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Futurama Cancelled (Again)
eldavojohn writes "Bad news everybody. According to Entertainment Weekly, Futurama has been cancelled (again). The renewal of Futurama back onto television was met with great fanfare but sadly it appears that Futurama's luck has run out for a second time. The second half of season 7 will air from June 19th to September 4th and that will be it."
Wait. there will be no more 'Good news everyone!'
Facts are useless, they can be used to prove anything.
The newer episodes just haven't had that same flare the older ones did.
A couple of them even felt forced.
Better end a series on a decent note than to drag it on forever (Simpsons, Family Guy, etc)
Put you money where your mouth is.
Honestly not a bad run for any show. Can't see a reason to complain.
The list of things I have heard now contains everything.
Don't bring a show back unless you can do it at similar quality as before. Family Guy is a great example of the right way to do it. Futurama is the wrong, sad, terrible way.
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Maybe folks can petition asking Netflix to pick it up?
Or... we can just let the show die and make room for new ideas and shows. I loved Futurama, but it's OK for shows to end, even good shows. It's better to die out than to see a show that drag on way too long.
Let the show die. The direct-to-video movies were by and large second rate, and the new season, while it had some high points, just didn't have the charm of the old seasons.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
While the older Futuramas, were great, quite frankly the new Fututramas sucked.
Let it die already. Futurama has become like an old pitcher who can't admit to himself he can't get anyone out anymore.
Doesn't matter if they've been slipping. Throw in enough lame geek in-jokes and the fanbois will beat a golden path to your door.
Right now, all the online content providers are looking to content creators to get brand lock-in.
Who's gonna bring Futurama back from the dead again?
Amazon?
Hulu?
Google?
Netflix?
It's inevitable.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
It's the perfect time and subject for an experiment I have been considering. I think that broadcast networks are no longer needed or perhaps simply not quite so necessary. If Groening were to keep a team of enthusiast artists and the original voice actors, I would be willing to bet people would subscribe to Futurama online paying micro payments or simply not worry about that and they can sell ad space on their own streaming host server. The point being that the internet has enabled much. And publishing and continuing a favorite TV series is probably a good thing to try.
It's too late for "Firefly" (or is it?) but maybe not for Futurama... and seriously, without network censors?? It'll be WAY better.
Rumor has it the Cleveland Show was canceled.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
At least I'm not afraid to post under my id.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Put beavis and butthead in it's place that show needs to come back.
It did back in 2011, but quietly died again shortly afterwards.
If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
Maybe folks can petition asking Netflix to pick it up?
Why would Netflix pay Matt Groening and the rest of the production and acting staff to work on more episodes of a series which has been cancelled twice?
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
Hollywood can grunt out a live action version. Hey, it worked for the Flintstones!
but its been cancelled?
why not zoidberg??
Good people go to bed earlier.
Futuramm had a heartbreaking amount of Transphibia in it.
4/20 was last Saturday dude!
That's a hell of a claim. Care to cite examples?
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
All these shows (Futurama, Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park) are all stale. Just not funny or edgy anymore. Just kind of blah... I can't be bothered to watch any of them at this point.
Nothing i have to say is worth saying.
To make money, one would assume.
Groening had nothing to do with Futurama, other than lending his name to it. I don't even think he was the showrunner on the Simpsons after the first season. If you listen to the commentary tracks on either series, you'll probably understand why (while everyone else talks about the writing and satire that made those series great, all he talks about is the animation, as if people were tuning into the Simpsons for the animation quality).
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
TFA (maybe not this FA, but some FA I read this morning before I saw it on Slashdot) says that Groening is looking for another home for the show as "we still have more stories to tell". I know I know, they always say that, but all I'm saying is, Groening reportedly has not made the decision to irrevocably end the show. So it's not exactly like the browncoat thing, where sad overweight acne-encrusted fans in poorly made costumes plead with... I'm sorry, did I say that out loud?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
It teaches people that transsexual and transgendered people are dishonest and sexual deviants.
I never saw it teaching any such thing, in fact in the cases of transgender that I remember the bigoted characters tended to be shown in a bad light, or others highlighted how they were wrong.
You don't see too many people complaining about the fact that Fry had the piss taken out of him constantly for being stupid. Why, because apparently it's ok to make fun of somebody who was born stupid, but not somebody who was born in the body of the opposite sex.
It's a comedy, and Futurama took the piss out of all walks of life.
The problem is Futurama is a lot better than other animated shows that Fox pays every year to bring back or start from scratch.
