Comedy Central Cancels Futurama

[Reply #120 on:]

American Dad isn't bad. It doesn't annoy me like Family Guy does.

Btw, I've yet to sign a petition to bring our show back and I won't. Enough is enough. I feel kinda bad with Mo linking to that one petition on facebook ever few hours...

[Reply #121 on:]

Show spoiler

That's a good one, Hein. Like it a lot.

Enough is enough.

Yes, I agree completely. To everything turn turn there is a season turn turn and etc.

[Reply #122 on:]

Exactly, American Dad! is passable.

And Futurama deserves to have some finality, and if the two characters we think would get married at the end of the series are now actually getting hitched... then it probably is the perfect time to end.

[Reply #123 on:]

Part of me wonders if the new seasons didn't seem so good because we are all ten years older now. The original series has history rooted in our youth - the good times always seem better when looking back on them. Back then, it was new, it was fresh, we were young(er) - now we're all older, more jaded.

Perhaps that's true for some people.  For me?  Well, I was ancient when the original episodes aired, and was still ancient when the newer episodes aired and I still see a difference. The slight difference is something I attribute partially to the reduced budget and reduced running time. Still, I'm very glad that they did return and sad for the current cancellation and hope that the show will get picked up somewhere else.

[Reply #124 on:]

I was thinking about this more. The new seasons being strung so widely apart, and the season itself being so short, has really put a damper on my enthusiasm. When the new eps air, I'm always engrossed and excited. While they do lack some of that subtle humor and je ne sais quoi, I am always so happy to watch a new one.

If it does get picked up somewhere else, I'll be thrilled--but I just hope that the seasons are longer for me to become thoroughly absorbed.

[Reply #125 on:]

I don't like what I've seen of american dad.

[Reply #126 on:]

Watch.. "Lost in Space" and see if that episode doesn't cahnge your mind on A.D!

It's really the only Seth Macfarlane show worth anyones time at all.

[Reply #127 on:]

I have to say, some of the episodes DID have some value to it to add to the show's reputation (The Late Philip J. Fry, won 1 Emmy in 2011), some did not (The Futurama Holiday Spectacular, considered the worst Futurama episode). But, it has to be one of the greatest animated shows of all-time: created by one of the greatest creators with the greatest writers, the greatest voice actors, the list goes on. Plus, the fanbase has given them a chance to come back and possibly to come back once again.

[Reply #128 on:]

I wanted to like Family Guy, but I just can't. I remember watching an episode where they were literally repeating the same gag for 8 minutes (bird is the word).

I was in disgust that people not only watch it, but buy the DVDs and merchandise. The worst episode of Futurama has more worth than every single one of Seth McFarlane;s show's episodes combined.

[Reply #129 on:]

I wanted to like Family Guy, but I just can't. I remember watching an episode where they were literally repeating the same gag for 8 minutes (bird is the word).

Don't forget the parts where they go: "Ah, this is worst than the time I (insert random shit here)", I mean you can't forget the shitty parts..

[Reply #130 on:]

I don't get the hate for Family Guy. Yeah it's stupid, but It's still about a million times more enjoyable than any of the shit "reality" shows that seem to make up a majority of every channel's schedule these days.

Sometimes I like to watch something that's funny because it's completely stupid and random like Family Guy. It's the same reason I sometimes like to watch sketch shows or funny YouTube videos. When I want to watch something that has a little more depth to its humour, characters and story lines then I'll watch something like Futurama or American Dad (which is actually a great show and I hate when people lump it in with Family Guy and The Cleveland Show, the latter of which never appealed to me).

Watch.. "Lost in Space" and see if that episode doesn't cahnge your mind on A.D!

Yeah, or any of the Christmas episodes.

[Reply #131 on:]

That's what I think Seth McFarlane's show
Anyway I don't really like his shows.

[Reply #132 on:]

One cancelled, three to go.

[Reply #133 on:]

Hey, American Dad is pretty damn funny.

[Reply #134 on:]

Hmm. Best of the three, we can agree on that.

[Reply #135 on:]

How can anyone not like Director Avery and Principal Lewis?

[Reply #136 on:]

@ Manwich

I know right?
He's hilarious.

[Reply #137 on:]

American Dad! has never made me laugh. Not a single time.

But, the Seth MacFarlane stuff isn't really worth comparing to Futurama, at least not more than any other comedy on the air. I never understand why people feel so compelled to compare animated shows to each other. It's just a medium.

[Reply #138 on:]

American Dad can suck sometimes, but for the most part it can be pretty funny and give some pretty great plots, or at least compared to the other Animation Domination shows.

