Futurama pulled from schedule *again* ?!

A quick perusal of tvguide.com shows that the Futurama episode previously slated for this Sunday is no longer there. This is the second time this month this has happened. Am I paranoid, or did the presence of multiple anti-Fox jabs in last week's Simpsons have a connection to this schedule change? We all know the relationship between Groening and Fox has turned adversarial in recent times, but do you really think Fox execs are childish enough to pull Futurama from the slate just to get 'revenge' for anti-Fox sentiment in the Simpsons? I do.

I'd be interested to know what other Futurama (and Simpsons) fans think about this possibility. If anyone connected to the Futurama production team is reading this, PLEASE get Futurama moved to a new network (if you can call Fox a 'network', that is) - preferably one that would actually promote this brilliantly written and produced show. I guarantee that the existing fan base would greatly expand given any promotion at all. The DVD sales will hopefully back up this claim.

A show of Futurama's quality cannot be allowed to be suffocated to death by the morons running Fox.

"Joshua" wrote...

Simpsons has had numerous jabs at FOX in its history, as had Married with Children. It doesn't seem like FOX cares, as long as these shows get the ratings.

Futurama has been bumped multiple times before this as well. Also, it's been stuck in the 6pm central slot for years, where it get pre-empted by sports in the fall. This mistreatment of Futurama is not a recent development.

Futurama is dead, and has been for about a year now. The new episodes that they've been showing this year are actually episodes produced previous years that FOX never got around to showing. No new epsisodes have been made for a year now, and most everyone associated with the show has moved on.

That said, Cartoon Network bought the syndication rights, and has done an impressive amount of promotion. Magazine ads, bus ads, the show actually became visible for the first time. And it paid off too, with an impressive ratings jump in the timeslot CN placed the show in. Of course, the ratings on CN are much lower than on FOX, so it's unlikely CN will be ordering new episodes.

Also, there is a videogame in the works with about an episode's worth of new animation.

Too late. I'm actually amazed it lasted 4 seasons on Fox. If Simpsons was made today on FOX, it wouldn't get past season 1.

-Jay

"Jay G" wrote in news:[email]:

Yes, but the last two times Futurama has been 'bumped' have been unique - episodes were scheduled to air, both in TV guide and at the Fox website and have been pulled. Interestingly, the first episode (scheduled for 3/9) was pulled shortly after the 2/9 Simpsons episode aired with "monkey Olympics on Fox" and the next one (scheduled for 3/16) was pulled after last Sunday's Simpsons episode with the "Joe Millionaire" and Fox News bashing. You can draw your own conclusions, but in all the times Futurama has been preempted I've never seen a schedule change like this where an already-scheduled episode was removed.

I don't agree. Yes, it's dead on Fox but there's still hope of getting the production team back together if it's picked up elsewhere. One of the voice actors, Maurice LaMarche, said recently "There are still people holding out some hope for an 11th-hour, 59th-minute rescue. Matt (Groening) is still in there, pitching." (from gotfuturama.com)

Sure, it's not likely, but until it's officially and totally gone I'm still holding out hope.

"Joshua" wrote ...

Except at least one of those episodes was preempted to show a *Simpsons* rerun. If they were going after Groening, wouldn't it make sense to preempt it with something else?

It's dead. If they do manage to create new episodes, it wouldn't be a rescue, but a resurrection. They most likely won't be able to get back all of the writers and artists, so id' be a combination of old and new people. It would be a new beast, like the short lived "The Critic" flash series.

-Jay

Jay G wrote:

Actually, they pre-empted Futurama twice for the same Simpsons rerun -- "Helter Shelter", which not only bumped Futurama last week (3/9), but bumped that show on 1/19. And to add insult to injury, "Helter Shelter" was the worst Simpsons episode of the season.

"Jay G" wrote in news:[email]:

Simpsons repeats are a good choice for Fox just from a ratings standpoint. Essentially, they want to attack Groening's pet project (Futurama) but not at the cost of ratings; thus, a Simpsons repeat is used.

You can't give up hope just because it's hopeless! You've got to hope even more, and cover your ears and go "Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah".

"Joshua" wrote ...

Futurama was bumped again, what did the Simpsons do now?

-Jay

"Jay G" wrote in news:[email]:

Actually, tonight's bumping was the one that prompted my original post. I noticed earlier in the week that the Futurama episode originally scheduled for tonight was replaced with a Simpsons repeat on tvguide.com's schedule.

"Joshua" wrote ...

I meant the 3/16 bumping.

-Jay

"Jay G" wrote...

I

scheduled

schedule.

Shoot, my bad, I don't know what the date is. Yeah, the 3/16 showing is not recent news.

-Jay

Futurama was cancelled. Why not simply give the rights to EVERY episode to CN and be done with it. If they feel it can't draw higher ratings than a rerun of another series at 7PM, then why continue to hold back with the never-shown episodes?

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me" - General George S. Patton.

"Stan" wrote...

According to this site: http://www.bundyology.com/magazine.html Fox is referenced in the following eps:

0621, 0823, 0905, 0906, 0909, 0910, 1004, 1005, 1018, 1106, 1108, 1111, 1114, 1120

-Jay

"Jay G" wrote...

at

So mainly during its last three seasons. They probably caught on OFF bagging FOX and decided to get in on the act.

What's OFF?

-Jay

Our Favourite Family, i.e. the Simpsons.

i prefer the mansons.

