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Television Media

Futurama Confirmed on Cartoon Network 156

Posted by CmdrTaco from the bite-my-shiny-metal-ass dept.
MrChubble writes "A quote from the cartoon network Adult Swim FAQ: "Starting January 12th the block will be extended to five nights a week (Sunday-Thursday) 11pm-2am et/pt and FUTURAMA will be added to the schedule." Sounds like fun to me." Jamie asks: it's nice to get confirmation of reruns, but will they be buying new episodes? Anyone know?
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Futurama Confirmed on Cartoon Network More

Futurama Confirmed on Cartoon Network

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  • arrgh!! (Score:1, Insightful)

    by AsnFkr ( 545033 )
    Why just a decent show like Futurama, and not a golden nugget like Family Guy? Why why why??
    • For me, Futurama is the pinnacle of TV greatness, while Family Guy was at times grating (though often funny). I'm sure someone in just the right position saw it like I did.

      Or perhaps the show from the creator of The Simpsons has a little history backing it.

    • Family guy is a wonderful show, but doesn't seem to fit the Adult Swim mold.

      I would hedge my bets on seeing Dr. Katz (to team up with Home Movies) before the Family Guy.
    • Because The Family Guy hasn't been worth watching since it got canceled/took a break/whatever and returned. As I recall, it was actually witty when it first hit the air but degenerated to the level of any short-run sitcom with the only thing setting it apart being the fact that it's animated.

    • I'd much rather have Duckman on than Family Guy. Duckman did a lot of risky stuff censorwise (s&m, and others). I was glad that the USA channel was showing it. I spent many Saturday nights drinking cheap beer and watching it. Or taping it and going to a punk rock show (I'm not a complete geek).

      Duckman - Sorry, I didn't hear you, I was staring at your breasts.
    • But it is PAL and R2. But that shouldn't be a problem if you use your computer to watch them. If you want to watch them on your TV, PAL could be serios problem. Some players can convert to NTSC but the picture won't be that good. Most new TVs sold in PAL countries can accept NTSC input but most TVs sold in NTSC countries are unable to accept a PAL input signal.
    • Imoho the only decent show on midnight swim comedy block is the oblongs. THe rest are kinda bland, with the exception of sealab 2024 sometimes, and space ghost occasionally.

      But yeah... Why the hell are they doing Futurama. It was like the simpsons, without the originality.

    • Because Family Guy has a very small niche fanbase. It probably doesn't help that a lot of people bill it as a Simpsons ripoff as well. Don't get me wrong, I love Family Guy, and it would be awesome if Cartoon Network picked it up for Adult Swim, but they're a business, and it doesn't surprise me that they've picked the more marketable Futurama instead of Family Guy.

    • BAH (Score:1)

      by Fyndlorn ( 88381 )
      Are you kidding me. Futurama is 10x better than FG. FG is just a bunch of goofy things thrown together. Futurama is often damn clever and funny at the same time

  • Time Slot (Score:4, Insightful)

    by gabeman-o ( 325552 ) on Tuesday December 31, 2002 @07:54AM (#4987479)
    Its kind of a drag that they gave it such a shitty timeslot. I don't know about you, but I'm a student and I have to wake up at 5:30am... there's no way I can stay up until 2am watching cartoons.
    • VCR anyone?

    • Re:Time Slot (Score:4, Funny)

      by psyconaut ( 228947 ) on Tuesday December 31, 2002 @08:03AM (#4987502)
      I don't know about you, but I'm a student and I have to wake up at 5:30am... there's no way I can stay up until 2am watching cartoons.
      There is something so wrong with that sentance ;-)
      -psy
    • That is the beauty of having a ReplayTV. :)

      Set up the theme channel, wait a few days past the actual start, and you should have hours of futurama to watch anytime you want.
    • buy a vcr
    • Its kind of a drag that they gave it such a shitty timeslot. I don't know about you, but I'm a student and I have to wake up at 5:30am... there's no way I can stay up until 2am watching cartoons.

