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."

Sci-fi series?

[sound+vision]

That's an odd way to put it.

Better than the Simpsons

[vitalyb]

I'd hate to offend anyone this is really just what I believe Futurama is. Shows continue if they hit the largest common dominator of the mob watching the show, sadly (aka "2 Fast 2 Furious") the common dominator is quite low.

Result:
Simpsons are on their what? 10th season? Futurama was canceled after 5 seasons (and correct me if the numbers are wrong, that's not the point).

I like Simpsons as well (even if not too much) but as far as humor goes, Futurama is more witty, complicated and deep.

How long...

[Cyno01]

Before TV is nothing but a preview for DVDs or some sort of streaming on demand system. How many cancled shows have been released on DVD with a bunch of episodes that never even aired?

I'll believe it when I see it

[SpryGuy]

I'm not sure how they really expect to do this if they're going to go direct to DVD. 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. Wouldn't that end up making them more money, or at least give them a better shot of making a profit?

I do hope they create more episodes though. I loved Futurama. I worry, though, if they can get all the same cast and talent back.

Re:Let it die

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, pretty much the only reason Futurama and Family Guy died in the first place is that Fox doesn't know how to properly manage award winning shows. Futurama was constantly preempted by NFL games and played at the oddest times. Also, the DVD commentaries of Futarama are amazing. One can't help but be amazed at the talent of the writers, actors and everyone behind the show.

And look at what they've done with Arrested Development, definetily one of the top sitcoms (if you can call it that) on television right now. I just think it's not fair that Fox has the ability to somehow get all these great shows but totally screw it up every time.

Re:Niche marketing vs. Broadcasting

[jericho4.0]

I don't understand the economics of this. Most TV watchers have access to dozens of channels, and that number goes up all the time. Futurama is a widely liked show, compared to much of the content available at any one time, yet it's still not cost effective to broadcast?

This seems to me to indicate that something is fundamentally wrong with the model, and it will continue to push quality off the airwaves in favour of crap.

iTunes video downloads

[Jesse_132]

It would be great if apple could leverage their iTunes music store by adding the ability to buy episodes directly.

Re:YEY! Adult swim helps us all out~

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Don't ask Fox. Ask Adult Swim and Cartoon Network. That's how we got a second season of Big O..

Re:Niche marketing vs. Broadcasting

[OrangeTide]

Basically you can only slice your channel 48 ways (assuming you have 24 hour programming with 30 minute shows). Public corporations need to increase profits due to outside and internal pressure from share holders and board members. But given that the amount of programming you can present has a hard limit, you need to increase the number of viewers to achieve greater profit. Which is why we see these companies pushing the next Survivor or Friends rather than the next great sci-fi cartoon sitcom.

Cable networks have it a bit easier, often they aren't publicly owned. Or they are some smaller business unit of a larger corporation. As long as the cable network brings in some profits and doesn't seriously compete with the main programming then they have a pretty free hand. Also being subscription based changes the business model a bit.

God I hope so

[deadmantyping]

I love Futurama. It's great to think that there's a possibility that they might make more, particularly with the cliffhanger-like last episode =)

I definitely had an decent run with 5 seasons but it could have easily lasted more than that, and I for one look forward to its return, even if it is only to DVD and not TV.

Re:NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN

[Dachannien]

Except that Billy West (voice of Fry, Prof. Farnsworth, Zoidberg, Zapp Brannigan) has indicated [billywest.com] that David X. Cohen (writer, exec producer) has talked with the Fox executives, and they were very open to going forward with this. This isn't just rumors from some comic con, this is coming from the actual people who make the show.

Re:Sound Great

[Scrameustache]

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

Leela: Didn't you have ads in the 21st century?"

Fry: Well sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio, and in magazines, and movies, and at ball games... and on buses and milk cartons and t-shirts, and bananas and written on the sky. But not in dreams, no siree.

