FOX screws the show again UPDATE: Everybody's signed

[:]

Goddammit FOX...

NERD RAGE. NERD. RAGE.

UPDATE

[#1 :]

You can't be serious!

[#2 :]

uh, what?
Won't happen

[#3 :]

It's a negotiating ploy

[#4 :]

Fox sinks to a new low, how many ways can it find to fuck over this show? I hope things get resolved in the end, I really do. If it ends up being with new voice actors I ain't watching. I don't want the show tarnished in my mind with this, it deserves better. The voices are irreplaceable as far as I'm concerned...

[#5 :]

It's a negotiating ploy

Indeed.

Here is how it works.  They threaten the actors with cutting their jobs entirely, since they want a too high salary for Fox.  With threats, as well as from the fans, and who knows who, the actors may dig down to the demands and let their salary get a cut too.

Fox is not intending to replace the actors, they just want them to suck on it.

[#6 :]

Question the timing. Coming at this time on a Friday leaves two whole days of no statements and no confirmations. It's all publicity.

[#7 :]

Question the timing. Coming at this time on a Friday leaves two whole days of no statements and no confirmations. It's all publicity.

Got that one right.  Fox have played this before.  It is all a method of saving money.  And it works.

It's sort of like Hollywood accounting.  It's sleazy and unethical as hell, but damn is it legal.

[#8 :]

That's in real life trolling for you.

[#9 :]

Cursed by his own hubris.

[#10 :]

I hope it just is all for publicity and any worries will be unfounded.

They simply can't do the show without the proper voice actors...losing Billy West alone would leave them needing to find sound alikes for christ knows how many characters.

[#11 :]

Fox sinks to a new low, how many ways can it find to fuck over this show? I hope things get resolved in the end, I really do. If it ends up being with new voice actors I ain't watching. I don't want the show tarnished in my mind with this, it deserves better. The voices are irreplaceable as far as I'm concerned...

Well, this isn't new for Fox. They've attempted to do this to "The Simpsons", and their cast never changed. In fact, they need voice the voice actors so bad to stay on "The Simpsons" that Matt Groening has even allowed voice actors like Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith promote scientology through Bart and Lisa's voice.

Fox is so evil that during the writer's strike, they were about to force Seth MacFarlane to continue voices for his show when he was on strike and to episodes written by a cast he, the creator, did not approve of.

Doesn't Fox realize how uneconomic it would be to hire an absurd amount of voice actors just to replace Billy West, John DiMaggio, Tress MacNeille, and Maurice LaMarche?

[#12 :]

Got that one right.  Fox have played this before.  It is all a method of saving money.  And it works.

Unless the voice actors say "Okay, fuck you then! We'll start our own TV network, with blackjack, and hookers!"

[#13 :]

Even though it probably is a ploy, it made the tapioca rise in my gullot.  It does not make me comfortable to hear things like that, like oh you get your show back, but really, no.

Argh, just a bother and I hate the corporation of Fox!

[#14 :]

I am not amused

[#15 :]

fox are retards it's like someone replacing their mom, its a big deal dammit!!!

[#16 :]

I hope that this is brought up during Comic Con's panel. I wonder if the present voice actors are still interested in attending?

[#17 :]

I, for one, am taking a wait & see attitude.  I'm hoping that this is nothing more than a negotiation tactic; I mean, what moron would change the voices of the characters, thereby threatening the success of the series by alienating it's loyal following & generating bad will?  However, should they do something absolutely idiotic like actually replacing any of the characters with lower cost voice talent, I'll be one of the first to organize a huge "YOU F-ING SUCK" e-mail campaign to the appropriate brainless suits who made such a suckhead decision.

[#18 :]

Frida, from what I've seen on Facebook, it seems like they're still going to Comic-Con.

[#19 :]

Urge to kill...rising...

[#20 :]

... what moron would change the voices of the characters, thereby threatening the success of the series by alienating it's loyal following & generating bad will?

