Futurama May Strike Back (on DVD)

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."

Sound Great

[knoebelsPT]

No commercials, new episodes, no network censors. I'll be the first in line

Niche marketing vs. Broadcasting

[PornMaster]

Well, it makes sense that if they didn't see enough financial benefit to broadcasting it, but there's a strong enough fan base, to sell it to them directly. Capitalism working well. Bravo!

REMINDER: Bender doesn't care

[Anonymous Coward]

First post on behalf of bender

YEY! Adult swim helps us all out~

[cocoacow]

I think this is proof that adult entertainment is really evolving. And who do we have to thank for all this wonderfullness? Adult Swim [adultswim.com].
They have really shown the world that we want more animation, just like they get in japan. And what better then more episodes of my most favorite show of all time, (besides the simpsons). Seems the quick dissemination of television shows to DVD also really helps show those network borgs just how much we really love a show. Take that Nielsen!

Sweet

[Lullabye_Muse]

I just started my futurama collection yesterday volume one is better than the Simpsons, season one content wise.

Re:Let it die

[akeru]

Clearly you have never watched Futurama. The Simpsons, Family Guy and (now) American Dad: all pretty much the same "let's make fun of the 'Leave It To Beaver' family" with appropriately similar jokes involving the idiocy of the father. Futurama does away with almost all of that. The only similarity is in the "stupidity jokes". Think before you speak.

Re:Let it die

[kv9]

short answer: yes.
long answer: yes -- family guy died once and it did matter for the fans so fox revived it.

and to be on topic, i for one cant wait for our futurama overlords to be back. even on dvd.

Someone state the obvious

[tfcdesign]

Bring new episodes to TV on Adult Swim! Geeze, you'd think these guys who are running the show would have a clue about market and demographic.

Re:YEY! Adult swim helps us all out~

[Tim Browse]

Hmm...except, I love the Simpsons and Futurama, but the fact that they are animated has nothing to do with it - it's mainly because they are well written and acted comedies.

Obviously both shows get some mileage from being animated, in that you can do things that would normally be expensive (esp. in Futurama), but that is for me, very much a side issue.

I don't ever think "Yay! Futurama's on! I love animation!", I think "Yay! Futurama's on! Bender is great! Deal with it!"

Re:I'll believe it when I see it

[ucblockhead]

Not necessarily, as airtime is a limited resource. They probably assume that they can put another show in its place that'll bring in more ad revenue. This is quite rational if a show has a strong fan base but gets low overall numbers.

The shows that do best are stuff that appeals enough to lots and lots of people so that they watch it instead of the other channel. (Roughly speaking.) Lots of people watch stuff on TV just because it's there. A show that most people don't care for but that a few people love will do horribly.

DVD sales are the opposite. A show makes lots of money on DVD if it can convince someone to pay $59.95 or more for a season. The only people who are going to do this are rabid fans. So on DVD, a show with a bunch of rabid fans will do better than a show that everyone sort of likes but no one loves.

That's why a "Firefly" can sell more DVDs than "Everybody Loves Raymond". Fewer people like "Firefly", so it got poorer ratings. But the number of people who loved "Firefly" is greater than those who loved "Everybody Loves Raymond", so it sold more DVDs.

If shows start going "straight to DVD", it could be very good for those of us who likes niche shows. Producers will have to worry less about appealing to the entire TV viewing population and will pay more attention to the rabid fanbase.

Re:I'll believe it when I see it

[Scrameustache]

It seems to me that if they were interested in funding new episodes, they'd want to show them on their station, collect the ratings numbers and ad revenue, and THEN release them on DVD some time later.

You got your "they" confused.

They are the Fox DVD execs, they want to sell more Futurama box sets, because Futurama box sets have brought them great profit.
The other batch of execs, the Broadcasting subdivision, don't want to air Futuramas, but the DVD people don't care if the Broadcasters want to air them or not, they want to sell DVDs.

A company as large as Fox isn't one big "they", it's a hydra with many heads. Just because the TV head doesn't like the taste of Futurama, that won't stop the DVD head from feeding on it.

How about new episodes of alternate-Enterprise?

[davidwr]

I want to see more of the intrigue and backstabbing of The Empire between the undoubtedly short reigh of Empress Sato and the arrival of "our" Spock and Kirk in Mirror, Mirror.

Send those direct to video, or if it's too expensive to film, direct-to-the-bookstore.

