Binsento
Poppler
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« on: 08-11-2003 15:09 »
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Anybody got an idea? I really, really can NOT understand why it got such bad ratings that they actually cancelled it. Almost everybody i know like/love Futurama, but thats maybe because i always tell them they SHOULD like it But without kidding around, i agree that The Simpsons is funny as well, but its missing something that futurama had. And now its gone. And The Simpsons is still going on and on. Any thoughts? OW, this is my first BTW, so sorry if this topic has been discussed before, but i'm to lazy to dig throught all the previous topics.
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Atticus
Bending Unit
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« Reply #1 on: 08-11-2003 15:17 »
« Last Edit on: 08-11-2003 15:17 »
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I believe that Fry explains it best in this conversation with Leela: Leela: "Why not? It's clever, it's unexpected..." Fry: "But that's not why people watch TV. Clever things make people feel stupid and unexpected things make them feel scared." Basically, Futurama is a very clever and brilliant show, and the majority TV audience feels put off by it; for the exact reasons mentioned by Fry. So what does Fox do? They give funding to shows that are the absolute farthest you can get from clever and unexpected. That way, they make more money. Sad, isn't it?
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AlpineWonder
Crustacean
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In my opinion, the MAIN reason it got lousy ratings (although I'm not sure it got THAT bad of ratings someone else will have to post the actualy ratings) was that it was put in the absolute worst time slot in existance. It was prempted on the east coast more time than it actually played. Fox decided to screw it in the rump right from the beginning, which is very sad. Two other networks have picked up the re-runs and I believe they are getting GREAT ratings, even being re-runs. I don't think it can blamed all on the tv audience, cause Futurama obvioulsy has a large fan base of people willing to watch the re-runs.
Futurama is a great show with terrible, terrible luck and many enemies, that is why it is cancelled.
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Smitty
Professor
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Futurama has always lived in the shadow of The Simpsons. It's a sad truth.
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M Jackson
Professor
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Futurama is under-rated comercially, but only because Fox took a bizarre dislike to the show. Critically, it's not under-rated at all, it's one of the most praised shows in history! The fact that it's now doing brilliantly on cartoon network since they have actually bothered to advertise it, shows that the problem was Fox, not Futurama itself.
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User_names_suck
Professor
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the *heart* in futurama all happend too soon. my problem with it at first was that the creators and writers seemed to expect people to care about fictional characters before you even knew them.
simpsons won peoples hearts by being so radically hilarious, so the emotional content was acceptable you actually could empathise with the characters.
when it first came along futurama just wasn't as funny as simpsons, and it was also too similar. it was just a not so funny simpsons, and it took ages to pick up and lots of people probably lost patience with it. also it just couldn't have the impact of simpsons, it probably also comes to down to nostagia, people rember the impact of simpsons, futurama couldn't replicate that
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Unca Dave
Crustacean
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I've heard various theories thrown around, but the one that seemed most logical to me was Matt Groening wanting retain creative control over the series. The cruddy timeslot with the continual preemptions for various sporting events and a total lack of promotion was how The Visionaries at Fox punished Matt. It's the same warm human caring they show for Simpsons and Futurama fansites, too. Iif they can't have 100% control over something, they'll destroy it rather than share. It's the American way of business.
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FishyJoe
Honorary German
Urban Legend
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Originally posted by User_names_suck: the *heart* in futurama all happend too soon. my problem with it at first was that the creators and writers seemed to expect people to care about fictional characters before you even knew them. I disagree. They didn't really start going for the big emotional moments until season 3, when we had plenty of time to know and love all the characters. Plus, look at all the emotion in the first season of The Simpsons. We had Homer being depressed and trying to kill himself in the second episode! Plus Lisa and her whole thing, and Homer and Marge's relationship on the rocks a few times. Otherwise, I agree with your post. The first season of Futurama couldn't really compare with classic Simpsons, which may have turned some impatient viewers off. Still, I rest all the blame on FOX. If they had supported the show, and kept it in a decent timeslot, the show would have gotten good ratings. When King of the Hill is aired at 7pm Sundays, it gets worse ratings. Yet KotH is renewed, and Futurama is cancelled.
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zyphr
Crustacean
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Futurama was to good for this world anyway...
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bboynfuel
Crustacean
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Maybe someday 30th Century Fox will show reruns on some New New York station. Morbo will not be pleased.