      Obviously you've never been stoned then.
    • I'm sure if enough people watch the shows they'll put it in a better time slot.

      I mean look at FOX. Everyone watched it at 7pm EST and... oh wait a second...
      • No, not really. The point of Adult Swim is that they show shows for more mature audiences after all the kiddies have gone to bed.

        If they gave it a better time-slot, it would kind of defeat the purpose.

        Just use a VCR. That way if they can it again you'll at least have the old episodes.
    • I think that was the point. Hence the name 'Adult Swim'. They purposefully put it at an inconvinient time for students because you're not their target audience. Especially since most college students (if you are that variety) don't wake up until 10pm (and many much much later).

    • Re:Time Slot (Score:5, Funny)

      by veddermatic ( 143964 ) on Tuesday December 31, 2002 @09:49AM (#4987944) Homepage
      By your statement it's obvious you are in high-school, and therefore not a "Student"

      Real Students are watching TV at 11pm while figuring out what bar to go to because you just finished the case of beer you started on a couple hours ago with your buddies.

      Then the next morning (and by morning, I mean afternoon) there will be hazy discussions over last night's Fututrama... "I think it was funny... d00d, I'm sooo hungover! I only got $4 left, looks like we goot buy Busch again tonight..."
      • Busch? What kind of trust fund baby are you? Milwaukee's Best, Schaeffer, and things that I have thankfully blocked from my mind are what the rest of us drank.

        • lol!

          The crap brands tend to be local, so I went low-brow national brand.. guess I could have chosen the Beast or Orange Whips.

          My slum beers in Upstate NY were Piels and *shudder* Utica Club ... there was another beer, Black Label, that we got once... nobody could finish the first one it was so bad. =)
    • In the words of Dilbert: "I don't care, I have Tivo."
    • Do what I do.
      Tape it.

    • Re:Time Slot (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Get a TiVo. Create a Season Pass for Futurama. Never worry about what "time slot" that Futurama is on, ever again. Or create a Wish List for Futurama, and never worry about what channel, or time slot, that Futurama is on, ever again.
    • Buy a VCR/PVR. Then you can watch it whenever you want, and even keep it around to watch again and again...
    • See that box that sits on top of the TV flashing "12:00" at you? That's a VCR. Read the f*ing manual and learn to record the shows you *want* to see, then play them at the time you *want* to see them.

      Come on, people, is this really what you logged on to chat about today?

  • Syndication Rights Only (Score:5, Informative)

    by finny ( 107762 ) on Tuesday December 31, 2002 @07:59AM (#4987487)
    Not new episodes, according to the press release. [yahoo.com]

    Cartoon Network has acquired rights to air all 72 episodes of FUTURAMA, which recently won the 2002 Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.

  • Two interesting links (Score:5, Informative)

    by CBNobi ( 141146 ) on Tuesday December 31, 2002 @08:01AM (#4987495)
    1. Its Official - Futurama will be part of Cartoon Networks "Adult Swim" from Jan. 2003 [bbboy.net]
    Although Cartoon Network has a 5-year contract for Futurama, 20th Century Fox has the right to sell to syndication if TV stations show an interest in buying the reruns.

    2. Chat Transcript: 20th Century Fox [thedigitalbits.com]
    A chat transcript, including Peter Staddon of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
    [peterstaddon] There are so many TV titles coming down the road that I don't know where to start/ Futurama, The Shield, King of the hill, Son of the Beach, nypd Blue, Dark Angel, Angel, Family Guy, and probably a couple that I've overlooked as well. There's more than enough to keep you watching tv 24/7 .