Does anybody in America actually think Bob's Burgers is good other than apparently Fox and the series creators?
Fox made a big deal out of Allen Gregory but I could tell from the trailer that it would be a big fail. What was it? A big fail.
Napoleon Dynamite was actually good and outdrew Bob's Burgers but Fox could not give up quickly enough on it and kept Bob's Burgers instead.
Just today I read The Cleveland Show described as a show so bad that its star isn't even missed on the show he left. The best I can say about it is that now it's merely so-so instead of being awful as it was when it started.
Every now and then I will watch a new episode of American Dad and it's never funny any more. Even Family Guy is hit or miss. Sometimes it's great. Sometimes it's not even a little bit funny.
In Bend Her, Bender was transsexual. Bender is dishonest and a sexual deviant. QED.
GAH!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Fine, I'll go make my own TV show! With blackjack! and hookers!
In fact, forget the TV show!
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
FTL was already resolved within the first run of the show. Cubert pointed out that nothing can go faster than light, the professor replied "that's why scientists increased the speed of light". Also, it would seem that ships run on Alcubier warp drives (at least the planet express ship seems to, in that the engines don't move the ship, but instead move the universe around the ship.)
Hectice, baby, Mercator says hello to you
For cult favorite cartoon TV shows, being cancelled by a network seems to have a correlation with the longevity of the show. And with the decreasing importance of TV channels, there are plenty of additional avenues for the producers of the show to pursue.
We should learn what we need to know about issues, before we decide what we need to feel about them.
Futuram[a]... teaches people to dislike, hate, PEOPLE who are transgendered and transsexual.
Ah, so you're one of those people who looks to fictional works such as cartoons for education. Noted.
FWIW, that says a hell of a lot more about you than it does the creators of Futurama.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
For good reason - did you ever make the mistake of watching any of the new episodes? It was like Tosh.0, but somehow even less humorous.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
unfortunately my cable doesn't carry FUCK TV
Futurama is brilliant, especially when pitted against the.brain dead "Ow my balls" class of reality of television.
The new seasons had excellent character growth and development. While the original series was great, it was childish and down right infantile at times, the movies were awkward like the teenage years, and the two new seasons were the beginning of a quality adult audience show. It is one of the ONLY animated shows on television at the moment that caters specifically to the 18-25 demographic, and it's smart too. Take the mathematical proof they created for the show. When was the last time any television show created a tangible real world theorem?
It seems the operators of the Panama Wormhole, Earth's Comedy Central channel for shipping, are making the same fateful mistake as the idiots at the Box Network.
If the rumors are to be believed, Futurama cost $1.3 million per episode to produce back in 2003 during the original run. We know Comedy Central gave them a smaller budget this time around, so let's just assume a million per episode.
So let us say we all want to fund a season of Futurama (putting our money where our mouth is):
16 episode season x $1,000,000 = $16,000,000.
Now assume the average audience is 2 million. Some would be willing to pay, some would not. But assume the lost TV viewers are made up for with the DVD buyers (who are worth a lot more). That works out to around $8/person to fund a season.
If I had the option, I would gladly pay $8-$10 per season.
For reference, AMC's Mad Men cost between $2-2.5 million per episode. In the first season, it didn't even break a million viewers. The second season had 2 million, same as Futurama.
I don't believe the economics are at the root of the cancellation; it's probably an executive trying to make their mark by shaking up programming and cancelling Futurama makes way for his/her pet project - one they can take credit for launching.
Natural != (nontoxic || beneficial)
to live on this planet anymore :(
I like Bob's Burgers. Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Futurama have all been too tired to watch for at least 2 seasons. Let them die in peace.
Every now and then I will watch a new episode of American Dad and it's never funny any more.
Then you missed "The Missing Kink" episode. That one was definitely hilarious (to me at least) with Francine enjoying Stan spanking her and then Stan going overboard on the kink.
Hell, even the kinky principal and the hot tub guy were in the episode, and their expressions as Stan acted out his kink (apparently many known to mankind) were fantastic.
While AD has its issues, it's not as bad as The Cleveland Show.
And yes, Bob's Burgers is good, though not in the way most people think. Especially with the same actor playing Bob and Archer.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
You need to look on the PPV channels then. It may cost you 14.99 per 90 minutes, but its there all right.
My wife and I are some of the few people out there who love Bob's Burgers. But, then again, I was a big Home Movies fan as well, which always had more cult status than actual success. When Bob's Burgers is "on", it's funnier than nearly any other show out there.
