Futurama delivers strong ratings!

[Reply #160 on:]

Thanks for the update.

Updated chart with this information:



I think it's pretty good. Not amazing, but not poor either. I didn't know what to expect from these episodes viewership-wise, but it's possible (if not probable) that a lot of viewers last year were drawn to the fact that they were the first new episodes in a long time. It's not as exciting this time around. I don't know how much CC advertised this premiere in contrast to the season 6 premiere either, it could play in.

I'm really surprised about the number of viewers who stayed by the TV between the episodes, also. It's pretty significant.

Also, as Mongo pointed out, these episodes are number four and five of the entire season, which is pretty cool too. I for one hope that the curve of this season will be much higher than that of the last.

The CGEF reviews (76 % and 81 %) are also very good, ahead of the curve of last broadcast season. Good start!

Once again, I'd wait for the CGEF reviews to normalize a bit. They've had around 40 reviews each whereas the rest of Season 6 has had anywhere between three to five times as many reviews. The reviews so far are more likely to be sharp reactions rather than sharp critique, so we'll wait to see if the scores hold up. I don't mean this to say I expect them to fall, but I'd rather a larger sample size.
[/CGEF reviews rant]

[Reply #161 on:]

Yeah, I agree. I included them here as they are currently, when the next episode comes and I'll update it again, I'll include the new CGEF ratings.

[Reply #162 on:]

Cloolsome, thanks for updating it!

[Reply #163 on:]

Nice ratings for the opener episodes.  It would've been tough for them to beat the rating for "Rebirth" since there was the hype about Futurama coming back, so anything north of 2 million is a really promising sign for the series.

Especially after the ratings slide that came with the Holiday Special.  Good to see that, after spring season off, the interest remains solid.  It's so nice having the show on cable, where a solid core base makes a bigger dent in the ratings.

[Reply #164 on:]

Nice graph. Good to see that I'm not the only PEELer who likes to make them.

[Reply #165 on:]

Nice graph. Good to see that I'm not the only PEELer who likes to make them.

Haha. Yours are generally much cooler graphically though, I don't really care for sitting through the actual aesthetic process.

[Reply #166 on:]

Ratings are in for Thursday night

Futurama netted a 0.91 rating in the 18-49 group according to the chart. Futurama was third in the 10pm slot behind USA's Suits (which was probably bolstered by Burn Notice running prior) and FX's Wilfred. Interesting to note is that Ugly Americans got a 0.54 rating, losing about 800k of Futurama's viewers, almost all of which returned for The Daily Show.

[Reply #167 on:]

Hahaha, not a surprise either. That show kinda blows.

Comedy Central's tried to save it with both South Park and Futurama now. Maybe it's not actually doing badly per se, but it really bleeds viewers heavily even following both of those shows. They honestly might be better off just plugging reruns of either of them into those slots....it would probably benefit The Daily Show, too.

Anyway, good to see this week's episode got a good rating. It was a good episode, too.

[Reply #168 on:]

 

[Reply #169 on:]

so, looks like it's keeping with last years trend. Other than a few outliers, most episodes have netted around 2 million viewers each.

[Reply #170 on:]

A little disappointing but not terrible viewership. I calculated the average viewers of season six, and it had 1.982 million viewers (TFHS's terrible numbers included), whereas 6ACV19 had 1.921.

In my new graph I also updated all CGEF ratings, and I have decided for a system: When all done, the CGEF ratings are those listed a year after the episode first aired. Episodes up to 6ACV03 will thus not be updated again, while the others will stay being updated until they're a year old.

[Reply #171 on:]

Good news everyone!

....or, rather bad news actually. Law and Oracle only made 1.548 million viewers, making it the episode with worst ratings since "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular".



Sad but true.

[Reply #172 on:]

Wow, that sucks...

[Reply #173 on:]

Damn, I thought weekly would be hard to forget ...

[Reply #174 on:]

Bright side: no other show on Comedy Central that night got over 1 million viewers, so Futurama got at least 500k more viewers than its following shows, Ugly Americans and the "news" block.

I'd personally blame it on this being "vacation week" for many in America. With the 4th being on Monday, most people took this week as their week off rather than last. When you're on vacation, you're not likely to be watching TV. I expect next week's numbers to be better.

[Reply #175 on:]

Bright side: no other show on Comedy Central that night got over 1 million viewers, so Futurama got at least 500k more viewers than its following shows, Ugly Americans and the "news" block.

I'd personally blame it on this being "vacation week" for many in America. With the 4th being on Monday, most people took this week as their week off rather than last. When you're on vacation, you're not likely to be watching TV. I expect next week's numbers to be better.

