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Groening Confident on Futurama Relaunch
friedo writes "Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons and Futurama, says there may yet be hope for a renewed Futurama series, thanks to high DVD sales and syndication ratings. Comments from David X. Cohen: 'Three months ago, I would have said we were going to start tomorrow ... And one month ago I would also have said we were going to start tomorrow. So...my current estimate is that we're starting tomorrow.'"
The Family Guy came back because of the demand of the fans. Futurama can do it too! Too bad FOX wasn't smart enough to realize they should have never cancelled either of them. But what can you do? It's FOX.
I always questioned the decision to cancel Futurama, it just seemed so...neutral. I wondered what made them do it. Lust for gold? Power? Perhaps they were all just born with a heart full of neutrality.
Either way, I'd be happy if they brought it back. I do wonder what the new episodes would be like though. The last episode kind of "wrapped" up the series.
Yet another Fox series brought back from the dead by Adult Swim.
Uh. I'm not really sure what you mean by that? What did "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings" really wrap up?
Anyway, what I'm more worried about is the cast. Will all the wonderful voice actors be willing/available for a new series?
The owls are not what they seem
Jurassic Bark. :-(
I disagree. In most markets the popularity of a product drives sales, which in turn determines if an item will continue to be available. Up until the publishing of series on DVD became popular, however, this mechanism was completely absent from the television market. Since no one could buy just the shows they wanted, decisions about whether or not to cancel a show were made based upon guesswork and Nielson ratings. In most cases this is still true. Now, TV executives are starting to get feedback via DVD sales indicating that they have been making really crappy decisions, including canceling some of the most popular shows. This is just the invisible hand of the market using greed to give people what they want. If we really want better quality shows, the answer is simple. Move to a model where shows are purchased individually and let the market decide. Personally, I'd much rather that greed drives TV executives to give people what they want, rather than greed driving them to make arbitrary guesses without any feedback.
As an aside, guess how many of the ten most popular TV series of all time were cancelled, or scheduled to be cancelled, and then saved at the last minute by some random event? TV executives tend to cancel anything different or novel, since it seems risky. DVD sales, like those of Futurama, are just a way for them to be told not to cancel something different, since it is in demand.
After several years of cult fandom, it's safe to say that there are millions and millions of Browncoats out there. The problem is, not all of them have access to the movie and that is a blunder by the studio. The wider the release, the worse the numbers are going to look if the movie doesn't perform well overall. "Oh, it only made ___ million in 3,000 theaters?" The movie only played in 2,189 U.S. theaters (according to boxofficemojo.com).
But it did open as number 2 on the opening chart. That's very important and will make a studio pay a little bit more attention.
"Curse your sudden, but inevitable betrayal!"
IMHO. If they can get good ratings from Curb Your Enthusiasm, they can get good ratings for AD.
...now if only they could steal P&T:Bullshit from cinemax or showtime or wherever it ended up I would hardly need any other channels!
Used to be the only thing that could get me to subscribe to HBO was the begining of a new season of Sopranos, but with Carnivalle, 6'Under (which I never saw, but everyone says is great.. I'd probably try it out if I resubscribed) Deadwood and Rome (which I've heard mixed things about) among others, it seems HBO has quite a run of good shows that combined actually make it worth $10/mo that Cox wants for it. I recently threw CYE onto the TiVo and was hooked, that show alone almost has me subscribing, but if they added AD, combined with the other shows mentioned above, they may regain me as a subscriber!
Delphi forever
Or maybe we're tired of the last decade of Simpson style jokes set in different places(Family guy, American dad, Simpsons and Futurama) and they should try something new? I'm surprized people haven't noticed that animation can be more than slap-stick with a morale tale attached, or a rip off of Japanese cartoons with the same depth as the 80s action figure whoring shows.
The Simpsons has remained popular for so long because it is funny, and because it is funny on multiple levels. The writers make a specific effort to write jokes that will last, and the majority of the humor does not depend upon knowledge of pop culture. Futurama makes that same effort, and combines it with a very scientific oriented intellectualism. When was the last time you heard jokes during prime time that relied upon the audience understanding the basics of quantum physics or for that matter even knowing what "pi" is? The family guy seem to be variations and/or attempts to discover the "formula" behind the Simpsons, but it is not a formulaic show; and I don't think it is fair to claim that because Futurama is animated, and shares many attributes with the Simpsons that it is unoriginal. Compared to the reality TV show of the week, or the latest sitcom about a family or a bunch of pretty and hip young people in the city, Futurama is a breath of fresh air. I just wish there was more television that was intellectual, rather than dumbed down for the least common denominator or reliant upon pop culture. Shakespeare's work is timeless because it was written to appeal to multiple audiences. He made sure to have his "high" humor witticisms and historical settings and references to appeal to his first run, patronage. He also made sure to include a fair share of physical comedy/action and "common man" type characters to broaden the appeal for presentations to the rest of the people. In 100 years people will still be able to laugh about quantum physics and pi, but they won't know or care who Ashlee Simpson is.
So many rumours regarding the future of Arrested Development--the cleverest comedy on TV at the moment imo. Here's hoping what you say is the case.
Oh, as if that's never happened before...