  • Television has to die... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ites ( 600337 ) on Tuesday December 31, 2002 @08:03AM (#4987501) Journal
    Roll on the day when I can buy programmes of my choice and get them sent to my hard drive to watch at my leisure. There is the small issue of payment and copy protection but it's not a killer. I'd be happy to pay for (e.g.) a season of online Futurama if I could get a hardcopy on DVD.
    Anyhow, the obvious solution is product placement. Bite my shiny metal Pepsi ass!
    • Too bad you were too busy posting to Slashdot to notice that the DVD is planned for release on March 25th. You can preorder [amazon.com] on Amazon if you wish.

      Other handy information on the page: "Customers who wear clothes also shop for: Clean Underwear [amazon.com] from Amazon's Target Store"
      • Don't know if you noticed this from the amazon page you linked, but I thought this was hilarious,

        Customers who wear clothes also shop for:

        Clean Underwear from Amazon's Target Store

        Does Amazon have a large customer base of people who don't wear clothes? Does this also mean that I can buy dirty underwear from target?

      • Explicitly calling it "Clean Underwear" makes me assume the Amazon Target Store also sells dirty underwear. Did Amazon also partner with a slew of cheap adult webcam sites?
    • I just wish Tivo would branch out to Europe. Hell, that'd even be good for the economy, as I'd think really hard and maybe get sattelite too! Anyone familiar with the crap programming (and the not very high number of channels) will understand me here.
  • Ads for the syndicated Futurama on TOON have been plastered on the side of NYC buses for a couple of weeks now. Complete with Bender's signature invitation.

    Next time I see a new bus ad, I think I'll submit it as a story; and get a head start on all these fancy-shmancy web sites, who are REALLY behind the times...

  • DVDs out soon too... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Masem ( 1171 ) on Tuesday December 31, 2002 @08:10AM (#4987522)
    Season 1 of Futurama has been confirmed for R1 release on March 25, 2003 (3 disks, with audio commentary on each episode with some deleted scenes), and related, Family Guy's first box set for R1 (apparently the first season, but may be more) is listed on April 15, 2003 (4 disks, some selected audio commentary).

    I know that Futurama season 1 has already been released in other regions (R2 I think), and has been reasonably well done from what I've talked to people about.

    • Yep you're right Futurama series 1 has been out in R2 for some time.

      FYI: simpsons series 1 and 2 are out in R2 as are Futurama series 1 and 2

      Family Guy series 2 is just about to come out in the new year.
    • I was reading up on the Family Guy DVD release, and I think it's not just season one. The three seasons have unequal amounts of episodes so I think they took all the episodes and are putting about half in this release and will put the other half in the second set. So, I think there will only be two DVD sets for Family Guy, even though there were 3 seasons.

    • I have both season 1 and 2 on the British (R2) release... you can get them from amazon.co.uk if you want.

      They're pretty excellent DVDs - not a huge amount of extras, but good ones, and the packaging is amazing (I'm sure the american version will have terrible packaging, given the way fox treats the show).

      so if you've got a region-free or multi-region DVD and want futurama, don't hesitate.
    • The Family Guy may be better than Futurama. You didn't keep up that steady chuckle you had with Futurama or The Simpson's, but every once and awhile The Family Guy would have a scene that made you laugh so hard you damn near vomited blood, like when Peter fell from the window, and you see the netting form underneath him. He looks up, see's Spiderman, shouts "Thanks, Spiderman!", Spiderman shoots back "Hey, everbody gets one!"...classic shit.

    • I'm rolling my own... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by RatBastard ( 949 )
      Between my ReplayTV and my DVD burner, I'm just burning my own. Too many of my favorite shows either do not end up on DVD at all, or are priced so high as to not be worth it. While season one and two of Futurama might be in the stores, how likely is season three or four? Then there are the shows that will never be released on DVD, like The Critic or Invader Zim.

      Sure, I don't get the commentary or neat packaging, but I don't care about that. I care about the show.
    • Series 1 of Futurama is out in R4 too, I'm going to buy it when I get paid next week.

      Funny, I assumed that it would've been released in R1 first, considering that's where it comes from.
  • Futurama is already available for preorder [amazon.com] on DVD. Why bother with the inconvenient timeslots and commercials?