So far out of the Macfarlane shows, American Dad's Lost In Space episode is probably the closest they have ever gotten to Futurama's feel. The entire plot of Jeff (the only regular AD character in the episode) going through a big mysterious space ship of aliens trying to get back to Earth and his wife Hayley felt so much like Fry trying to get back to his lover Leela and the amount of SciFi and the creativity of the different aliens and variations of Rogers species was really new to see on the show and felt like classic Futurama in the entire experience of seeing the new creatures and things Jeff saw. Not just that, but the humor for that episode was surprisingly pretty subtle compared to the rest of the series and only focused on the 1 plot of Jeff trying to get home, which really proves how stable the show could be with only using Jeff as the main character while still being able to stay funny and good at storytelling unlike if Family Guy or Cleveland Show was to do it and would shove as many shocking and unfunny jokes in as possible until the episode ended.

If you don't like the show, I can understand it, but AD is definitely not the same as the anuses known as Family Guy and The Fuck Cleveland Show. Unlike those shows, AD can actually tell a decent story and have likeable characters and avoid making millions of pointless filler jokes at the lowest common denominator. Maybe you can say Seasons 1-3 Family Guy was better, but as whole series, American Dad is easily the best of the Macfarlane shows and is easily the best animated show on Animation Domination with Bob's Burgers currently.

[Reply #139 on:]

American Dad isn't a SciFi show like Futurama but is does have the off-color humor that Futurama has and I don't get into the whole comparing of shows thing.  I love them both.

Interesting fact.  Seth Macfarlane and I have the same ancestor who came to the USA.  His name is William Brewster from the Mayflower.

My sister-in-law can't stand that fact.

[Reply #140 on:]

Box speaks the truth!

[Reply #141 on:]

Well, I'm not too sad that Futurama has been cancelled to be honest. We had a few amazing episodes to come out of this run like The Late Philip J. Fry, The Prisoner Of Benda, and Reincarnation, but this run has almost been as long as the original if you count the movies so hey it's not too bad. The quality of last season was mostly below par for me but still it kept me entertained. I'm looking forward to the final episodes this year, so I'm hoping the final episode of this run could finish and be left open for a cinema-released movie.

[Reply #142 on:]

Hi gang, new here. I'm disappointed that futurama has been cancelled, however i hope like matt groening says, he hopes it will be picked up by another network.

Been a fan of futurama for a very long time, and to see it end will be a sad day. 

[Reply #143 on:]

Hello there new guy!
They were working on getting it on netflix only right? not sure tough

[Reply #144 on:]

Hey Fanarama, if you haven't already, you can sign the petition to save the show.

[Reply #145 on:]

yip, i did sign the petition. 

[Reply #146 on:]

If anyone cares, here's what Josh Weinstein had to say on the matter.

"It comes down to a decision about money. It's a really expensive show to do with such careful animation that's very expensive, and there's a lot of cheaper animation being done.

"Also, our ratings were just so-so. If we had really good ratings we'd probably be still going. So while I understand it, I'm not overjoyed."

[Reply #147 on:]

Full Josh Weinstein interview, along with him talking about his new British TV Series, Strange Hill High.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22310362

[Reply #148 on:]

It all comes down to ratings in the end, especially on a network like Comedy Central.  I'm happy we got some new Futurama, but the new seasons have been really uneven in quality.  It's hard enough to keep an audience these days even when you're show is top notch all the time.  This was inevitable though as far as I'm concerned.  If a show on Comedy Central isn't South Park or one of the 11:00 PM fake news shows, it never lasts more than a few years.

[Reply #149 on:]

 

[Reply #150 on:]

It all comes down to CC was too cheap and they show didn't have all the writers and orchestra it needed.

That right there lead to bad ratings through bad plots!
People obviously stopped watching.

[Reply #151 on:]

Yep, this Comedy Central bashing is toootally justified. I mean, all the other networks were just clammouring to renew it on its extremely high budget, and then Comedy Central came in, undercut everyone and raped our show! The quality of the new episodes cannot be attributed to ANYONE else other than Comedy Central, and if it weren't for this awful, awful network and their evil "taking a huge risk by renewing a very expensive cancelled show" ways, we would've gotten 52 bonus episodes regardless!

Shame on you, UnrealLegend. Shame on You.

[Reply #152 on:]

I'm grateful they made more, I just wished Fox or CC chipped in more money.
I think not having all the writers back and the proper orchestra hurt the comebacks longevity.

But the final nail in the coffin was the move to Wednesday nights, and that was all on CC.

I mean "Duck Dynasty" is the highest rated show on cable airing new right now, and it airs at the same time when "Futurama" is on new on CC.
No show stands a chance against this monster, and it's 12 million viewers!!!
Futurama is lucky to get 1 million viewers against this.

[Reply #153 on:]

I'm grateful they made more, I just wished Fox or CC chipped in more money.
I think not having all the writers back and the proper orchestra hurt the comebacks longevity.

Given how completely against-the-odds it was that Futurama even came back in the first place, I think asking for a higher budget would've definitely been pushing our luck (and not really economically feasible for anybody involved). I'm still happy and grateful the show came back at all, all inconsistencies aside. They've had some of their worst episodes on CC but they've also had some of their best, so I think it was worth it.

