small glass enclosed box and struggling for air as he lets one go. Sure, it's just a fart joke, but who would've expected that? I even had to rewind at the end of the episode to watch it again right away.

troll?

[poemofatic]

Moderators be damned I think the Simpsons have just been boring recently. Unfortunately, I don't think Futurama is that funny. Cool and on topic, but not very funny. And I don't like the drawing. Does anyone like the drawing? The Simpsons had a cool frantic dishevelled look to go with the mile a minute jokes and hurried dialogue. Futurama looks well, wierd. Nowadays, if I do watch it, I often start nodding in agreement and end up looking at my watch.

P.S. Anyone with metamod points -- how about starting a "Crusade for Boorish Dignity" -- let's look back over those Linux Rulez! posts to see if they were really that insightful.

Tick tick...

[glowingspleen]

After doing a quick Google search, it sounds like 65 episodes is the generally agreed-upon minimum for weekday syndication.

There have been 72 produced so far, so with any luck we might be getting a daily dose of great animation in a year or two!

Help Save FAMILY GUY!

[glowingspleen]

Guys, it sounds like Family Guy is getting some less than stellar ratings this season (then again, its timeslot sucks). Fox should be making a decision on its future in the next month or two.

Help Save Family Guy is a link I found skimming through Google. They'll print out your comments and mail hard copies to Fox directly.

best TV show, ever.

[geekoid]

Futurerama is THE geek show. secret codes, alien languages, robots, good parody of technology, bitchen spaceships, hot chicks, great animation.

Any show thats had Gary Gygax on it gets an immediate nerd rating. todays generation of geeks and nerds will look back on Futurama like yesterday geek look back on the Original ST.

I love the apartment numbering system in bender and fry's building. Not to mention the robot perspective of the world is pretty damn funny.

Any show with an anti-chrysler building has got to be good.
One of the principle characters is named after the inventor of Television, probably one of the first Technology geeks.
"that was in 2150, just before Jesus second coming" Farnsworth

Re:The Family Guy & Simpsons are mutual ripoff

[Sebastopol]

For example:

1st season family guy: peter griffin goes back to school as a greaser and shreds his hand when he tries to smack a jukebox into operation.

Last week's Simpsons: same thing.

Family Guy a few weeks ago: they husbands go to a lesbian bar and make crude jokes.

Simpsons: Homer searching for a new bar to hang out at stumbles into the She-She lounge, similar.

There are more occurances like this, but my feeble short-term memory can't keep them all inside my head.

It bothers me that the two are ripping each other off, but IMHO The Family Guy is much more crass, which is a good thing.

Woot

[Legion303]

I'm glad "Luck of the Fryrish" was nominated for best writing. I was stunned by the depth and power of that episode, something you don't expect in a cartoon.

-Legion