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User_names_suck
Professor
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i dont think poor advertising was a factor in england. or even the timeslot.
but on the commentaries they mention it had been intended to be an 8:30 timeslot. because they thought the show wouldn't be appropriate for younger viewers. they also in the first christmas episode, the time on the digital clock was supposed to be in synch with the broadcast time
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A guy from 2003
Crustacean
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Grrr I hate Europe Sometimes look it's not the americans it's fox I'm a american and Futurama owns the simpons it's Fox I asked people at school if they liked futurama they said hadn't seen or only saw one why cuz the time I missed the final episode cuz of the time (Werid I changed the channel to Fox at 7:20 they showed something else some sort of all that rip) so please do't blame us americans just FOX and I'd give Fry a millon dollars for Almost wipeing out fox during a pizza deliviry but I'm a guy in 2003 and if I had a millon bucks I'd pay fox to continue futurama and put it on a decent time well no I wouldn't I'd get a decent PC instead ok I've gone way to off topic sry I got carried away * on fox *
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Futurama_Hil
Urban Legend
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« Reply #33 on: 09-19-2003 10:06 »
« Last Edit on: 09-19-2003 10:06 »
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Originally posted by JayJayDelmonico (from IMDB boards): Got to throw in my two cents here. From what I've observed the reason Futurama has so many haters is because the characters are so different and original people just don't know what to make of them. I am constantly hearing that people will not even sample the show because one of the characters "has one eye". It's called being shallow, people. The whole premise of the show is that there are cyclops and mad scientists and emotionless robots and hideous lobsters but they are still relatable in a human 20th century way. But, the big thing that people don't get about the show is that the characters (with the exception of fish-out-of-water Fry and straight-man Leela) are supposed to be anti-heroes. They are the classic "flawed heroes" the likes of which are praised so much on shows like Seinfeld, The Sopranos and Boomtown. Their motives are all suspect, they will sell out their closest friends at any moment. People are uncomfortable with this in an animated show.
To address a previous post: I would say that Futurama is superior to The Simpsons in every imaginable way. If only for the simple reason the The Simpsons looks like lazy TV compared to all the next-level, blood-and-sweat effort put into Futurama. This show really went above and beyond the call of duty. The Simpsons is based in a town reflecting typical middle America suburbia, Futurama built an entirly new universe from the ground up. The Simpsons are family members so it's easy to say "this is the father, this is the daughter and in the end they love each other", while Futurama created a surrogate family out the Planet Express crew (like an "office comedy" ) and created reasons they bonded together. The Simpsons is broad slapstick desperate to please the masses. While Futurama will delve into more dramatic, character driven episodes often with anti-endings that are geared more toward their fans. The Simpsons is topical like a political cartoon, Futurama will explore timeless themes - what other show would do an entire episode about bureaucracy. The Simpsons will do 3 episodes about Marge having road rage, Futurama will do episodes about why you shouldn't date robots, quantum particles hyper-accelerating time, the main character exploring the past of his long dead brother, or an 8-foot robot Santa that slaughters people on Christmas eve. The Simpsons is episodic, Futurama is telling a continuous story where all the episodes have cause/effect relationships to each other. Futurama was consistant quality it's entire run, The Simpsons creatively died about 5 years ago. Lastly, Futurama was the most recent winner of the Emmy for Best Animated series and is the favorite to win again this year, The Simpsons is not. People are stupid. They feel they have to compare everything to everything and because Futurama is like nothing we've ever seen before they go to the closest comparison - The Simpsons - regardless of how little sense it makes. If you really needed to compare Futurama to something (and open a new can of worms) there are more similarities between it and "Seinfeld" then there are between it and The Simpsons. Word! That robocop guy's a bastard. Strange that he has "robocop" in his s/n...I'm thinking URL...
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Blue Zoidberg
Crustacean
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It was good, but did it get people off their tractors
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Teral
Helpy McHelphelp
DOOP Secretary
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Originally posted by PCC Fred: *BUMP*
Read this. And be afraid. very afraid.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0149460/board/nest/2470635
robocoptng986127 have been trolling the IMDB boards for close to a year by now (I never understood why they didn't ban him), so he's best left alone, ignored and forgotten. What's more worrying is that, thanks to IMDB's rotating reviews feature, his flaming negativity and poor excuse for a review is the first thing people see when they look up Futurama. Then again it is IMDB we're talking about.
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Devon LoParo
Crustacean
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I only recently came to watch Futurama, not because I never heard of it, or had no interest, but because I simply never knew when it came on. I have never seen a commercial for Futurama on Fox and the only way I saw it was because my friend bought the season 1 dvd.
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