But the final nail in the coffin was the move to Wednesday nights, and that was all on CC.

South Park airs on Wednesday nights and that's CC's highest-rating show. The move to put Futurama on Wednesday was done with the intention of HELPING the show's ratings, not harming them. Nobody could've seen the success of Duck Dynasty coming.

Futurama doesn't rate well because it's not "must-see" tv in an era where serialised programming reigns supreme. I'm sure plenty of people still enjoy the show, but there's never been a huge sense of urgency to catch each new episode when it airs (hence why DVD sales are still Futurama's strongest point).

[Reply #154 on:]

I disagree, it was a bad move to get Futurama made into four DVD movies.
They should have just made one DVD film like FG and the fought hard to come back to FOX with a nice budget just like FG did.
Remember Seth fought FOX for an orchestra and the all the writers, and he won!

Also SP has fallen as the ratings crown jewel it was for CC.
Next, the shitty Duck Dynasty has fast been sweeping the ratings more and more every season.
Fact is Futurama started on Thursdays, and performed much better on Thursdays.
People still ask me what day the show is on b/c they think it's still Thursday.

Hell, most casual people get CC and AS mixed up to this day b/c they like all the animated shows to air on the same channel.

HELL, I know people (my age) who watch all the re-runs of FG and A.D! on AS and don't even know it airs new on FOX Sunday night first.

I can go on and on...

[Reply #155 on:]

I disagree, it was a bad move to get Futurama made into four DVD movies.
They should have just made one DVD film like FG and the fought hard to come back to FOX with a nice budget just like FG did.
Remember Seth fought FOX for an orchestra and the all the writers, and he won!

I never said the DVD movies were a good idea. Merely that the sales of the DVDs (and I was referring more to the regular volumes in this regard) generated much more significant numbers than their broadcast ratings.

Also Fox pretty much notoriously hated Futurama. Futurama was doing well enough in syndication/dvd sales to return, but even then, Family Guy was getting better numbers. And from what I can gather, Fox have a pretty good relationship with Seth MacFarlane. I'm also not sure if the Futurama staff would even WANT to go back to Fox after the treatment they received in the original run. Whatever the case, Comedy Central was the only network that showed interest in bringing the show back for more episodes, and as fantastic as that was, Comedy Central just doesn't have the kind of money to throw at animated shows that Fox does.

And even if it's not the crown jewel for CC's ratings anymore, South Park is still doing very well by Comedy Central standards. It makes sense from a network standpoint to air the animated shows together, too.

[Reply #156 on:]

I just like talking to you b/c you write back.
You win the thread, here is your free love award

 

Your posts are good.. and you should feel good!

[Reply #157 on:]

I have relatively little to say in this thread, so this will probably be a very unimpressive first post. I only recently discovered that "Futurama" is being cancelled by Comedy Central now too. It feels like it just keeps getting cancelled. Now, obviously it did reappear once, but I highly doubt that will occur in the future. It's a shame that such a fantastically funny and creative show hasn't done that well. Yet, I am not surprised by this. The population in general is, of course, not very creative. Most people are logical, and seem to either want news, or simple parodies of current times. Granted, Star Trek" and "Doctor Who" has/have done very well, so this probably isn't the whole case.  Like Beamer said, it most likely has a lot to do with money. I think the other problem here is that "Futurama" isn't as relatable as many of the other shows, and tends to be obscure.

[Reply #158 on:]

It certainly doesn't have as MUCH mainstream appeal, but it seems pretty universally liked by its fan-base regardless of sci-fi knowledge/appreciation. There was no way the show was ever going to be "the next Simpsons," but it does have the potential to be doing better than it is now. Its lack of success in its original run could be largely attributed to a horrible lack of promotion, inconsistent scheduling and general bad treatment from the network. Its current ratings on CC ARE good for cable (especially given that it's up against the highest-rated cable show ever), and the show rated quite well on Adult Swim too; relatively-speaking, of course. But no cable channel has the budget to devote the amount of cash that Futurama needs to an animated series that's already well clear of the requirement for syndication. It breaks my heart, but it's more than understandable. The comedy central episodes were a fucking miracle.

[Reply #159 on:]

It's a shame that such a fantastically funny and creative show hasn't done that well. Yet, I am not surprised by this. The population in general is, of course, not very creative. Most people are logical, and seem to either want news, or simple parodies of current times.

Futurama hasn't typically used much real-life references or stupid jokes, but with new episodes those things have appeared more. Too bad they didn't help the show last longer, while they decreased the quality little.

In a category of stupidness, I've seen with new episodes (espescially in 7B) that problem is solved by Professor's new invention too much or without much explaining. It bothers me a little, but of course Futurama is changing over time by today's standards. I simply hope writers would have tried to stick with its successful elements from the original run more. Something like continuity is very important and these things shouldn't be too hard to stick with.