I mean, a science fair project that is a musical between Thomas Edison and the elephant he electrocuted... How is that not hilarious?
Whether or not there is some sort of god, I'm not supposed to say/god is a word and the argument ends there-Smog
Die, CIS SCUM!
Tubal-Cain smokes the white owl.
If you belong to one of those minorities you have no choice but to get used to it.
Or just take it with a healthy dose of self-irony and laugh along...
Does anybody in America actually think Bob's Burgers is good other than apparently Fox and the series creators?
Yes. Do you always assume that anyone who differs with you over sense of humour must be in a minority?
Fox made a big deal out of Allen Gregory but I could tell from the trailer that it would be a big fail. What was it? A big fail.
Oh, so you're the guy who's opinions always exactly mirror the public at large? Oh, no, wait, you can't be, because that guy would be too busy banging models on his private tropical island rolling on a bed stuffed with the rest of the billions of dollars he's made.
Every now and then I will watch a new episode of American Dad and it's never funny any more [in my opinion]. Even Family Guy is hit or miss [in my opinion]. Sometimes it's great [in my opinion]. Sometimes it's not even a little bit funny [in my opinion].
FTFY.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Every now and then I will watch a new episode of American Dad and it's never funny any more.
I never found it funny in the first place. Couldn't stand the kid, and even worse, didn't like the Dad character. I liked the alien character, and the wife was ok, but not enough to put up with the rest.
Apparently those of us viewing it at my house have souls made of sterner stuff. Maybe it just seems enjoyable compared to Seth McFarlane's triple parade of misogyny, but I get more laughs per 22 minutes out of the Simpsons current season than most of what's on television.
Some of the most memorable parts of Futurama were the musical numbers, particularly in the Christmas episodes...
Maybe folks can petition asking Netflix to pick it up?
Or... we can just let the show die and make room for new ideas and shows. I loved Futurama, but it's OK for shows to end, even good shows. It's better to die out than to see a show that drag on way too long.
It's the "new ideas" part that's the stickler.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Considering the fact that Netflix seems adept at making polished original productions -- I'd go with Amazon.
Have you seen the "Pilots" for their original programs? God awful.
Amazon, Itunes or someone trying to become a content provider should buy the series. That's where things are headed.
Seriously, Netflix is funding series, and Dish is about to.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
I thought it was canceled a long time ago. I know Family Guy came back, but I thought Futurama just came back for a few episodes and vanished again?
This is a failure on their part, then, frankly. I don't watch South Park often (maybe I binge on it every few years, to catch up), but I know that it's still on. More, I know that I can watch current episodes on Hulu (ugh) and that I can watch all episodes (delayed by a few weeks or something?) on South Park's own website.
Short of watching live television (which I don't even have and haven't for many years, like many fellow geeks), I wouldn't have a clue how to get Futurama. I mean, other than torrents, I guess. Actually, the same goes for The Simpsons, except I do know they're still going, apparently.
There's a world of geeks out there to keep your show going. You just are doing a shitty job at delivering it to them. They're not 90 year old grandmothers sitting by the television all day and night.
Or have Amazon do it so I don't have to subscribe!
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/we-want-more-future-episodes-of-futurama-in-the/
I don't think Netflix or Amazon or Hulu can last long doing these "original series", though. The SciFi channel had to cancel Farscape because even though it was their best-performing show that constantly won awards and was one of the best programs on television, it cost too much to make. It's better for them to have a smaller audience and smaller budget than quality and a bigger audience. Same goes for the program "Eureka!" that they recently canceled. Decent show. Great reputation. Lots of awards. Lots of viewers. But production cost too much, so they canceled it.
These streaming companies can not afford several million dollars per episode. Especially when they're not charging anything additional for it. Long term, I don't see how they could even afford a million an episode. Maybe if they start to increase their subscription fee, they could (frankly, I'd be fine doubling the $8/mo I pay to Netflix - it's worth it). The problem, then, is that you will not have all your content in one place. So you'll have to pay a big subscription to Netflix to get their back catalog plus their custom programming. Then another to Hulu. Then your Prime subscription to Amazon. Then another at some other place. By the end of it, you'll be paying more than you did for a full-blown cable subscription and you'll have to go through 10 different places to get it.
I suspect, however, that the fanbois are the ones most likely to decide that it's faster/better/cheaper to download it than to watch it on some mechanism that creates revenue. ("I'd make a donation, but I don't want them tracking me.") To judge from comments around here, there are some who seem to take tremendous pride in it. I bet we're just not a very attractive market, despite being a fairly wealthy demographic.
