A teensy glimmer of hope for Futurama?

[on:]

Check out this story I read on the possible return of "The Family Guy"  due to impressive DVD sales.

 

Originally posted on *another forum*:

USA TODAY- In a sign of the growing importance of DVD sales to Hollywood, 20th Century Fox is considering a plan to resume production of Family Guy, a sometimes crude animated comedy that the Fox network took off the air more than 18 months ago.

As many as 35 new episodes could return in January 2005, marking the first time that a canceled series has been revived based on strong DVD demand and ratings in syndication.

Fox Television Entertainment Group chairman Sandy Grushow said a decision is expected soon and called the series a late-blooming phenomenon that may have aired before its time.

A DVD set of the show's first 28 episodes released in April has sold nearly 1 million copies, making it this year's top-selling TV show and the No. 4 television title ever, according to Video Store magazine. A second collection, of 22 episodes, has sold 520,000 copies. And the series is Cartoon Network's most popular among adults.

Family Guy premiered with a big audience — 22 million viewers — and some controversy after Fox's 1999 Super Bowl telecast. In the pilot episode, Stewie, a talking toddler with a clipped British accent, was openly contemptuous of his loutish dad and bent on killing his sweet-natured mother in a quest for world domination.

Creator Seth MacFarlane, then 24, wrote scripts, drew characters, provided voices and infused the show with rapid-fire sight gags, a nod to The Simpsons. But ratings faded, and the show ended with a whimper early last year.

The relatively short network run may have helped DVD sales, Video Store's Judith McCourt says. "It really speaks to something that had a following, was cut off network TV, and people said, 'What did I miss?' "

DVD and cable viewers have "created kind of a groundswell that could lead to better ratings" on Fox, Grushow says, although new episodes could end up going directly to Cartoon Network.

A decision to restart the show suggests a reversal from the old TV business model, in which a network hit predicts a profit windfall in syndication. This time, the promise of DVD and syndication gold could justify a show's return even if low network ratings didn't.

But canceled favorites aren't likely to rise from the grave en masse. Family Guy has one major advantage: With no actors and no sets, it can simply be drawn back into existence.

Sorry if someone has already posted this, but I did not see it yet...

That last paragraph is sort of a bummer, but the part about cartoon network makes you go hmmm...

-cris

[Reply #1 on:]

d'oh- I did not see it here, but it is only the TOP STORY on CGEF.  Sorry for the wasted bandwidth!

-cris

[Reply #2 on:]

From Futurama's POV, the last paragraph isn't that big a bummer.

[Reply #3 on:]

I'm sure Futurama costs way more to make than Family Guy. Maybe if everybody on the planet buys 20 copies of Futurama DVDs, then maybe Fox MIGHT consider bringing it back. Even then, they would still air it maybe once a month, at the most.

[Reply #4 on:]

How about if they only make it for DVD? I'm shure as hell gonna buy it!
Someone should pee on the frontsteps of the FOX evil headquarters.

[Reply #5 on:]

I could settle for DVD!  I could see this as a tiny glimmer of hope for Futurama, myself!  If not, there's always the comic books, fanfic, and this website!

[Reply #6 on:]

 

Originally posted by futuramamama:
How about if they only make it for DVD? I'm shure as hell gonna buy it!

i agree. i had the same thought as well, but i'm still not sure if it would be profitable enough to warrant production.

[Reply #7 on:]

Did FOX have a vendetta against Family Guy's creator?

[Reply #8 on:]

No, that's why they're giving him a new show next fall and with the way it seems now, renewing Family Guy.

[Reply #9 on:]

Wouldn't they have to hire new writers and get the cast back together for this to work? I recall this happened for the 3rd season when the show was renewed in the final hour. You could definitely see a difference in the writing from the first two seasons.

I'd be really happy to see Family Guy return though. I don't think there's much chance of this happening with Futurama though, as it doesn't have the wide appeal and huge fanbase that FG does. We can hope though 

[Reply #10 on:]

oopps....wrong thread

[Reply #11 on:]

Oh, God, I hope it does return...
If family Guy does, then Futurama must do.  When will Fox see the light?

[Reply #12 on:]

if family guy returns people might expect too much and it might seem less funny....but thats just my opinion, family guy is awesome but ive heard about 30,000 rumors about it coming back but so far knowone has told me a simple yes or no.

[Reply #13 on:]

I'm totally shocked that Family Guy is apparently more popular than Futurama.  Before I started visiting Futurama sites (a lot of them make mention of Family Guy), I never heard of the show since I read an article in the newspaper about the release of the show on the day it first aired back in 1998 or 1999 or whenever.

[Reply #14 on:]

 

Originally posted by bob newhart:
if family guy returns people might expect too much and it might seem less funny...

Oh, it's inevitable.  It's the exact reason why Futurama shouldn't return.

[Reply #15 on:]

I'm sorry for being so pessimstic but I think the only hope for Futurama is false hope

[Reply #16 on:]

Isn't there already a thread about this in the TV forum?

[Reply #17 on:]

Good grief Beamer, are you running for moderator or something?! 

[Reply #18 on:]

FG is way more popular than Futurama for reasons I fail to understand. Sure, the FG is funny and more dirty, but Futurama has better storylines, characters, animation, ect ect. I think there is no hope for Futurama whatsoever.

[Reply #19 on:]

the entire reason family guy and futurama failed in the first place is because they did not have as much hype and people didnt talk about them very much, i on the other hand have been a hardcore futurama fan since the begining. But once family guy was on cartoon network and more younger people (and more people in general) started to watch it might have seemed funnier than futurama so people started to talk more and cartoon network boasted about it unlike gay fox.

[Reply #20 on:]

Topic:   A teensy glimmer of hope for Futurama?

[Bender]Well, there's always hope! ...Ha Ha Ha![/Bender]

[Professor]I just made myself sad[/Professor]

[Reply #21 on:]

gypsy: look do you want false hope or not.

fry: only if you dont have any real hope

[Reply #22 on:]

"You can't give up hope just because it's hopeless. You gotta hope even more, and cover your ears and go 'bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla!'"

[Reply #23 on:]

 

Originally posted by bob newhart:
the entire reason family guy and futurama failed in the first place is because they did not have as much hype and people didnt talk about them very much,

Erm...Futurama? No hype? The pilot had the largest ever audience (up to that point) for a debut show on Fox. Admittedly, it was promoted in the wrong way ("From The Simpsons..." etc), but I certainly remember the publicity shots and hype way before the show debuted in the US, and I live in a different country.

...although you've hit the nail on family guy - I'd never heard of it until C4 started screening it...

[Reply #24 on:]

yea futurama was big at the begining but with the bogus time slot it got people just stopped talking about it

[Reply #25 on:]

Why don't they just pack up Futurama and take it to another network?  I'm sure Cartoon Network, or even the Sci-F- Channel would take it.

[Reply #26 on:]

Because while Matt has the rights to Futurama itself (that's why he can still publish comics) Fox owns the broadcast rights to the show.

[Reply #27 on:]

Darn.

[Reply #28 on:]

Still, I suppose another question is: IF there is a channel out there with enough money to restart Futurama, would Fox sell the broadcast rights to the show?

[Reply #29 on:]

FOX would probaby keep the rights, just to fuck with the fans. They actrually seem to enjoy mistreating the people that make them rich.

[Reply #30 on:]

Fox makes me angry...it makes me want to burn things.

[Reply #31 on:]

I'm not sure if Family Guy is more popular than Futurama.  But is is much cheaper to produce. 

The nice thing about Futurama though, is that once they have it in the computer, they can bring it back pretty easy.  But the voice actors and writers might be hard to get back.

Anyone know how much Futurama has sold in the US for Season 1 or 2?  How 'bout abroad (a market I don't think FG has)?  I know it has been in the top 100 at Amazon for a long time. 

[Reply #32 on:]

I wish I knew how much it cost per episode of FG to produce, but it's probably alot less than the $1.2 million for Futurama (figure taken from adult swim)

[Reply #33 on:]

I imagine that Seth MacFarlane saves a few bob by being both a writer and a voice actor on Family Guy.

[Reply #34 on:]

c'mon people...if Farscape can come back, Futurama can! Although a Futurama miniseries would kinda suck, unless it was done VERY WELL...

[Reply #35 on:]

It seems that TDHAIP is created in order to be the last episode in the series

[Reply #36 on:]

^At the time TDHAIP was created, the writers didn't actually know if the show was being renewed so it was made in such a way that it would work as a final episode but wouldn't cause too many problems if they were hired to make more.

[Reply #37 on:]

I was surprised to read that Family Guy DVDs are selling more copies than Futurama. That doesn't bode well for any new episodes or a movie for Futurama... Shame too, imo our show is an order of magnitude better than FG...

Coot,
The universe is an unfair place.

[Reply #38 on:]

It's cause most people aren't sophisticated enough to get really good shows, but they can get into watching utter crap (ie Family Guy for the most part as opposed to Futurama).  I'm not saying crap is bad, I like Family Guy, but Futurama would have a better audience if some people would pull their heads out of their asses.

Also I doubt if the FG DVD's can really compare to the Futurama ones, especially if you think about the world market of which Futurama is an international hit and FG which isn't as much.  Also because there are more Futurama DVD's it's my guess the 4 Futurama has would outsell the 2 FG has in any case.  I take most of these articles as utter garbage, probably just propaganda spread by Fox themselves....

>:

[Reply #39 on:]

I feel like I've gone completely mad:
I was told, about 2 months ago that Matt Groening had more or less demanded that fox put futurama back on, or he'd pull the simpsons.  i didnt altogether believe this, cuz it sounded like a weird thing to do and i never heard anything more about it.  however...i was watching adult swim no more than a month ago, and they said that they had new episodes, and then played one.  but there's no mention of new episodes anywhere on the adult swim or any futurama fan sites i've looked at.  so i'm very confused.  maybe adult swim just got the rights to more episodes that they hadn't been able to air before?