  • NY / NJ Futurama / Cartoon Network Ads (Score:3, Interesting)

    by rit ( 64731 ) <bwmcadams.gmail@com> on Tuesday December 31, 2002 @08:25AM (#4987568) Homepage
    I've noticed for about 2 - 3 weeks now on the NJ Transit trains into New York City, that Cartoon Network has been running Futurama ads for their Adult Swim segment. It's an ad with Cartoon Network Logo at top, the Futurama gang, and the words "Visit the Future - Again, and Again, And Again..." and the 'Adult Swim' info at the bottom.

    Looks like it's double confirmed!

  • How will they pre-empt it? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Col. Klink (retired) ( 11632 ) on Tuesday December 31, 2002 @08:37AM (#4987586)
    But Cartoon network doesn't run any football games, so how do they plan to pre-empt it?

    I swear, Fox must have *hated* this show. On 12/22, Futurama was the ONLY program Fox was planning to show that was not a rerun. They scheduled it for 7pm and, like every football game every season, the game ran long and they pre-empted Futurama again.
    • Blockquoth the poster:

      They scheduled it for 7pm and, like every football game every season, the game ran long and they pre-empted Futurama again.

      What amazes me is, you've got these highly-paid TV execs, in league with highly-paid NFL media managers, and none of them is clueful enough to notice, "Gee, every game has run 27 minutes long for the past 10 years. Maybe we should program the game to last until 7:30...."


      What are these guys paid for, anyhow?

      • Follow the money trail.

        I'm sure a half-hour of national TV time isn't cheap. There's got to be some sort of loophole they're wiggling through.

        I'm sure there's probably a kickback or two in the mix somewhere as well.

    • Maybe Cowboy Bebop will have a gunfight that goes into overtime...

      A few years back, the NFL started pushing late football games (4 ET, 1 PT) back to 4:15 if they were part of double-headers on a network, implicitly assuming that games generally run 3 hours 15 minutes. 3:15 * 2 == 6:30, meaning that they never expected the 7PM show to air, since football was assumed to go to 7:30. And that's forgetting the likelihood of overtime, or cutting over to another late game when yours finishes. Not for nothing does TiVo's schedule for NFL "Sunday Ticket" programs assume that 4PM games potentially last until 8:30PM.

      So yeah, looks like Fox did their best to kill the show good and dead. They shouldn't have even purported to have it on the schedule until after football season.

      invalidname

    • But Cartoon network doesn't run any football games, so how do they plan to pre-empt it?

      Maybe they'll schedule it to air right after the annual Super Bowl parody (the ones with Tom vs. Jerry, Sylvester vs. Tweety, etc.)? :D

  • New Shows? Why bother? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Let me tell you a little story about the Cartoon Network and non-DBZ shows.

    There once was a little CGI show from Canada called "Reboot". In order to do another season, they (Mainframe Entertainment) needed a commitment from the Cartoon Network. You see, even for a Canadian company, they still relied upon the US market as a gauge for success.

    So the magic day came...the new season was out! Reboot fans in Canada gathered around the warming glow of YTV and enjoyed the new episodes! But in the States, it was a different story...

    CN showed the new Reboots irregularly. Some say they didn't even bother to air the entire season! But CN was more than happy to expand their Adult Swim lineup with more Dragon Ball Z (and shows just like it).

    The moral of the story? Unless it's some loser Japanese cartoon, don't expect CN to get behind it in any way. If they promise to help fund new Futuramas, they won't air them (that would interfere with the non-stop DBZ slideshow).
    • Unless it's some loser Japanese cartoon, don't expect CN to get behind it in any way.

      Please. They don't get behind anime at all unless it's DBZ. They made a half-hearted attempt with Cowboy Bebop, and they're probably going to make a half-hearted attempt with Lupin III.