If we compare the ratings of "Law and Oracle" to "Proposition Infinity", which aired during the same "vacation week" last year, the drop off wasn't nearly as significant -- but it wasn't ruinous either.

Overall the ratings have been down compared to last year, but that's understandable because CC isn't promoting it the same way they were last year.

And I can't help be believe that "Ghosts in the Machine" was so terrible that it impacted this episode's viewership -- but that's just my opinion.

[Reply #176 on:]

And I can't help be believe that "Ghosts in the Machine" was so terrible that it impacted this episode's viewership -- but that's just my opinion.

You could compare the numbers of viewers with the CGEF ratings on my chart, and see that there is no real trend. Obviously, the ratings are purely by those willing to go to the site and rate the episode, which is a minority.

[Reply #177 on:]

It depends on how long the episode has been out. For example, The Prisoner of Benda has 158 reviews on CGEF while only 117 votes in the poll here. TLPJF has more reviews on CGEF by a large margin. In contrast, Ghost ha 76 votes in the poll here but only 65 CGEF reviews. With time, CGEF will surpass PEEL in number of reviews/voters for one reason: accessibility. It's a lot simpler to go on CGEF and find the episode you want to review than it is to find the thread here. Which may be more attributed to laziness and people not feeling like using the search function. But, point remains, with time CGEF gets more ratings of episodes than PEEL.

And, for curiosity's sake, I compared the PEEL and CGEF ratings for the episodes I mentioned here to see if there's much disparity:
Late: 94% PEEL / 93% CGEF (CGEF sample very much larger)
Benda: 90% PEEL / 91% CGEF (CGEF narrowly larger)
Ghost: 82% PEEL / 82% CGEF (PEEL narrowly larger)

As you can see, not much disparity in ratings despite differences in sample sizes. Still, the 270 CGEF reviewers for TLPJF is much less than the over 2 million who watched the episode on its original airdate.

[Reply #178 on:]

Bright side: no other show on Comedy Central that night got over 1 million viewers, so Futurama got at least 500k more viewers than its following shows, Ugly Americans and the "news" block.

Well, I feel better now. I think, what with this being July 4th, we need to wait until next week to jump to conclusions.

[Reply #179 on:]

It depends on how long the episode has been out. For example, The Prisoner of Benda has 158 reviews on CGEF while only 117 votes in the poll here. TLPJF has more reviews on CGEF by a large margin. In contrast, Ghost ha 76 votes in the poll here but only 65 CGEF reviews. With time, CGEF will surpass PEEL in number of reviews/voters for one reason: accessibility. It's a lot simpler to go on CGEF and find the episode you want to review than it is to find the thread here. Which may be more attributed to laziness and people not feeling like using the search function. But, point remains, with time CGEF gets more ratings of episodes than PEEL.

And, for curiosity's sake, I compared the PEEL and CGEF ratings for the episodes I mentioned here to see if there's much disparity:
Late: 94% PEEL / 93% CGEF (CGEF sample very much larger)
Benda: 90% PEEL / 91% CGEF (CGEF narrowly larger)
Ghost: 82% PEEL / 82% CGEF (PEEL narrowly larger)

As you can see, not much disparity in ratings despite differences in sample sizes. Still, the 270 CGEF reviewers for TLPJF is much less than the over 2 million who watched the episode on its original airdate.

gotfuturama.com also has the luxury of one-offing your opinion. it is much more appealing to most folks, imo.

[Reply #180 on:]

has anyone tracked the viewership for the 12am showing? being a late night fella myself, if i were to see it live, it'd be 12, not 10(like this week!).

to further my quiery, futurama did well on dvd sales and adult swim. it seems like one of those shows that folks don't care to see LIVE, per se.

for example, i post on MMA.tv's OtherGround Forum's. i made a thread about this episode before it went live. since then, i have had SEVERAL folks mention that they love the show yet didn't know it was on.

pretty much, my point is that if they put it back on adult swim after four more seasons, it'd kill like it used to.

[Reply #181 on:]

That has been an issue I've faced as well. I seriously have no idea when Futurama airs on Comedy Central other than 10pm Thursdays.


Edit: okay, so I just look at their schedule, and now it airs random episodes at 1am and a run-through at 4:30pm everyday. I miss the ease with which I knew when Futurama was airing on [as]...

[Reply #182 on:]

Maybe if Futurama came to the UK, the ratings would be a little stronger!

[Reply #183 on:]

Sure they would be stronger... in the UK...

[Reply #184 on:]

Sure they would be stronger... in the UK...

I know, but if they took the ratings from each country and added them up, then there you go.