Of the suggestions you make, the only one with a "let's do it and figure out how to monetize it later" attitude is Google, so perhaps they're the most likely, though they don't seem to be into content creation.
Right, it's exactly like passively starting at a glowing box for 8 hours after getting home from work.
Maybe for some more films
Did you like B&B in the 90s? It's the same damn show. And FWIW, I hate Tosh.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I would suggest a show set in an, um, pizza delivery store with an idiot named Sly, an unrequited love interest called Lisa and a zany, nihilistic, cynical, wise-cracking robot called "Fender"
perfect impersonation of an aspie nerd Futurama fan!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Did you like B&B in the 90s? It's the same damn show.
I did when it was original and new... of course, I was a lot younger back then, too, so I presume the fact that I liked the show then had a lot to do with my maturity level at the time (low. Really low.) The Sega and SNES games were pretty good, though. Fun at least.
And FWIW, I hate Tosh.
Ditto. Since when did "mouthy douchebag who thinks he's funny" become the norm for comedians? I miss Bill Hicks...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
to be honest comedy central sessions where not all that good only a couple eps where even wroth watching.
I would suggest a show set in an, um, pizza delivery store with an idiot named Sly, an unrequited love interest called Lisa and a zany, nihilistic, cynical, wise-cracking robot called "Fender"
Too derivative. Make it a zany, nihilistic, cynical, wise-cracking handyman named Iskander and you have a deal.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Futuramm had a heartbreaking amount of Transphibia in it.
Freakin' quote of the day.
Q: is a -phibia like both a -phobia and a -phila? You're both repulsed and enamored of the object? Someone please submit that one to the OED committee!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
>It's too late for "Firefly" (or is it?)
It will never be too late for a Firefly resurrection!
It wasn't a joke. That's supposed to be the joke.
Corporations own our government, who see us(We the People!) as useful widgets, until we get in the way.
Blocking Ads really pisses them off...
Now go be a nice Consumer/Breeder.
.
Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
For good reason - did you ever make the mistake of watching any of the new episodes?
Not twice. Instead I just started re-watching old King of the Hill, starting with King of the Ant Hill.
If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
Bob's Burgers is great, but it's a bit different than what people expect in a "cartoon". It's a situation comedy based heavily on dialogue, much of it improvised. In fact, the show would probably work equally as well audio-only.
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
"The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings" is the rightful end to the series. Fry and Leela are on the right path, and the rest is left to the imagination of the viewers.
so I presume the fact that I liked the show then had a lot to do with my maturity level at the time (low. Really low.)
I'm sorry to hear this has changed.
Ditto. Since when did "mouthy douchebag who thinks he's funny" become the norm for comedians? I miss Bill Hicks...
At least we've got Louis CK. He can do it all. Sophomoric humor ("you don't have to be smart to laugh at farts, but you have to be stupid not to.") and philosophical (Everything's amazing and nobodys happy). That reminds me, I need to watch the new special.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Those people who are not transgendered/transsexual do not understand!
https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
The main problem with B&B (both then and now) is MTV using it as a wrapper for shitty music videos and Skanks On a Plane or whatever.
I don't really think the newer seasons developed the characters... I think they tended to continue the Federalization that had started to set in through season 4 of the original run.
IMO, establishing facts about a character, revealing the back-story of a character, or establishing a relationship between characters is not the same as character development... This is something that the later writers need to understand.
Here's an example of strong character development:
In parasites lost, Fry becomes something of an ideal man thanks to the efforts of a worm he picks up from a truck-stop egg salad sandwich. His strength, intelligence, and artistic ability make him attractive to Lela. For one of the first times in the Series, Fry and Leela become close romantically. But ultimately, Fry gives up all of his new-found strength, because Fry wanted the relationship to be based on who he was in and of himself, rather than how he was perceived by Leela. Fry's character is further developed when he starts to practice the Holophoner in order to become the person Leela respected.
This episode was a huge character defining moment for Fry. This episode did not have a significant impact on Futurama continuity. What it did was to truly help us understand fry as a person in a way that Lars never really could. It developed Fry in a way that his season 5 & 6 relationship with Leela didn't.
I think Fry somewhat devolved as a character during the comedy central run of Futurama. His sincerity is still there, but it seems like a part of his core personality. His stupidity becomes a much more predominant characteristic. He started to feel like a young, orange haired Homer Simpson.