      Here's the problem, as I see it:
      The people who don't know any better and think that DBZ is quality programming will watch it, bad dubbing, heinous editing and all.

      The people who prefer good anime and wish that CN would show it occasionally get their wish. Then they see that their favority anime has received the Cartoon Network Treatment, cringe in pretentious terror, and change the channel.

      Thus, the good anime gets shitty ratings, and DBZ gets yet another time slot.
      • New Years Eve they are showing new episodes of Space Ghost, and other shows.

        And Brak from the Brak show will be hosting along side Carl from the Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

      • Please. They don't get behind anime at all unless it's DBZ. They made a half-hearted attempt with Cowboy Bebop, and they're probably going to make a half-hearted attempt with Lupin III.

        Lupin's not even on the air here yet, and as for Cowboy Bebop...It's never shared the same block of time with DBZ, and probably never will. Further, i'm not sure what qualifies it as "half-hearted" to you, as they've gone through the entire series at least 3 or 4 times now, and except for some possible small niggling differences, it's been identical to the (dubbed) DVD version.

        Here's the problem, as I see it:
        The people who don't know any better and think that DBZ is quality programming will watch it, bad dubbing, heinous editing and all.

        If you don't like it, don't watch the damn show. It is what it is- an action cartoon. People watch it for the fight scenes, a bit of humor, and to just be entertained. If you want something deeper, then watch the right show for the job, which is not DBZ, most times.

        Yes, Funimation did a horrid job on the dubbing and such, but some of us don't need perfection to get a little enjoyment. If it really bothers you so, go watch the original Japanese version and leave the rest of us alone.

        The people who prefer good anime and wish that CN would show it occasionally get their wish. Then they see that their favority anime has received the Cartoon Network Treatment, cringe in pretentious terror, and change the channel.

        Again, if you don't like them so much, don't watch the freaking shows! Nobody's forcing you to tune to CN.

        I love how you seem to think that Cartoon Network does all the dubbing and editing, too....Try reading the credits on most of the shows sometime. On Cowboy Bebop, for instance, you should be blaming Bandai and or ZRO Limit Productions for most of the percieved damage.

    • Re:New Shows? Why bother? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Hugh Kir ( 162782 ) on Tuesday December 31, 2002 @09:17AM (#4987756)
      A) Dragonball Z is on Toonami, not Adult Swim (as was Reboot, for that matter).

      B) Of course Cartoon Network likes Dragonball Z, it brings in good ratings. As does their anime-oriented Adult Swim lineup.

      C) That said, at this point in time, there are two different Adult Swim lineups, one for Saturday, which is anime, and one for Sunday, which is American (and possibly Canadian, I don't remember) cartoons. It sounds like they are adding Futurama to, and expanding, the latter.

      D) There's far more non-anime than anime on Cartoon Network. Aside from showing a lot of old cartoons, like the Flintstones, Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo (they show a lot of that) etc, they also have their own shows, like Samurai Jack, Dexter's Laboratory, Ed, Edd, and Eddy, etc. Of course, they did recently add Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh to their evening lineup, which annoys the heck out of me (and I like anime), but they still show a lot of non-anime stuff.

      Now, I don't know why they cancelled Reboot (although, frankly, I didn't much care for it, so no loss to me), but it had nothing to do with it not being anime. Whether or not they support Futurama will have more to do with whether Fox is willing to give up its rights to new episodes, and whether Cartoon Network has the money to pay for it (most of its own cartoons are considerably lower-budget than Futurama; I suspect the executives like anime because most American audiences haven't seen the shows, but Cartoon Network doesn't have to pay for their creation, just the rights to show them). But it has nothing to do with whether or not it's Japanese (aside from the cost issues mentioned above).
      • Very true. It seems all of the comments have came from people who don't actually watch Adult Swim.

        Their Anime block is wonderful to me, because I have never seen the shows, but their Sunday Block has always done better, which is why they are showing it throughout the week.