[Reply #185 on:]

theres still a fuck load of episodes 35 episodes you guys need to chill if it doesn't get renewed it's had a decent run but 35 is a lot.

[Reply #186 on:]

I won't be 100% upset if it gets cancelled again because DXC said he'll make another Direct-to-DVD film, but only if it is cancelled.

Otherwise, yeah, I'm gonna be upset if it's cancelled.

[Reply #187 on:]

I've heard him say theatrical release, which would be more akin to something like The Simpsons Movie than what we got with the four movies. I wouldn't mind that, but I'd much rather episodes.

theres still a fuck load of episodes 35 episodes you guys need to chill if it doesn't get renewed it's had a decent run but 35 is a lot.

... Did anybody even mention that recently?

* checks thread

Um, yeah, nobody's mentioned any worry of that happening for a while, and never in relation to ratings. In fact, the discussion seems to say that if the show were to be cancelled again it would be due to production costs and not ratings.

[Reply #188 on:]

Bright side: no other show on Comedy Central that night got over 1 million viewers, so Futurama got at least 500k more viewers than its following shows, Ugly Americans and the "news" block.

It should be noted though that The Daily Show and Colbert Report were in reruns this week. But yeah, I don't think this is much to worry about. In fact, with those shows returning, I would expect Futurama and Ugly Americans to pick up more viewers that opt to watch all four shows.

[Reply #189 on:]

Yes I.C weiner because your all getting so worked up about the ratings even though it's guaranteed to be on for another 2 years after this run

[Reply #190 on:]

your

*You're

[Reply #191 on:]

Didn't Randi tell us to stop flipping out on each other for minor grammatical errors? Just sayin'.

And WWWH, the ratings for this season are just as important as the ratings for last season were; I don't necessarily want to see Futurama go on past production season seven, but Comedy Central will certainly take into account how season 6B fared when deciding whether or not to order more episodes after the 2013 run.

[Reply #192 on:]

Sure they would be stronger... in the UK...

I know, but if they took the ratings from each country and added them up, then there you go.

Unfortunately, that's not how ratings work. Every show has to stand on its own in the ratings for the country of its origin.

For example, if a TV show produced in the US was unpopular in the US, but the most popular show in another country, it would still be cancelled in the US.

Also, a country will not continue buying the rights to air new seasons if the show isn't popular in that country. That can contribute to a show being cancelled, but not the other way around (or, rarely ever).


Even though Futurama's ratings are down compared to last year, I don't think that it's any reason to panic and fear that the show might be cancelled. From what I've read, it's a done deal that Futurama has been renewed for another production season, meaning two more broadcast seasons. I don't think that Comedy Central could reneg on that deal now, no matter how low the ratings drop.

IMO CC needs to promote Futurama more -- like they did last year -- and consider airing it during a different time of year, when more people are available to watch it. Because the fact is that there are fewer people watching primetime TV during the summer than the rest of the year. For example, new episodes of South Park air during the broadcast networks' primetime season, and it has earns good ratings for CC. I bet if Futurama was paired with South Park, both show's ratings would benefit.

[Reply #193 on:]

I've heard him say theatrical release, which would be more akin to something like The Simpsons Movie than what we got with the four movies. I wouldn't mind that, but I'd much rather episodes.

I'd LOVE to see a Theatrical film. I really liked the movies, well...most of them. Even though I prefer episodes, I love film and going to the movies and it would be awesome to have Futurama there, and share it with the mainstream audiences.

[Reply #194 on:]

I'd LOVE to see a Theatrical film. I really liked the movies, well...most of them. Even though I prefer episodes, I love film and going to the movies and it would be awesome to have Futurama there, and share it with the mainstream audiences.

I wouldn't, I'd hate it if all the critics bashed it.

[Reply #195 on:]

It'd still be awesome to go see Futurama on the big screen though. I'd even watch some of the poorer episodes if they were being shown on something like IMAX.

[Reply #196 on:]

It'd still be awesome to go see Futurama on the big screen though. I'd even watch some of the poorer episodes if they were being shown on something like IMAX.

Even TFHS? (I like it... )

[Reply #197 on:]

I'd LOVE to see a Theatrical film. I really liked the movies, well...most of them. Even though I prefer episodes, I love film and going to the movies and it would be awesome to have Futurama there, and share it with the mainstream audiences.

I wouldn't, I'd hate it if all the critics bashed it.