Maybe there won't be commercial breaks, but as sure as [consummer food brand name] is delicious, there will be ads in those DVDs.

Lain WAS commercial

[Anonymous Coward]

Lain was created to sell a video game. The video game failed to take off, and no more seasons of Lain were created.

Fortunately, Abe has gone on to do other projects, like Haibane Renmei (Charcoal Feathers Society).

Re:Fox is also experimenting with Web downloads

[mrgreen4242]

Most TV shows seem to be in the $40-50 range per season, so maybe 20-24 episodes, depending on the show and the season.

That's somewhere around $2/ episode, plus your getting extra's like deleted scenes and commentaries, etc. However, by the time a show makes it to DVD they've already made the money on it from advertising, so the DVD sales are just gravy.

I think there is a market for either direct to DVD or downloadable new syndicated content, though. Throw in some clever product placement, charge $2.50 an episode, or $40 for a season pass, make them available weekly, and keep old episodes available for purchase during the whole season. After the first 6 or 8 weeks make the first episode available for free, DRM-less as well, so it can get swapped around, and I think you could probably do pretty well. Couldn't sell one of the very popular/expensive to produce shows that way, but you could sell a lot of niche content.

Doing business this way wouldn't even preclude DVD sales either. Take the season offline when the new one is going to begin, and sell DVD sets with bonus features, etc, to people who missed it or to really big fans who want everything to do with the show. The bonuses would have to be really good though. Well produced behind the scene's stuff, deleted scenes tat have been finished in post-production and re-inserted where they belong in the episode (as an optional playback feature) and the first episode of the next season or a free download of it a week before it is available to the public, etc.

Good news about Futurama tho! Great show. I think Fox discussed doing a direct to DVD 24 spin off that would sell in the summer months. Eight one hour episodes on DVD that would come out 2 to a disc every other week or something for about $12, with some behind the scenes stuff and special sneak peeks at next seasons 24, etc. Dunno what happened to that idea. Maybe they will make this a regular trend for the summers, when TV is down but DVD sales generally seem to be up (due to having nothing good on TV?)?

Much better than the Simpsons.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've heard a lot of people say that Futurama was a funnier show than the Simpsons but that, unlike the Simpsons, it lacked any emotional appeal or character development. While I think the latter assertion is untrue and sort of perplexing, there are a couple other logs to throw onto the inevitable Simpsons/Futurama flamewar.

I would have to agree that a randomly selected episode of Futurama is probably going to be much funnier, wittier, and better-written than any episode of the Simpsons. Futurama was consistently great in terms of writing and directing. The Simpsons had many excellent episodes in seasons 3-4, and since then, it just hasn't been enjoyable to me.

Futurama was really just hitting its stride when Fox pulled the plug, and that's part of what is so remarkable: it was great from the very beginning, and it was turning into something Insanely Great(tm) towards the end of its abortive stint on network TV. It baffles me to hear the "no emotional resonance" criticism in light of this fact, because a lot of what made Futurama great was precisely its humanity, its emotional appeal. I feel little emotional response to the characters of The Simpsons, and I don't know if it's the annoying voice acting, the flaccid writing, or what. But think about, for example, any number of "Fry-Leela episodes": "Parasites Lost," "Time Keeps on Slippin'," and "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings" come to mind. Every one of these episodes is wonderfully written, acted, and directed, and every one is both funny and emotionally resonant without being melodramatic. Strange as it seems, I care about Fry and Leela more than any other TV sitcom couple or almost-couple--Ross and Rachel, etc., etc.

And it's not just the Fry-Leela relationship; "Jurassic Bark" comes to mind as an episode very characteristic of later Futurama with its witty humor and genuinely heartbreaking ending.

The examples are too numerous to cite, but Futurama was a great show (while the Simpsons is just an above-average sitcom) because it succeeded at being funny, humane, witty, literate, and entertaining. Too bad it failed at surviving the scheduling abuse of the Fox network.