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Some more info from http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=11499  :

 

Fox TV prez Sandy Grushow called Matt Groening last Friday and said Fox "couldn't see its way clear to ordering any new episodes." I suspect this was due to: the fact that we have two dozen episodes in the can (and we only air 14 to 16 times a year); Fox's losses in viewership and advertising losses, which have led to extreme cost-cutting measures; and a weak syndication market that is already glutted with The Simpsons and King of the Hill. If any or all of these things change, then Fox might reconsider its decision but, in the meantime, all the current writers and animators of Futurama are looking for new jobs. Sorry to confirm the bad news.

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I just wanted to add my two cents worth to this. I am one of the animators on Futurama, and it is true we've been given our walking papers (until Rough Draft gets another project, hopefully). It seems we've come out on the wrong end of the pissing match that's gone on between Groening and the head suits at Fox TV. While Fox hasn't 'officially' cancelled the show, they haven't picked up the fifth season. That means we're in limbo. Matt can't take the show to another network and we won't make our syndication number (all we needed was 16 more shows to syndicate). And that also means region 1 dvd's will probably never see the light of day. Nobody ever said the entertainment business was fair, but the state the animation industry is in these days, artists are the ones paying the price for the clashing of egos higher up. That's about all I've got. Thanks

So not only don't we get new Futurama eps (past the backlog they've built up), but we might not even get anymore DVDs!  Rage... taking over...         

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No Region 1 DVDS?!?  Also bad is that now the show can't be syndicated.

[Reply #2 on:]

Just Chris also got the 00:00 post today!! Yay for us!

Ahhhh Regions on DVDs are a load of crud. Just get your player "fixed" for a small price then you can buy over the net and internationally.

Umm, excuse my naivity, but what does it mean to be syndicated? 

[Reply #3 on:]

Even MORE:

Yo, Hercules! Junior Mintz here at the computer while the theater manager is on a bathroom break.

Just got the word seconds ago. FUTURAMA is not officially cancelled, though it is on a sort of hiatus. Turns out Fox, which hates the show as they do not own it and Groening does, has been giving it a sort of secondary status for the late few years, i.e., running it when they feel like it, dropping it when they don't.

Turns out they have so many unaired episodes between seasons three and four (some reports indicate as many as 30!) that they don't need to commission any new shows for season five and can keep running them whenever. Will they ever start production on new episodes? Hard to say. The staff isn't too hopeful, but Fox has not given the Planet Express crew final notice yet.

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I said in a post several weeks ago that Fox didn't want to give Matt Groening 'too much power'.

Hiatus. Yeah. That's what I was on. Not many people can hold a one-year+ hiatus. Try getting the full animation crew back after that..."hiatus".

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That's slightly more re-assuring news, at least it hasn't been completely cancelled, but that still doesn't guarantee it will be picked up again. 

At least with a petiton we can show FOX that even if they're not killing it, many of us really do care about what FOX does with the show.

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Write a letter as well as signing petitions, they are less likely to get ignored. I know I am reiterating this, but every effort helps.

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Wow som one should find Rupert Murdock and ter him a new belly button. I know it's a bit selfish but I hope this does not stop series 2 being relesed in region two 'cause if it does I'm catching the next plane to LA and I'm gonna raze FOX to the ground.

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This is slightly more reassuriung news, and I'll cling on to any faint sight of hope I can.

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I hope Im not being too stooopid, but what actually does stop it from going to a different network??

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Probably legal mumbojumbo FOX used in the contract giving them rights of distibution. In pther words FOX sucks.

[Reply #11 on:]

Family Guy went on Haiatus for a couple of years, of course it then got canceled but Futurama might pick up enough episodes to get to Syndication...

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Originally posted by jasonlevine:
region 1 dvd's will probably never see the light of day.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

[Reply #13 on:]

:echoes Nix: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

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yea, I find the not being able to syndicate and lack of future DVDs the most disturbing.
Noooooooooooooooooooooo

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Originally posted by wu_konguk:
Probably legal mumbojumbo FOX used in the contract giving them rights of distibution. In pther words FOX sucks.

Yeah, FOX probably has some legal contract that says "until we cancel it, you can't shop around to another network."  Which makes this all the more insidious.  By the time Futurama can be shopped to other networks, the animators and writers will have moved on to other projects.  The FOX execs were looking for a way to royally screw Futurama and they found it.  (If they know how to do one thing really well, it's kill quality shows.)

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This is BAD news, I thought that at least another network could syndicate it like the Sci Fi Channel or someone. Although it doesn't have enough episodes for syndication it doesn't mean it can't be syndicated. Surely Matt could just take it to another network or order FOX to either renew or cancel it.

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Fuck. Damn FOX, damn them all. Fucking shitlickers. They need their arses wiping for them? Howsabout weget the guy to use sandpaper? Bloody mindless wankers. Ahhhhhh, crap. 

Now, calming down, I see this as an opportunity to try out the following: See post below this one

[Reply #18 on:]

How to make Nukes