Futurama delivers strong ratings!

[Reply #320 on:]

some day it might be as good a show as Jersey Shore

For the love of God you better be joking.

[Reply #321 on:]

I think he means ratings-wise... He damn well better be

[Reply #322 on:]

I really do think that, some day, Fry can be as funny as Situation and Leela can be as emotionally deep as Snook...ah God I can't even type it. I was joking.

[Reply #323 on:]

Thank fuck...

[Reply #324 on:]

It pisses me off that I know a few names off that damn show...

[Reply #325 on:]

Jersey Shore is truly horrible!

It's hard to get my girl-friend stop watching it. (Girl who's a friend of mine)

[Reply #326 on:]

This is not good...

Futurama   CMDY   10:30 PM   1.645   0.8
Futurama   CMDY   10:00 PM   1.574   0.7

14th and 15th for the night cable-wise

[Reply #327 on:]

Eh, numbers-wise that's about where the show's been with viewership, I think; it seems to average about 1.5 million viewers per week. I wouldn't worry about it, really, considering numbers tend to be down in the summer anyway, the show's switched time slots (though Comedy Central's promoted the hell out of it, so I'm sure people know where to find it), and the second episode gained viewers over the first. It seems like a fairly solid showing, in my not-at-all-expert opinion.

[Reply #328 on:]

Maybe there was an error, because there is NO WAY that there's only THAT MUCH views from a premiere!   They're always in the 2-Million Zone! If it really isn't, then FOX may not bring back Futurama in 2014!  

@Gorky They advertised the hell out of it ALOT LAST YEAR! Last year they had it advertising on alot of channels. But this year it was only Comedy Central. So maybe that can explain the less viewers this premiere.......?

[Reply #329 on:]

I have a theory, though I'll have to wait a few weeks to see if it's legit. It could be that Futurama has finally stabilized its core audience. If the ratings remain steady, then that's fine, but if this continues to slide, there could be trouble.

[Reply #330 on:]

BIG Trouble. I don't wanna see it go AGAIN! I want it to stay, even if it's gonna have to be on Comedy Central. My theory is that if the ratings don't go up any higher, it's DOOMED! For cancellation AGAIN!

One thing I gotta say, is that it would be cool to see it come back on FOX though. That's pretty much my dream for Futurama. To get more people to recognize the show on a HUGE Broadcasting Network like FOX. I understand how much they used to abuse it, but when they see how good it is compared to Family Guy or the god awful Cleveland Show, they will treat it with more respect than ever!  . Times are way different now, so I think that it will get a larger audience if FOX picks it up again, and a larger writing staff again too! (Just like the older Seasons 1-4). But, that's just my dream. Nobody ever said it will come true....... 

[Reply #331 on:]

I don't think those are bad numbers...as far as actual new content, Futurama was one of the better-rated shows of the night. Highest rated all night for Comedy Central, too. Reruns of Big Bang Theory and Family Guy just do inexplicably well, I guess.

I think some of the "returning cancelled show!" hype has worn off a bit and now it's become just a normal show that happens to be on. Lack of huge numbers for premiere night is a bit troubling I guess, but I'm not too concerned yet.

[Reply #332 on:]

Haven't we been on the fence for a while anyway? It depends how new episodes go. Some things aren't meant to last forever *cough* The Simpsons *cough*. Sad to say, I'd rather it go that be dragged through the mud like that. My only disappointment is it will result in a less amount of people posting here

But like I said, I'd like to see this new season before I judge it completely. I am already irked by some things they have chosen to do, but perhaps they will redeem themselves when Patrick Stewart guest voices

[Reply #333 on:]

The ratings results do concern me a bit.  They are down significantly from last season's hourly premiere.  Nonetheless, it's certainly not horrible.  I wasn't home to catch the 10 PM showing, however, I did DVR both episodes.  One key metric I was looking at were the advertisers in between commercial breaks (fast forwarded, of course ).  I was checking out who the sponsors are and how many of them were big names.  I'm no marketing expert, so it was hard for me to ascertain who's big versus who's not (although some were more obvious than others).  Essentially, it's these guys who control whether the new seasons are a success and whether they'll be more seasons in the future.

[Reply #334 on:]

It's significant that this is the 3rd year since the show 'came back'.  The hype and excitement coming from that can only last so long.  Anyone worth their weight in the demographics/advertising analysis business would take that into account.

[Reply #335 on:]

Aaaaahhhhhrrrrrrooooooooooooo ooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

[Reply #336 on:]

Seth MacFarlane reruns have pretty much always beaten these new Futuramas. Just the way it is; Adult Swim just does inexplicably well with those. I wouldn't worry about it.