The same morons(s) who shuffled the shows aring 'round like the pea in a shell game, who tried to forcibly "improve" the show with truly senseless changes - instead of leaving it to people who knew what they were doing, who didn't promote the show, didn't understand the show, and generally treated the show like crap!
Those morons.

Let us hope the current crop of morons do not repeat their predecessors' mistakes.
Yeah, they'll make a whole new set of mistakes...

[#21 :]

Here, spread this around Twitter, it'll help a bit (God, I wish we'd had this back when the show was originally cancelled): http://twitter.com/R_SRS/status/2701455822

[#22 :]

The same morons(s) who shuffled the shows aring 'round like the pea in a shell game, who tried to forcibly "improve" the show with truly senseless changes - instead of leaving it to people who knew what they were doing, who didn't promote the show, didn't understand the show, and generally treated the show like crap!
Those morons.

Let us hope the current crop of morons do not repeat their predecessors' mistakes.
Yeah, they'll make a whole new set of mistakes...

Calm down. Remember your blood pressure!
Here, I'll give you a foot rub.

[#23 :]

On a positive note, it is good to see how quickly so many people are getting pissed off!  Rawr

[#24 :]

As long as they keep Lauren Tom, they can fire everyone else; she does all the voices, writing, directing, and animation anyway.

Seriously though, nfw fox and cc can be this stupid.

[#25 :]

It's not true. Couldn't possibly be. Billy West practically is the show. If he'd have died back when he had his cancer scare there'd have been no more Futurama.

It'd be just as impossible to have The Simpsons without Dan Castellaneta, for example.

[#26 :]

Exactly, but it is still a very scary stunt!  Unnecessary, if they are simply trying to get people talking, wouldn't they have pulled this closer to the air date! Bah

[#27 :]

nerd uprising. i love it.

got the addresses of fox and the futurama casting director. who's up for a good old-fashioned nerd hate mail rush?

EDIT: lmao'd at gopher's post. nice.

[#28 :]

Remember, this is 20th Century Fox Television, not the Fox network. Direct all parcels containing doorknobs to them and Comedy Central.

[#29 :]

... what moron would change the voices of the characters, thereby threatening the success of the series by alienating it's loyal following & generating bad will?

The same morons(s) who shuffled the shows aring 'round like the pea in a shell game, who tried to forcibly "improve" the show with truly senseless changes - instead of leaving it to people who knew what they were doing, who didn't promote the show, didn't understand the show, and generally treated the show like crap!
Those morons.

Let us hope the current crop of morons do not repeat their predecessors' mistakes.
Yeah, they'll make a whole new set of mistakes...

No.  These are not the same morons.  The morons you were referring to are the Fox Network morons, while the morons in this case are the 20th Century Fox Television morons.

Both these groups of morons are owned by the same morons, however, each of these entities have their own structure.  That means neither of these morons have anything to do with each other.

In addition to that, Fox has hired new morons for each entity since Futurama was cancelled, so it is certainly not the same morons.

[#30 :]

They're recasting ALL the main and recurring characters. That is stupid. Why would they just do that? The show would be completely dulled without them. Billy West would be replaced by more than 10 others.
I hope to God this is not true.

[#31 :]

Interesting note on the money.  The Simpsons voice actors gets 400,000 dollars per episode (source).  And apparently Futurama cast are asking for 75,000 dollars per episode (note, however, this number is not confirmed by either 20th Century Fox Television or the voice actors (source)), that is less than a quarter of what 20th Century Fox TV is willing to pay its The Simpsons voice actors.

But apparently, The Simpsons voice actors apparently asked for half a million and only got 400,000 dollars.  I bet the same is going to happen here, the voice actors will just end up with about 50-60,000 dollars per episode.

But speedracer were already in around this issue.

[#32 :]

So they pay Julie Kavner 400,000 $ to lend Marge Simpson her annoying voice and they don't want to pay Billy West 75,000 $ for his awesome work?

Oh, the rage. It blinds me.