        Cartoon Network has done a wonderful job with Adult Swim, and I hope they can continue doing a great job with so many days. There aren't THAT many episodes of a lot of these shows.
    • I didn't know that there even were any new episodes of reboot. I've liked that show since I first saw it back in '96. I think it was on Fox. Anybody know how to get my hands on these newer editions? Amazon only has the first season.
      • WTF? How is this off-topic? Read the thread: Somebody mentioned Reboot, and I asked if there was any way to get it, since as far as I know it's not being shown on any US stations. It was on-topic for the thread, and I turned off my bonus point for the post, since I really only cared about the parent poster reading it.
    • I have done a little digging and found the following link which gives a "complete" Reboot show listing:
      here [bcdb.com]

      I agree Reboot was excellent and its a shame I never got to see more than two series over here either.
      • Blockquoth the poster:

        I agree Reboot was excellent and its a shame I never got to see more than two series over here either.

        If you only saw the first two seasons, it's almost as if you didn't see ReBoot at all. The third season -- when the makers were liberated from the strait-jacket that was ABC's Bureau of Standards and Practices -- blossomed into a really sharp show. Luckily for you, you can get all 16 episodes of the third season on DVD.


        I only saw the first half of the fourth season. (Cartoon Network, in its infinite wisdom, only ran the episodes once ... so when I missed a pair, it was over.) It was OK but not, IMHO, on par with the third. Although, I really liked the nature of the Daemon virus -- woo hoo, go Unix geeks! :)

  • I thought Futurama was confirmed on Sunday night when they showed about 20 commercials for it.

    "The best Comedy Scfi Action Drama."

    I've watched Adult Swim every Sunday night regardless of how much work I had on Monday for quite awhile, and I don't want to see Futurama on there.

    Granted, I like the show. I just don't see how it fits. Adult Swim seems to have it's own style, which doesn't meld well with Futurama, the Simpsons, the Critic, or the Family Guy.

    I would much rather watch the Aqua Teen Hunger Force, make the homies say "HO" and the girlies wanna scream.

  • It was as good as confirmed months ago, but this confirmed confirmation isn't really breaking news either, considering the Cartoon Network has already started airing ads for Futurama.
  • ...last night on the way home.

    BIG poster in the NYC subway advertising Futurama.

    You don't spring for that kind of ad unless yes, they are going to be showing it.

  • WooHoo! (Score:2)

    by fgb ( 62123 )
    Now if they could just get The Simpsons, I'll have no reason to watch network television ever again.
  • I'll be happy with the original episodes, since I missed half of them thanks to FOX pre-empting it every chance they got. Now only was that bad enough, but they'd let the fucking post-game show overrun it!

    The Simpsons sucks enough now that I can almost completely stop watching Fox. It's occasionally good, like the Halloween shows and the recent Tales from the Public Domain, so I'll keep tuning in to the long-running suckfest just to catch the occasional gem, just like I did with Married... with Children for its last 5 or 7 years.

    Save your mod points, I'm just venting. But misery loves company, so reply & chime in! :-)

    PS--hooray, Cartoon Network!
  • Thank God for TiVo!
  • They've been advertising this for at least two weeks.
  • For those of you who can't wait for the North American release of the first season, you can order it up from Amazon.co.uk [amazon.co.uk]. The second season [amazon.co.uk] is also available. The down side is that you need a region-free or European DVD player to watch 'em. The director's commentaries are hilarious! Well worth the $$$.

  • Eh? (Score:2)

    by Jhan ( 542783 )
    Fox kills Futurama, breaking contract. CN gets a deal for showing re-runs. Am I supposed to be jubilant or what?
  • N: Phil Lewis
    E: beans@bucket.ualr.edu
    D: Promised to send money if I would put his name in the source tree.
    S: PO Box 371
    S: North Little Rock, Arkansas 72115
    S: US
    -- /usr/src/linux/CREDITS

    - this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...

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