Granted it might make more sense to directly compare with other Comedy Central shows, but I looked up the ratings to last season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and its ratings generally averaged what these two episodes got. And that's a big hit show, widely considered to have just come off its best season in years. And it's getting (at least) two more seasons.

I wouldn't worry too much yet. The best indicator would not be the total numbers, but how the show is performing in key demographics.

[Reply #337 on:]

Aaaaahhhhhrrrrrrooooooooooooo ooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

[Reply #338 on:]

the show's switched time slots (though Comedy Central's promoted the hell out of it, so I'm sure people know where to find it),

@slurmed tweeted:

It is just me, or many folks thought #Futurama still aired on Thursdays o @ComedyCentral... I saw some tweets about that...

[Reply #339 on:]

As long as the show is profitable for Comedy Central and brings in good advertising the show will stay on the air.  We shouldn't judge where things are going based on only two episodes showing on one night.  Give it a few weeks.  Besides, these are preliminary numbers.  The final tabulations take more than one day to come in.

DannyJC13 also makes a very good point: There are people who thought the show was still on Thursdays.  Just because CC ran a timer doesn't necessarily mean anything.  I, for example, don't watch CC regularly and didn't know they had a timer until reading about it here back in May.  This is probably true for many people.  Word of mouth will get around, and once others learn that it is on Wednesdays now the numbers will go back up.

On the plus side, Hannity came in almost dead last 

[Reply #340 on:]

Hahaha, MuchAdo, you were reading my mind re: Barter Kings beating out Futurama

the show's switched time slots (though Comedy Central's promoted the hell out of it, so I'm sure people know where to find it),

@slurmed tweeted:

It is just me, or many folks thought #Futurama still aired on Thursdays o @ComedyCentral... I saw some tweets about that...

Excellent point, I forgot about that. I know I thought it was going to air yesterday until I googled it to check on Wednesday and saw it had switched. Several people I know as well voiced the same surprise to me when they saw me change my status to highlight it on Facebook.

[Reply #341 on:]

Aaaaahhhhhrrrrrrooooooooooooo ooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

[Reply #342 on:]

These ratings definitely have me concerned. This might be the end, folks.

But hey...no reason to be sad! We are playing with house money, after all. A few years ago, all we had was 72 episodes. After production season 7 is over, we'll have nearly double that number! Whatever happens, I am just happy that they came back and gave us some quality new material.

We still have 24 whole episodes left. Let's just enjoy it.

[Reply #343 on:]

Food for thought, South Park had a similar dropoff in viewers for its premiere compared to the previous season.

[Reply #344 on:]

I think people are overreacting here announcing the doom of the show and all.  The show aired for one night, on a night different than it had been last year, and looking at prelim numbers from the day after.  Gosh ppl chill out!  I'd hate to see some of you as program directors or producers in charge of selecting which shows live or die.

[Reply #345 on:]

Interesting.

I wonder how DVD sales and iTune purchases are doing? The show may still be making a decent profit...and if so, I would say that if Comedy Central moves on, it has a chance of switching networks again.

Honestly, I've always thought it fit a whole lot better on Adult Swim than it does on Comedy Central.

[Reply #346 on:]

I'm not sure if iTunes purchases are a huge factor, but it is still doing well there...Bots and the Bees is currently at #7 for TV, Farewell to Arms at #11. This is also a few days after they were made available, so there would be some drop-off from then to now. Amazon also has "season 9" ranking reasonably well.

I wonder if Adult Swim would be able to afford new seasons? If I'm not mistaken, Comedy Central has always had a higher budget for its shows. But, there are also other networks that could always be possibilities (FX strikes me as another one). Personally, although I don't actually have cable right now...I kind of like Futurama being on Comedy Central if only because most of my other favorite shows seem to air there (some just in reruns).

I would imagine that with syndication, DVDs, merchandise, initial airings, etc that Futurama is probably doing pretty well. Maybe not well enough to make a season 8 a certainty, but well enough to make it a real possibility. We have to remember that, with the exception of South Park, it is very rare for CC programs to consistently get over 2 million viewers.

[Reply #347 on:]

If I'm not mistaken, Comedy Central has always had a higher budget for its shows.

According to David X. Cohen their budget at CC is significantly lower than when it was at Fox.  In fact, some of the writers are now freelance writing for Futurama because they can't afford to keep them on the writing staff.  So what that means is the existing skeleton writing staff come up with ideas and then ask other writers not on staff if they'd like to write the episode.  This to me proves that everyone is involved as a "labor of love" because they love the show and love the fans.  They aren't getting rich off of the show, but it is holding its own financially.

If I had to bet money I think there will be a production season 8a, but not an 8b.  In other words, after season 7b they will order 13 more eps and that will be it.

[Reply #348 on:]

DotheBartman was talking about Comedy Central versus other cable outlets like Adult Swim or FX.