[#33 :]

shitshitshitshitshitshit I just read it on IGN: This is the worst news ever.

"IGN TV contacted 20th Century Fox and were told, "We love the Futurama voice performers and absolutely wanted to use them, but unfortunately, we could not meet their salary demands. While replacing these talented actors will be difficult, the show must go on. We are confident that we will find terrific new performers to give voice to Matt [Groening] and David [X. Cohen]'s brilliantly subversive characters."
"If there's any hope for fans, it's the fact that a casting call for new voice actors doesn't necessarily mean that a deal still can't be made. In fact, Variety points out that when negotiations were going badly for new deals with The Simpsons cast several years ago, similar casting inquiries were made for new actors – and obviously, in that case, the original cast did eventually come to terms on a new deal. Let's all cross our fingers that history repeats itself here..."

[#34 :]

shitshitshitshitshitshit I just read it on IGN: This is the worst news ever.

"IGN TV contacted 20th Century Fox and were told, "We love the Futurama voice performers and absolutely wanted to use them, but unfortunately, we could not meet their salary demands. While replacing these talented actors will be difficult, the show must go on. We are confident that we will find terrific new performers to give voice to Matt [Groening] and David [X. Cohen]'s brilliantly subversive characters."
"If there's any hope for fans, it's the fact that a casting call for new voice actors doesn't necessarily mean that a deal still can't be made. In fact, Variety points out that when negotiations were going badly for new deals with The Simpsons cast several years ago, similar casting inquiries were made for new actors – and obviously, in that case, the original cast did eventually come to terms on a new deal. Let's all cross our fingers that history repeats itself here..."

Blah.  That's the same statement they gave to Variety.  The statement is part of the negotiation ploy.  They didn't even put the audition announcement papers up on a place where you would normally do this.  The place they did the audition papers was a step above Craigslist.  They are not looking for a new cast.  That could take forever.  They just want our actors to cut their salary.

[#35 :]

Oh god... this can't be happening! This HAS to be an alternate 2009. In fact, it's probably another Back To The Future scenario.

[#36 :]

Obviously, this news sucks, but I'm remaining optimistic; I agree with Svip, Nix, and others that Fox is just using scare tactics. And, although I'm assuming DXC and MG are under contractual obligation to produce these 26 episodes no matter what, I'm thinking they might have the slightest bit of pull here, along the lines of, "These are the actors we want; if you replace them, you'll be destroying the show." Although Fox--like all media conglomerates, really--is most interested in money, and the quality of the show is really a secondary concern, I'd like to think that they'd consider precedent (concerning the Simpsons voice actors), and realize in time what idiots they've been.

[#37 :]

Obviously, this news sucks, but I'm remaining optimistic; I agree with Svip, Nix, and others that Fox is just using scare tactics. And, although I'm assuming DXC and MG are under contractual obligation to produce these 26 episodes no matter what, I'm thinking they might have the slightest bit of pull here, along the lines of, "These are the actors we want; if you replace them, you'll be destroying the show." Although Fox--like all media conglomerates, really--is most interested in money, and the quality of the show is really a secondary concern, I'd like to think that they'd consider precedent (concerning the Simpsons voice actors), and realize in time what idiots they've been.

"I wouldn't count on that."

[#38 :]

If Fox really wants to play hardball, then instead of issuing an open casting call for Futurama they should release a statement saying "sorry guys, we can't afford to hire you, so we're pulling the plug on Futurama.  Hey Seth, you got any more animated shows you can pull out of your ass?"

I've done some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations and I do think the actors are kind of pushing it with their salary demands, but I'll hold off on posting it for now.

[#39 :]

I hope it just is all for publicity and any worries will be unfounded.

They simply can't do the show without the proper voice actors...losing Billy West alone would leave them needing to find sound alikes for christ knows how many characters.

thats a very interesting point.
think about it, these "casting calls" are just for the main characters, when the cast voice a rediculous amount of characters....

maybe im just clutching at straws....