Chances are the critics wouldn't bash it (unless the writers did a poor job of conceiving a story of theatrical quality), but I don't know that a Futurama movie would fare so well at the box office. It might just not have the necessary built-in audience, and I don't think a lot of casual moviegoers are clamoring for an animated sci-fi comedy. The Simpsons movie made $527 million, but it's an institution and has a much larger built-in fan base. Serenity, the theatrical follow-up to Firefly (which is probably similar to Futurama in terms of its cult following), earned $25.5 million. Granted, these are two arbitrary comparisons, but I'd guess that a Futurama movie would gross something closer to Serenity, and not so much the Simpsons.

And I'd rather the writers stick with episodic format anyway, because I'm still convinced that's their strong suit. I mean, hell, I'd take "The Late Philip J. Fry" over the four DVD movies any day.

[Reply #198 on:]

Firefly is pure cult though; you're "in" with a reasonably exclusive club if you're a fan or even know of it. A lot of my friends don't know what Firefly is. Futurama is actually a reasonably mainstream hit now, running constantly on a popular cable channel and getting good ratings. I personally love Firefly, but it was 14 episodes and out, and has been carried primarily by hardcore Whedon fans since (and even factoring in that, Serenity has almost assuredly done great business when factoring in DVD sales, etc).

Not that I expect Futurama to do Simpsons Movie business. But something approaching South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut business (and might I add, both the Simpsons and South Park feature films were generally beloved by critics) wouldn't surprise me, and unlike The Simpsons, I doubt the budget would have to get totally out of control, since the voice actors don't make nearly as much on it. It's a risk to be sure, but I honestly think it's doable to have a successful Futurama film, should someone decide to give it a chance.

I like the four DVD movies a lot. Bender's Game less so than the others, but Bender's Big Score is in my top 10 or 15 episodes. But they're not directly comparable anyways, because technically they're really just four-part episodes strung together, and had to be written and structured as such. An actual film would lift these constraints, and presumably work a lot better. Even with what we got, I thought it really allowed the writers to give the characters and plots more room to breathe; it's just that they also had to structure it around getting to natural "Previously On" and "To Be Continued..." moments every 22 minutes.

Oh, and um, ratings. Really guys, we don't have to worry that much. Even this week's episode was not a bad rating by cable standards. It was one of the top-rated shows on kind of a tough night. Plus it's just one episode. I'll be concerned when it's doing Krod Mandoon levels of mediocrity.

[Reply #199 on:]

CC needs to promote Futurama more -- like they did last year -- and consider airing it during a different time of year, when more people are available to watch it. Because the fact is that there are fewer people watching primetime TV during the summer than the rest of the year. For example, new episodes of South Park air during the broadcast networks' primetime season, and it has earns good ratings for CC. I bet if Futurama was paired with South Park, both show's ratings would benefit.

We don't want the rabid South Park devotees flooding PEEL.

As much as CC have a job to do with promoting it, so do we. We need to do things like invite friends round to watch it (says me, who has few friends who don't know about Futurama and lives in a country where new episodes aren't airing), or better still, to have friends stay at home and watch it (more viewers!), and to remind people of the airtimes of new episodes.

Whilst talking to a cow-irker colleague at work, casually mention you're unavailable to hang out on a Thursday at ten... because Futurama is so compelling that you must watch it. Whilst at the doctor's or dentist's, talk loudly into your phone in the waiting room (no need to make an actual call) as though you're having a conversation about Futurama. Make sure you let everybody hear you saying when it airs, and how unbelievably fantastic it is, and how you can't believe more people aren't into this yet, 'cause it's totally the next worldwide phenomenon.

When you're on the train or bus, try asking your fellow passengers if they know when new Futurama episodes are on. Make sure you've got an episode or two on your iPod so you can show them what it is in case they don't know.

When you're arrested for exposing yourself to children, tell the arresting officers that you need to watch Futurama and would be grateful for a TV positioned outside your cell and tuned to the right channel. Hopefully your fellow inmates will be converted from criminals to science-fiction-cartoon fans.

When you're out and about, set the Tivo. When you're busy having sex, set the... in fact, stop having sex on Thursdays until after Futurama has aired. Put a TV down in your sex dungeon if you have to... perhaps your sex slaves might enjoy watching it too. Plus, there's a sense of buildup if it's going to be non-consensual sex... your victim knows that once the credits have rolled, it's go-time! See, these aren't just ways to promote Futurama. They're general life tips that we can all benefit from.

When you're robbing people to feed your meth habit, don't take their TVs and stuff. Leave little notes on them instead, telling them to watch Futurama when it airs, or next time, you'll take the TV.

You get the idea. Put the word out yourself. Become a walking advertisement for the show, and for everything that gives you a nerd happy. One day we'll convert the entire world into nerds. When that happens, we'll never have a good TV show cancelled out from under us again.

Excelsior!