Still, Adult Swim has always wanted Futurama...and then Comedy Central "stole" it from them. I think they COULD make a play for it, if Comedy Central drops it. Not super-likely, but it's possible.

I would be satisfied if they did another 13 episode run to end it. I'd like the writers to have a chance to write a true final episode instead of the umpteenth maybe-final-but-not-completely-sure episode.

[Reply #349 on:]

I recall the producers having the desire to release a full length feature movie should the series end, Fishy.

[Reply #350 on:]

I doubt they'd order a 13-episode run.

They've been producing the show in batches of 26 episodes because it's more financially viable for them that way, given the show's budget cuts. Just ordering 13 wouldn't be a money-saving move which means it wouldn't make sense.

But I'd be happy for this to be the last season providing we got a theatrical feature-film to finish it off (or three).

[Reply #351 on:]

But I'd be happy for this to be the last season providing we got a theatrical feature-film to finish it off (or three).

I would not be happy for this to be the last production season, although I would be able to accept it ending the CC production run.

However, I do not believe that Futurama will not be renewed.  As others have stated, the viewership for the season opener was lowered by a variety of factors, and I fully expect the future numbers to improve -- but even if they do not, Futurama is still one of CC's best-rated programs, and is likely to be renewed.

[Reply #352 on:]

The only real reason why the viewership was relatively low is because of the scheduling change. I was talking to a friend saying that the premiere was on Wednesday, and his response was, "No, Futurama's on Thursdays." This response repeated a few times, all by people who would be classified as "casual fans". The diehards knew it was going to be on Wednesday (even myself, who hasn't followed the Countdown to Futurama stuff in fear of being spoilered), but the casual fans had no idea. This week's ratings should be an increase, and the series should middle around 1.5 to 1.75 million viewers during the season (for comparison, it averaged 2.3 million in the first CC season).

[Reply #353 on:]

Smeeesh...

Look at how much the Sunday schedule on the terrestial networks...

My god, NBC moved Monday Night Football to Sunday night...

"'nougf said'"

[Reply #354 on:]

Aaaaahhhhhrrrrrrooooooooooooo ooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

[Reply #355 on:]

Over 20 million likes on Facebook, and only 1 million viewers?!

(Yes, I am aware a large quantity of the 20 million likes will be from people outside of the US, but still!)

[Reply #356 on:]

Smeeesh...

Look at how much the Sunday schedule on the terrestial networks...

My god, NBC moved Monday Night Football to Sunday night...

"'nougf said'"

ABC (a Disney company) hosted Monday Night Football from 1970 to 2005.
ESPN (a Disney company) hosted Sunday Night Football from 1987 to 2005.
NBC didn't host any NFL games from 1998 to 2005.

Then the NFL deals got re-signed in 2005:
ABC hasn't hosted any NFL games since then.
The Monday Night Football brand moved to ESPN.
NBC started a new Sunday Night Football brand.

In short: you're wrong, use a different example.

Over 20 million likes on Facebook, and only 1 million viewers?!

(Yes, I am aware a large quantity of the 20 million likes will be from people outside of the US, but still!)

You answered your own disbelief. (And the viewership was closer to 2 million than 1 million, but that's beside the point.) And mind you that there should be a consider viewership in the DVR and legal downloads markets that should get that number much higher. And that's not even mentioning the illegal downloads market. The site that I may or may not utilize from time to time had Futurama as the most viewed show for a few days after the premiere, and it's still in the top 10 there.

In short: don't get your panties in a bunch. It's not like CC is going to cancel it because it could "only" pull in over 1.5 million viewers.

[Reply #357 on:]

A lot of people also wait for DVD (and Netflix) releases nowadays, too. I know some huge fans of other shows that wait up to a year to see new episodes of them, only because it's just easier to digest them in the DVD-chunks rather than trying to keep up with them week to week.

Also, it's easy to forget that cable operates a lot differently than than major networks, particularly with cable networks like CC that tend to show their programs over and over. I'm not sure how much Comedy Central weighs the initial airing versus later ones, but no doubt they're aware that not everyone who's tuning in is catching the initial airing. They show each episode several times throughout the week (including a second time the same night it premieres!), and finally again right before the next episode. Not to mention they all get repeated even more after that, and each new episode adds to their rerun pool. This is in contrast to major networks, which only show their show episodes 2-3 times before selling them off to syndication and never airing them again. Not that the first airing isn't very important, but it may be less important than we think it is, especially with plenty of people intentionally catching different airings depending on their schedules.

Oh, and both episodes from this week have risen in the iTunes rankings!

[Reply #358 on:]

I know I've tuned in for every airing of the season premiere that they have shown since Wednesday.

[Reply #359 on:]

If futurama gets cancelled and ugly americans keeps getting renewed then there's something wrong with the world