Thoughts on Futurama on Comedy Central

[:]

Ok, so we all know futurama just aired its first 3 episodes on comedy central recently and I want to know what you think of the switch.
-The good about the switch
-The bad
-Will this help or hurt futurama and why
-Predict futurama's future

The Good
- More watchable times
- Still see the entire episode

The Bad
- Two commercial breaks
- End credits are squeezed in the bottom corner of the screen.

[#1 :]

I want to know if "Jesus" is going to still be censored. :P

[#2 :]

 

Originally posted by Officer 1BDI:
I want to know if "Jesus" is going to still be censored. :P

Well, they don't censor it on South Park, so I see no reason why they would.

[#3 :]

I kinda liked it on Adult Swim. I mean I don't mind watching in to Comedy Central but I'll miss having Family Guy and Robot Chicken on right afterward.

[#4 :]

the end credits being squeezed are not that bad...unless they do it for jurassic bark

[#5 :]

I liked it on Cartoon Network because it was on at a good time (for me)  I'm too busy to watch it on Comedy central every day. I missed it tonight but hopefully I'll see it tomorrow.

[#6 :]

Noooooo!

I missed Futurama tonight!  ;_;


When does it air on Comedy Central?

I must catch the first 3 episodes again.  (I'm a rerun-aholic, by the way)

[#7 :]

I just watched it and I thought that they did a pretty good job

[#8 :]

You *just* watched it?  So it must've recently aired then.... 

Dang, that's just my luck.  X.X

[#9 :]

under the bad would be promos for other shows on the bottom of the screen, AS was always good about avoiding that

[#10 :]

I just watched it also, and the end credits are not totally bad, although they do take a little away from the opening Futurama "fly in".  Well, it's that or not having them on at all.  I'll take a partially obscured fly in over not at all any day... 

[#11 :]

lolz, I didn't even notice that!!

and I call myself a fan 

[#12 :]

^ In response to the above, hey, at least that's not as bad as completely missing Futurama's debut and first two nights on Comedy Central.

And I call myself a Futurama fan.     


With that being said, now that I know the show airs at 8:00 PM, I will definitely watch it tomorrow and the next night, and so on.  ^_^

[#13 :]

I was surprised AS didn't run any special bump, or anything after the final airing of episodes 1, and 72 the other night. I kinda figured they would at least throw us a final goodbye.

[#14 :]

About the only good thing I can say about the Comedy Central pickup is that at least I can still watch Futurama.  The tiny ripped screen for the credits was disturbing and the breaks seeemed to be more related to the timing of the rest of the channels commercial breaks than taking the time to use the breaks that were originally timed in.  All in all, a mediocre premiere.

[#15 :]

Let's see, I'll break it down as such:

The good:

It comes on @ 9 PM in my area.  That will invite more fans due to being on at a more reasonable hour.

That's it.

The bad:

The playback has been sped up.  It's almost running at 1.5X speed. 

The 4,000+ commercials in each break.

The breaks have increased to three per episode.

The final credits have been bastardized to a little rip in the screen.  I didn't get to hear Bender sing "I'll be blasting all the humans in the world..."

But we do have to realize that CC has to somehow make enough money to pay the 28.8 million American wing-wangs that they shelled out for the 5 year deal.

Plus it's because of CC that we are getting the DVD's/new episodes.

So I feel that it's a good deal for the fans.

[#16 :]

At 15k per thirty second spot they can let us hear Benders fine singing.  At that rate they can show them commercial free in about two years.  Maybe I'm just spoiled by A/S's respect for the show.  CC doesn't seem to care much about anything but ad revenue.

[#17 :]

Back years ago, Ted Turner's #1 show on TBS, was The Atlanta Braves baseball.  TBS held the contract to show Braves Baseball but the cable market was starting to grow.  ESPN was in its infancy and was courting The Braves.  Losing Braves Baseball would have been terrible for TBS.  Ted Turner, being the shrewed businessman he was, surprised everybody by coming up with a way to keep Braves Baseball forever - he bought the team.

If the beancounters at Cartoon Network had the same shrewdness and business sense of Ted Turner, they would have done the same thing that CC did - buy the exclusive rights to the series and bankroll new episodes.

The only reason that AS showed Futurama the respect they did was because it was the consistantly strong lead-in for Adult Swim.  AS did not want to piss-off the fans by butchering the series.