For what it's worth, I think The Late Phillip J. Fry and the Prisoner of Benda were gems from the later seasons. There was some good stuff in seasons 5 & 6, and some bad stuff in Seasons 1-4, but on average I was kind of disappointed by seasons 5&6. I haven't been following Futurama nearly as closely as I once did.
"In the year twenty-five twenty-five twenty-five
The backwards time machine still won't have arrived
In all the world, there's only one technology
A rusty sword for practicing proctology"
In Fact, TVTropes has an entire section of Flanderization dedicated to Futurama.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Flanderization/WesternAnimation
(Sorry in advance for your lost productivity.)
Need to be on comedy central not Mtv
..is the only reason I watch Futurama.
Why does not Futurama make a kickstarter fucking page.
I have nothing to lose but my bindings.
> Explain this 'teaching of hate' you proclaim. Some examples perhaps? B/c I don't see that in the show, so either you're getting a message out of it that you WANT to see in it, or I'm missing something.
Don't mind Brenda. The trans "community" is rife with a vocal minority of knee-jerk reactionists who feign offense at every possible turn, and alienate potential allies/advocates by flaming them into oblivion for simple mis-use of terms, let alone making jokes. That's why the LGBT "community" is an epic fail at being an actual community.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
Man, how you can talk about how good American Dad is and not mention Roger is beyond me. He's 90% of the reason to watch the show.
Off to get some pecan sandies...
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"
- Charles Darwin
Disagree, B&B was junk. Now, Daria, that is a show I could get behind a come-back of.
NZ Electronics Enthusiasts: Check out my Trade Me Listings
Sometimes I think they're producing crap on purpose, and that "cultural sabotage" depicted in Rand's Fountainhead is already happening in America. Even the outcome seems to be the same as in the book - control of the masses brainwashed by "culture".
(Cue replies ridiculing me for being a Randian nut.)
I don't really think the newer seasons developed the characters...
Seriously? Well you know its Futurama right, not some other crap TV show that is "deep character development" rubbish, which is really just code for everyone ends up sleeping with everyone eventually. I think you need to change channels.
If information wants to be free, why does my internet connection cost so much?
Futurama has a cast of likable characters, great voice actors, is a cartoon, and it is set in the future in space so any story you can think of can be told. The problem with the Simpsons is the setting; once you explore every possibly lame alleyway and monorail, and every two-bit character in Springfield what's left? Shelbyville? Who cares?
That you can tell any story and are only limited by the writer's imagination is what made Star Trek, Dr. Who, and others such great programs. But even those had the problem of being live action, where you can only tell stories that can be filmed or CG'd. Futurama on the other hand has everything going for it and it shouldn't, and can't be allowed to die just due to some corporate politics.
...
I don't think you actually read what I wrote.
Also, season 5+ seemed to have a lot of everyone sleeping with everyone else. Amy and Bender, for example? Zap and Leela hooking up, Again?
I watched some of the new seasons when they appeared on NetFlix. I made it through a few episodes before I gave up. Everything that made the originals funny was missing.
Netflix is doing great with well written, well produced original series.
Original? Like the House of Cards series that you referenced, which is a remake of a 90's BBC series? That's not a criticism, the Netflix version did a good job of Localizing it to America and modernizing, and it was well produced, but it isn't entirely original.
Bringing back Futurama would only appeal to the fans of Futurama.
Like the upcoming release of Arrested Development on Netflix?
I'm actually ok with letting the series die, and appreciating the show for what it was, but I think Netflix is probably an even better fit than Comedy Central. However, it does have a strong geek, and many of these geeks are more likely to consume most (or even all) of their TV show media through streaming.
fiendishly clever, but totally laid back
And yes, Bob's Burgers is good, though not in the way most people think. Especially with the same actor playing Bob and Archer.
Or both at the same time. See Season 4, Episode 1, "Fugue and Riffs" - from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Archer_episodes :
Archer has amnesia, brought about by the trauma of watching his mother get married, and believes he is now a fry cook at a burger joint. When he inexplicably stops a KGB attempt on his life, he flees to a spa, where ISIS tries to bring back his memories.
Note: This episode features a crossover with FOX's animated show, Bob's Burgers, which also features H. Jon Benjamin. The setting and characters of Bob's Burgers were portrayed using the animation style from Archer.
Interview with Benjamin about that episode is here:
http://www.indiewire.com/article/television/h-jon-benjamin-on-archers-crossover-with-bobs-burgers
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
It's too late for "Firefly" (or is it?)
Well... After watching Serenity I'd say it's too late for Book and Wash.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .