Futurama May Strike Back (on DVD) 307
Nik writes "Hot on the heels of Family Guy's revival, Can't Get Enough Futurama is reporting that 'there is renewed talk at FOX about bringing fresh Futurama content directly to DVD.' While nothing is confirmed at this point, it is apparently the first time that a division of Fox has considered producing new episodes of the animated sci-fi series in some time."
Re:Let it die (Score:4, Informative)
as for futurama, it has a more sci-fi/geek based comedy style that you wont find in the others.
Fox is also experimenting with Web downloads (Score:4, Informative)
Well, they unexpectedly pulled the show after Episode 5, apparently could not compete with Desperate Housewives during the same time slot, so they figured some show about UFOs was worth it, while Obnoxious boss was not.
They posted the remaining episodes on www.fox.com/bigfat (the link doesn't work anymore) later, with a new episode published every Friday. I am not sure what their traffic numbers were, but a lot of fans of the Boss downloaded the complete episodes.
I'd assume Fox would be pretty open to the scheme where they charge $1 or so per download (the obnoxious boss ones were not-DRMed, just regular WMV files, as far as I can remember). Makes sense with the amount of shows they keep cancelling and each show having a "long tail" following of maybe tens of thousands fans, but not millions, to make it justifiable to air on primetime TV.
Re:Better than the Simpsons (Score:3, Informative)
They are contracted through another 1 or 2 seasons, and they are contracted through 2010 for syndication.
Please correct me if I'm wrong...
Re:Firefly (Score:3, Informative)
Hold your horses, the comics are coming this summer, then the movie this fall, and then we'll see.
Personally, I'd prefer if they kept their new alliance with Universal instead of going back to the deepest pits of hell to meet with the Fox execs.
obligatory quote (Score:5, Informative)
"That's not why people watch TV. Clever things make people feel stupid and unexpected things make them feel scared."
I'm not sure if anyone has noticed, but if you read slashdot's headers there'll be random futurama quotes on each server reply. eg:
X-Bender: Well I don't have anything else planned for today, let's get drunk!
NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN (Score:4, Informative)
Problem is, Fox does NOT OWN FUTURAMA, Matt Groining does. The main reason Fox let Futurama die in the firtt place is because of that very reason. Dvd sales of Futurama have not been a barn burner and given the very high cost of producing a Futurama episode I doubt even if Cartoon Network picked up some of the bill it would even be profitable.
Everyone seems to forget that Fox was contractually obligated to the four seasons that aired, and sneakily pre-empted Futurama so that there would be a backlog of episodes so they could tell M.G. "Sorry Matt, there is a backlog of episodes, so we don't need a fifth season," without upsetting the Goose that laid the Golden egg (Simpsons being that egg).
The ONLY way Futurama would see the light of day is if M.G. paid for it himself. End of Story.
Planned cancellations, office politics (Score:5, Informative)
Futurama, like firefly, was scheduled during a "sport overtime" timeslot, i.e. it aired rarely, and sometimes only the confusing second half of the 24 minuttes would air, etc.
Your options are:
Mind bogging incompetance, or mean spirited abuse of power. I'm gonna go with mean spiritted: I don't think someone that incompetant would ever earn the right to make that decision, especially since it happened again to a similar show on the same network not long afterwards.
They Forgot The Important Link! (Score:5, Informative)
Well, I spoke to David X.Cohen because we did promos for a new Futurama compilation and he said that they did have talks with the top guys at FOX and they were extremely impressed with the sales of the Futurama DVDs. The idea was to make a Futurama movie right to DVD and then a 2nd and a 3rd. That's what's being discussed. Fox is trying to figure out a budget for the whole project, and it sounded like David X. was very jazzed!
I would love more than anything to do that show again. I thought it was best experience on every level... creatively, voice-wise, writing, animation and the laughs. The laughs. Writers and performers that respected each other.
It's got a bit more effect when you have a quote from a voice-actor talking with a producer.
Re:Niche marketing vs. Broadcasting (Score:5, Informative)
Futurama was also a very expensive show. There's a huge list of writers, producers and God-knows-what-they-do executives who are paid quite a bit of money per episode. That's the real problem with the networks-- it's not the actual cost of making a show, it's that every production is top-heavy with people in suits who are paid ghastly sum to give notes. I'm speaking from experience here-- the contact list for a typical network production (animated or live) has more executives than cast and crew. And with so many people with veto power, it's really difficult for something without a very broad appeal to survive.
Futurama is and was great, but it should have been a cable show. With a low overhead it would have found a comfortable audience and could have lasted for years. But at a network, the cost per episode was literally dozens of times what it costs to produce a cable show like Spongebob or Aqua Teen-- and since it wasn't a hit on the scale of The Simpsons, it had to go.
Re:Better than the Simpsons (Score:3, Informative)
That's why there are 4 volumes for sale on DVD.
Re:Sound Great (Score:2, Informative)
Misinformation (Score:2, Informative)
Only Futurama was on an American sports day (Sunday) during its last couple of seasons. Before Sundays, it was aired on Tuesday nights with the Guinness World Records, P.J.s (the short lived Eddie Murphy claymation show) and King of the Hill in early 2000's.