CC doesn't have that worry - Southpark and other series have decent ratings and don't need the strong lead-in that AS needed.  So yes, it does seem that profit is the only thing CC sees.

But without CC buying the rights, we would not be getting the DVD's/new episodes with the possibility of more DVD's/episodes in the future.

[#18 :]

I second everything that Ralph Snart says. It's dead on the truth.

I was grateful of Comedy Central's advertising efforts for the show. Compared to what Fox did to get word out on the return (jack nothing), I thought they did the best that could be done. It was a relief to find commercials for Futurama during every single break including a mini-banner on the bottom every time a show returns to the screen. Comedy Central had very little time to get this baby out to the ears of the audience, which, mind you, probably isn't acquainted to the purchase or the show. Hopefully the curious (no offense, but Comedy Central has had some funky animated shows like "Freak Show" ) viewers of the typical Comedy Central viewing audience will get hooked.

A little off-topic, but have you ever noticed that Futurama has "hook" episodes? I'm just trying this term out, but a "hook" episode is one that gets certain audience members into the series. In Futurama, this would be episodes like "Space Pilot 3000", "A Flight to Remember", and "Xmas Story". The point I'm trying to get to is that we can expect more hardcore fans for the series when those episodes air on Comedy Central because those will hook them. Those three episodes got me into the series. When I first watched Futurama (it wasn't the first time), I was on vacation and I saw "Xmas Story". It was a pretty boring vacation, so I actually went out and bought the first season. Unfortunately, the hotel I stayed at didn't have a remote for the television, so the only episodes I could watch were "Space Pilot 3000", "Fear of a Bot Planet", and "A Flight to Remember" (they were the first episode listed on each disc. Upon watching "Space Pilot 3000" and "A Flight to Remember", I became a fan and also a shipper of the Fry and Leela relationship.

[#19 :]

If you're talking about "hook" episodes, don't forget "Where No Fan Has Gone Before".  With that episode, they tried to hook into that HUGE fanbase of Star Trek fans (ie - those who weren't already futurama fans)...

[#20 :]

 

In Futurama, this would be episodes like "Space Pilot 3000", "A Flight to Remember", and "Xmas Story".

Well, interestingly, although my "hook" episode was somehow Godfellas - specifically the part where Bender is first floating through space - A Flight to Remember and Xmas Story were two of the next ones to solidify it for me too. Along with My Three Suns. I remember my initial impression of Futurama, mainly from often reading the descriptions of the episodes that came up on my channel guide at the bottom of the screen while I would be flipping through channels, was that it was more centered around the Professor. Somehow I had the early idea that he was the main character. Once I finally started to actually watch it, of course, I learned that the focal point of the show was mostly Fry.
Anyhow, I think there are going to be different hook episodes for different viewers. I imagine something like AWITM might be one too.

[#21 :]

I miss it on [as]. It was respected there because, as Ralph said, it was [as]'s cash crop. Comedy Central shelled out big bucks for this, but it doesn't seem like they care too much about the hardcore audience; [as] seemed to care a little, like showing them as they were meant to be (ad breaks in the correct spots, end credits) and having those bumps that were topical to the episode/series. The whole presentation wanted you to keep watching. With it on CC, it feels like you can just flip channels during breaks because they're long and in odd spots. It's a shame that certain things like the Bender song during Episode 2's credits, the Beastie Boys shout outs during Hell is Other Robots' credits, and Bender yelling "Freedom!" at the end of A Taste of Freedom's credits will be lost due to CC putting credits in the corner.

Yeah, it seems like I'm ragging on this whole thing a lot. However, the good news is that it's still on TV, it's on at a time that lets it be easier to view, and they seem to advertise the show well during other shows. I do believe that Cartoon Network should've bought Futurama outright from Fox. However, I'm glad that CC shelled out the cash and helped fund the new stuff to guarentee that the show will stay in the channel's playlist.

[#22 :]

So, basically everything i was worried about has come to pass? Wonderful.

[#23 :]

I'd have to say that Comedy Central is better off buying the show rather than Adult Swim. Comedy Central has its own channel on 24/7, which allows viewers to tune into the channel at any point in the day to catch their programming. Adult Swim is just a segment of time for the midnight audience which usually consists of late-shift workers and insomnia-suffering teenagers. Because Adult Swim shares a time slot with its main network Cartoon Network, there are times when Cartoon Network decides to take up their time for their own programming. I was quite surprised to find that Adult Swim was able to get the last hour of 2007 on the network. Children's networks almost always have some programming on for children to watch until 12:00 when it becomes a new year. I just suppose parents these days don't want their children to stay up that late anymore just for one special occasion. However, if Adult Swim was able to have its own channel 24/7 just like Comedy Central, then I'd be happier with Futurama on Adult Swim's channel because of the respect it gets from Adult Swim. Though Comedy Central does a superb job on advertising almost to the extent where it feels like we're really watching the commercials, Adult Swim advertises just right.

[#24 :]

Not everything, Kryten.
We haven't all turned into zombies...

...yet.

[#25 :]

It's the same show we all love.

They're the same episodes we've all seen.

Why the hell are you all complaining?! It's futurama. It's on a popular network. It's on at a nice time. That's all that matters. So what if they scrunch up the credits? It's not like they're cutting things from the actual show...

[#26 :]

^ <Scruffy> Second. </Scruffy>  If missing little things like the Beastie Boys' shoutout at the end of Hell Is Other Robots is the price I have to pay for new episodes and for being able to watch the show at a reasonable time, then I'm perfectly OK with that.

[#27 :]

 

- End credits are squeezed in the bottom corner of the screen.

This is one of the things I like most about Adult Swim. They're classy. The cards/bumps/whatchcall'ems are simple and to-the-point, the end credits are left intact, and they never advertise in the middle of a show. It's polite, it's classy, and it's nice. I'm genuinely grateful for it. Other networks (and regular Cartoon Network) sell out every possible bit of space they can, but not Adult Swim. They show a love of quality.

 

Originally posted by Torgo:
I was surprised AS didn't run any special bump, or anything after the final airing of episodes 1, and 72 the other night. I kinda figured they would at least throw us a final goodbye.

I was kind of disappointed by that, too. They had some corny commercials and tributes for the marathon, but they didn't do anything special besides that.

[#28 :]

 

Originally posted by Sayna:
 I was kind of disappointed by that, too. They had some corny commercials and tributes for the marathon, but they didn't do anything special besides that.

it's adult swim! whatdya expect?

[#29 :]

Fear of a bot planet just aired on comedy central and the end credits were NORMAL!!! Maybe it was just this episode or maybe the entire series will be like this but the end credits took up the entire screen.

[#30 :]

the sped up intro and the squeezing of the credits are quite annoying, I'm not too upset at the extra commercial breaks, because that's pretty much what it was like when the show originally aired on fox

[#31 :]

 

Originally posted by Frida Waterfall:
I'd have to say that Comedy Central is better off buying the show rather than Adult Swim. Comedy Central has its own channel on 24/7, which allows viewers to tune into the channel at any point in the day to catch their programming.

A fundamental problem is just that. Futurama had a steady time slot on [as]. People knew when it would be on for the past 5 years. There was only one range of time it would be on, and that was from 11pm to 6am. However, with a 24/7 channel which people usually flip through during the day, there's no possible way to predict there will be a steady audience when an episode could air whenever. [as]'s ratings are centralised on one particular time frame and on a specific group of people, which is those who stay up until midnight to catch cult favorites. With CC, it's whoever feels like finding something to watch for that moment and broadcasting to a, well, broad audience.

 

Adult Swim is just a segment of time for the midnight audience which usually consists of late-shift workers and insomnia-suffering teenagers. Because Adult Swim shares a time slot with its main network Cartoon Network, there are times when Cartoon Network decides to take up their time for their own programming.

In all the years I've watched [as], I've never seen Cartoon Network bite into [as] time. It could be the exact opposite, as now [as] is on at 10pm on Sundays and now on Fridays when it used to not.


I also agree with Sayna's post's first part. [as] had class because they had a dedicated audience for a cult show that enjoyed every bit of the show, from intro to the beginning of the next show. People tune to [as] not just for the shows but for the bumps. CC, and TV in general, doesn't have those kinds of attention grabbers. Instead, they have loads of commercials. [as] has some commercials, but the bumps and clips keep you watching during them, thus adding to the lucrativeness of those commercial slots. CC may get more ratings, but I'd sit through an [as] commercial for the total experience of the block. I don't just tune into a Futurama episode for the jokes; I tune in for the story, for the characters, and for the little things that are funny or interesting to me and few others, like the math and pop culture jokes, the running gags, and the end credit things. I enjoy watching the end credits not only for the extra things they might slip in, but I also have come to recognize some of the crew's names in the credits and note the evolution of the crew over the years. It's interesting to see who did what, who wrote the episode, and so forth.