Re:Niche marketing vs. Broadcasting

[balthan]

yet it's still not cost effective to broadcast?

It's probably not so much that's it's not cost-effective to broadcast, but that it's not cost-effective enough. Networks make most of their money from the "hit" shows, so it's easier for them just to churn out new shows and cancel them after 3 episodes until they land the next hit. Futurama may have been profitable (I have no idea), but they were probably looking for Simpsons type numbers and regarded it as a failure.

One day someone's going to start pandering to the niche markets and make a comfortable living doing so. Sci-Fi had that oppurtunity early on, but blew it trying to follow the major networks.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Futurama Family Guy

[miyako]

I'm really glad to see that it's being considered, though I'm not going to hold my breath. It always stuck me as odd that Family Guy got so much more support than Futurama. While I think familiy guy is a perfectly good show as shows go, I think that Futurama is perhaps the best pure-comedy show I've ever watched.

Re:NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN

[aslate]

Every few months or so a "story" pops up that Fox is thinking about renewing Futurama or doing the straight to dvd thing. This is usually drummed up by some Futurama Fan site that is Jealous of Family Guy's success and thinks that because "crappy Family Guy" was renewed that Futurama should be renewed also. Discounting the fact that Family Guy is one of highest rated shows on Adult Swim and the second highest selling dvd-t.v. show of all time.
Wrong: The Futurama community knows that it's basically dead, we accepted that about a year after it was cancelled. CGEF still posts all the relevant information, and has been posting all the info they get from the production team, although they always say "Don't get your hopes up", as we know it's basically dead.

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.
Half wrong: FOX own the rights for Futurama on television, whereas Groening retained the rights for other media, hence the comics are still going strong. Futurama does have a high production cost, however the DVD sales were massive and it reached #1 on Amazon repeatedly. However, FOX set out to kill it. Futurama was the most watched TV premier, and did well. But there's only so many years you can survive being pre-empted by sports and cancelled as they over-run.

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).
I don't know about the contract for 4 seasons, but Groening was annoyed at Futurama's treatment from the word go, they weren't keeping him happy by keeping it on the air but not producing any more.

Re:Niche marketing vs. Broadcasting

[Captain Splendid]

Well, it's obviously cost-effective enough to run on at least two channels I get: Cartoon network and TBS.

Re:Niche marketing vs. Broadcasting

[SamSim]

Animation costs much more to make than, say, reality shows. For a reality show all you really, honestly need is, I dunno, one camera and an idea. And most seem to get away with just the camera.

Re:Niche marketing vs. Broadcasting

[zaffir]

The adult swim show block on Cartoon Network is doing great by offering this "niche" content. They run Futurama and Family Guy reruns every night in addition to anime and some of their own original shows.

If you get the chance, walk down the hallway of a college dorm building a little after 11:00 PM EST. Nearly every room with a TV in it will have Adult Swim on.

Re:YEY! Adult swim helps us all out~

[Scrameustache]

I think this is proof that adult entertainment is really evolving. And who do we have to thank for all this wonderfullness? Adult Swim.

Yeah, er, you do that.
I'm gonna keep thanking Japan and Europe for leading the way.

Firefly

[Digitus1337]

I can't be the only one here that wants to see Firefly back on the air (or DVD for that matter). I don't know how Fox does it, but they let the best shows get started and then cut them down in their prime. Does anybody know what the survivability of a show is like on these stations?

Re:Fox is also experimenting with Web downloads

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently someone's life is so exciting that they find a time to go through the hassle to post a comment on a show they've never seen copying another show they never watch.

Let me guess - you're a bomb with women?

I ran into Matt Groening at E3

[Anonymous Coward]

.... and he said that they are doing a DVD movie for sure.

---Frodo
onlinecomic.net

Re:Niche marketing vs. Broadcasting

[RedBear]

Well, it's obviously cost-effective enough to run on at least two channels I get: Cartoon network and TBS.

You misspelled "rerun". The main point of this whole conversation is that Futurama was axed a couple of years ago, and we want new episodes, not reruns. I can already buy the entire series on DVD, which I have done, and was very sad to find out at the end that there simply would not be a 5th season box set forthcoming (I don't have cable which is why I got the DVDs in the first place) because the series is no longer being produced. Apparently the networks think it isn't cost-effective to make and broadcast new episodes.