JQM

In article , Jay G wrote:

how was it possible then that sd-6 caps and released futurama season 5 episode 1 then?

"Tupring" wrote...

Season 5 is a fiction, it's made up of episodes from Seasons 3 and 4 that FOX never aired. There were only 4 seasons of Futurama produced, and only 4 DVD box sets will be released, with the episodes in the proper order.

-Jay

In article , Stan wrote:

the episode with the crooked network exec from 20th century shrox and i remember kelly and bud laughing about fox before

Tupring wrote in message news:...

-----------

Hey, it's 21st century shrox.

In alt.tv.futurama, on the "Futurama pulled from schedule *again* ?!" thread, Joshua wrote:

It's possible, but if Fox execs were trying to retaliate against something said on "The Simpsons," wouldn't it make more sense to pre-empt "The Simpsons" for a special episode of "Married by America" or something? I mean, what kind of revenge is pulling "Futurama"? Can you picture the Fox folks saying, "We're going to pull a show few people watch, which was effectively cancelled a year ago, and which no one is working on. *That'll* show 'em!"

I don't think Fox has malicious intent toward "Futurma" so much as they just never thought it was that great a show. They put the bare minimum into airing it, just enough to avoid offending Matt Groening, and no more. The surprising thing, as someone else said, is that the series lasted so long, not that it was pulled so early.

[email] (Benjamin Robinson) wrote in news:[email]:

The reason I think this is revenge is that preempting The Simpsons would hurt Fox themselves, as it is generally one of their highest rated shows. As you said, Futurama draws much lower ratings (due in large part to poor promotion IMO) so getting back at Groening & Co. would be much easier to accomplish by bumping Futurama (a show which MG himself has been much more involved with over the last several years than he has with The Simpsons). Really, all bumping Futurama does is annoy the people who care (Groening & Cohen) and the fans, which is precisely what the purpose would be (if revenge was indeed at play).

Of course, that's all just my opinion and it could be coincidence. I just find it kind of hard to believe.

just

I think the thing that hurt Futurama the most was its time slot. Both King of the Hill and Futurama are great shows and would do great if placed in the slot after the Simpsons. Nothing seemed to catch on after the simpsons except Malcom in the Middle, and I think that only was succesful because it was after the Simpsons. They should have just made a big animation block in prime time and it would probably do really well. Poor Futurama, it was treated bad from the get go.

(I know I'm replying to an old post, but ...)

In alt.tv.futurama, on the "Re: Futurama pulled from schedule *again* ?!" thread, Prasad Komma wrote:

Actually, they did. After only two airings in its post-"Simpsons" slot, Fox moved "Futurama" to 8:30 Tuesdays, as part of a new all-animation block. (The other shows were "Family Guy," "King of the Hill," and "The PJs," but I forget which order.) The whole lineup tanked, and Fox scrubbed it after a couple of months. The network, which reportedly never liked "Futurama" much to begin with, exiled it to 7:00 Sundays, and the rest is history.

[email] (Benjamin Robinson) wrote in message news:...

I get the impression that Fox never liked Futurama from the moment Matt explained the basic concept to them by listening to the audio commentary on the DVD. Apparently he said something like it won't be all dark like Blade Runner but it won't be a boring utopia like the Jetsons. The Fox responce was "we love the Jetsons." Its a miracle that Fox did not cancel it after one or two seasons.

Don't worry - they can still interrupt it with "important war coverage" -- like an urgent report that Gen. Powell had a burrito for lunch.

Jonah Falcon

On or about 13 Mar 2003 04:24:17 -0800, [email] (Joshua) cranked out the following:

If that were the case, the network would be taking it out on "The Simpsons" rather than "Futurama."

All this brings to mind one of my favorite scenes from "The Simpsons":

Rupert Murdoch: "Bart, you've saved my network!" Bart Simpson: "Wouldn't be the first time."

(From the episode featuring Bender himself answering one of the FOX telephones.)

Wave Slave wrote in message news:...

They're taking it out on Matt Groening, as Fox knows he REALLY wanted Futurama to be the next 'Simpsons', popularity wise. For a guy who made Fox an assload of cash, they don't seem to like him very much.

In alt.tv.simpsons on Thu, 13 Mar 2003 at 04:24:17, Joshua wrote :

It affects Brit fans of the show too, since Sky One won't show new episodes here before they've appeared in America. :(

On 13 Mar 2003 04:24:17 -0800, the Chairman declared that Iron Chef alt.tv.simpsons would face off against Joshua using the following post as the Secret Ingredient:

I think football is back. Or maybe arena football. Or maybe it'sbaseball. Or some sport with a ball. Or someone thinks it's sport to play with one's balls. Or some sport.

I don't know. Any excuse is likely.

[email] wrote in message news:...

The World Series of Cock Fighting? or maybe Mexican Wrestling(Down there it's a real sport.)

Andrew Burns A.K.A. SPARTACUS!

[email] (Joshua) wrote in news:[email]:

And it's for a Simpsons repeat - "Large Marge", which they're showing for the third time in four months...

Jim

Hey, breasts get ratings :)

fo0bar

On or about Fri, 14 Mar 2003 09:53:35 -0800, fo0bar made the sensational claim that:

True, there don't seem to be many heterosexual females left. At least, none with two eyes.

Joshua wrote:

Fox could care less what jabs against it the Simpsons pulls. The show's job is to make money. As long as it's doing that, no one cares.