I hope what you said is correct, trickster. That would be excellent news indeed.


I searched through the internet news sites, and the Detroit Free Press and the Hartford Courant have both recommended readers to watch Futurama on CC. Who knows, maybe some people will start watching it with basic cable getting a little stale due to the strike.

[#32 :]

I think the reason AS treated Futurama and Family Guy with such respect is that when they fist obtained them, it was very new and had limited original programming (like Brak, Sealab, Harvey Birdman, and Aqua Teen), so they knew FG and Futurama were profesionally made shows with an established fanbase and several completed episodes, not to mention the advertisements they got promoting the 2 shows on DVD, which also helped fund their original programming, without FG and Futurama, AS might not even be on the air

Now take CC, a channel that's been on the air for over 15 years, it has several established popular programming, and it runs more like a standard cable company, which all tend to have longer commercial breaks and usually push shows together in a way that often leads them to chopping the end credits

And on added not, I can not fucking stand the "In the future" promos CC is airing

[#33 :]

 

Originally posted by trickster381:

Fear of a bot planet just aired on comedy central and the end credits were NORMAL!!! Maybe it was just this episode or maybe the entire series will be like this but the end credits took up the entire screen.

Not here on the west coast feed - the credits were in a little rip at the bottom of the screen for all three episodes.

[#34 :]

Same for my midwest feed.  I understand the reality involved in the business end of putting the show on.  My point was that it is kind of sad that this is how they are going to do it.  Not very thrilled with the broadcast times either.  If there are prime time shows that you are watching then the new times are a conflict.  I have to share the tv time with a wife and all, she likes Futurama, it just gets in the way of other things she likes and we both wish that the old 10 p.m. (central) time was an option.  Don't get me wrong I'll still watch.  I love the damned thing too much to miss it.

[#35 :]

 

Originally posted by tyraniak:

And on added not, I can not fucking stand the "In the future" promos CC is airing

I...Can't stand any of CC's promos, really.  I like the idea of Comedy Central, but it comes off extremely obnoxious.

[#36 :]

   

Originally posted by i_c_weiner:
I miss it on [as]. It was respected there because, as Ralph said, it was [as]'s cash crop. Comedy Central shelled out big bucks for this, but it doesn't seem like they care too much about the hardcore audience; [as] seemed to care a little, like showing them as they were meant to be (ad breaks in the correct spots, end credits) and having those bumps that were topical to the episode/series. The whole presentation wanted you to keep watching.

I never realized how much I appreciated Adult Swim's treatment of the show before.  Most notably leaving the end credits - it was very similar to watching it on DVD.  The breaks weren't off-putting because they were natural.

I'm still glad it's on the air, but I miss the end credits, and those half-rhyming promos are driving me up the wall and they need to change them yesterday.

   

Originally posted by AllForChocolate:
the end credits being squeezed are not that bad...unless they do it for jurassic bark

Oh that would suck.

Speaking of JB, that was my particular hook episode.  (Although I sought it out.  I read a post on the TelevisionWithoutPity forums, in the thread "TV Moments That Make You Cry" where it mentioned it and it got me way too curious.  I'd never watched a full episode before that one.)
edit:  Although it was "The Sting" that made me a full blown fan.

[#37 :]

I like seeing Futurama on Comedy Central.  For now I'm not watching the reruns, I'll wait until they show the movies.  Futurama will do well on Comedy Central, after all, it did promote a big fan base when it was on Adult Swim.

[#38 :]

on the east-coast they had the robonica pictures and the credits showing while they went through the pictures

[#39 :]

 

Originally posted by Sedna:
   I never realized how much I appreciated Adult Swim's treatment of the show before.  Most notably leaving the end credits - it was very similar to watching it on DVD.  The breaks weren't off-putting because they were natural.

Exactly. The DVD feel made it feel... well, natural. I loved how [as] showed it, and it's what I'm used to. I just don't like the classic cable "push the credits to the side, promote next show" thing.

 

I'm still glad it's on the air, but I miss the end credits, and those half-rhyming promos are driving me up the wall and they need to change them yesterday.

They needed to change on December 31st.