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‘Futurama’ Gets Cancelled … Again … But Is It Really The End?
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The Movie God   |  @   |  

Futurama Image

There’s a few dead TV shows we here at Geeks of Doom have helped the masses fight particularly hard to see resurrected. Of these shows, the two fought hardest for have been Firefly, of course, and the animated favorite Futurama.

The show set a thousand years in the future initially ran from 1999 to 2003 on Fox before it was ultimately canceled. But the eventual release of four direct-to-DVD movies and the relentless passion of the show’s fans paid off, and, to ours and many others’ surprise and delight, it was eventually decided to bring Futurama back to life. The show’s return scored big numbers—numbers that were praised at the time—and the show’s Facebook page passed 10 million likes, proving the lasting and ever-growing fanbase. Only two years later, the page now sits at 26 million likes. How’s that for growth?

But alas, it wasn’t enough. It’s been reported that Comedy Central has decided to cancel the show for its second time, and that the final 13 episodes of season seven, which are set to begin airing this June, will be the last.

The numbers for Futurama have been declining, that much is true. Averaging 2.6 million viewers when it first returned in 2010, the show averaged 1.7 million viewers in 2012. One can’t help but wonder how, out of 26 million fans on Facebook, only a couple million were tuning in to watch after fans fought so hard to get the show back. At the same time, one might also think a show this popular and quoted and talked about might be kept around at an average 1.7 million viewers.

The answers, most likely, are found in the evolution of TV-watching tendencies. People simply don’t watch TV shows when they’re on anymore. Some people record them on their DVRs and watch later. Others watch on demand. Some watch later on Netflix. There are so many ways to watch your favorite shows these days, looking at the number of viewers and making important decisions based on those numbers seems absurd. If the declining number of viewers they thought they had was the only reason Comedy Central decided to cancel the show, you’ll have to excuse us as we scratch our heads in confusion.

That said, you won’t find anger and outrage aimed at Comedy Central this day. The fact that the show came back in the first place is something I and many others will always be thankful for, and it’s unfortunate it wasn’t able to find another long run on the network.

Of the news, executive producer David X. Cohen had this to say about his lack of surprise:

“I felt like we were already in the bonus round on these last couple of seasons, so I can’t say I was devastated by the news. It was what I had expected two years earlier. At this point I keep a suitcase by my office door so I can be cancelled at a moment’s notice.”

But is this really the end for Futurama? Don’t plan a memorial service just yet.

As mentioned above, TV-watching tendencies are evolving, and in a big way. We’re seeing companies like Netflix—once a villain and now a savior—not only getting into the original programming game, but also reviving dead shows like Arrested Development and rescuing near-dead shows from the Reaper’s scythe like The Killing (but still not Firefly *shakes fist*). Then there’s Amazon and others like them who are trying to grow into a Netflix competitor. There’s more options than ever before.

Because of this, Futurama‘s producers WILL be looking into options for other potential homes for the series. Hear that Netflix? Easiest business decision ever. And you don’t even have to pay me an employee bonus.

Here’s what creator Matt Groening had to say:

“We’ve been in this situation before and it’s tempting when you’re doing episodes that are as good or better than anything you’ve ever done to continue doing it. We’re catching our breath and seeing what the fans have to say. The experience of this show has been so much fun from the very beginning to now “” everybody is so happy to work on this show “” that it’d be a shame if we all went our separate ways”¦ We would love to continue. We have many more stories to tell. But if we don’t, this is a really great way to go out”¦ I think these episodes are the best ones we’ve ever done.

Perhaps Futurama will return in another form, on the Internet, or as a puppet show in the park, or maybe as a puppet show in the park on the Internet.”

Cohen then added:

“As I said three times before, this is definitely the absolute end of the show. I don’t know why nobody believes me when I say that.”

It’d be one thing if everyone involved was ready to move on to other things, but clearly they are not. If no one out there jumps on this immediately, well…I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.

[Source: EW]

17 Comments »

  1. I say LET IT LIVE!!!

    Comment by Julia Benitez — April 23, 2013 @ 11:44 am

  2. This is exactly what I have been thinking since I heard the news,so many people wanted it back but none of them seem to bother watching it now it is back.
    I love it but live in UK so get it months after original air date and I sit down & watch every week like clockwork!I hope it does make it’s way to another outlet,one of my all time favourite shows.

    Comment by XxxxxVicxxxxX — April 23, 2013 @ 11:59 am

  3. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (all caps for emphasis) NETFLIX SAVE FUTURAMA!!!!

    Comment by red_greenlight1 — April 24, 2013 @ 12:04 am

  4. “Good news everybody!!!” is what I hope to hear when the Planet Express crew are rescued from annihilation once again. (fingers crossed)

    Comment by FAT_ORANGE_TABBY — April 24, 2013 @ 1:47 am

  5. That is really unfortunate news; I love Futurama. I didn’t find out about the shows cancelation until I got to work at DISH yesterday evening. I hope that Futrama gets picked up on another network, but if it doesn’t, I’m happy to have the entire series recorded to my DISH Hopper DVR. It holds up to 2000 hours of entertainment, so I can keep Futurama on there without impacting my other shows.

    Comment by TomasHunter — April 24, 2013 @ 7:56 pm

  6. TV Nelson ratings are both useless and outdated. Actually,
    cable/satellite tv is outdated too. The fact it has sooo many Facebook
    fans says it all: People are watching it other ways (some legal, some
    not so much – but the bottom line is things would be at least a bit
    better if there were more viable legal routes available). At least wait
    till you see how it does on Netflix etc. …Only old people actually
    watch TV anymore (I personally just download everything, rather than pay
    for a bunch of content I don’t care about) – Futurama has always
    appealed to a more hip audience, and is much less likely to attract the
    aging remaining TV watching demographic. This is why Futurama would appear unpopular to a behind the times TV executive. *sigh*

    Comment by Kyle Mark Waal — June 21, 2013 @ 12:55 am

  7. best show ever :'(

    Comment by Braid — June 24, 2013 @ 8:19 pm

  8. well that sucks a big bag of dicks. its not like conedy central has a whole lot of gems, getting rid of this is a mistake

    Comment by Terarded — July 12, 2013 @ 10:15 am

  9. nooooooooooooo i want to see bender kill steal and con if only matt had a sence that we love his show

    Comment by nate — September 1, 2013 @ 9:14 pm

  10. futurama cant die… Bring it back… one of the Greatest shows of all time… so tired of the best shows ending before there time…

    Comment by Josh — September 5, 2013 @ 1:15 am

  11. futrama is garbage that’s why. no one cares about fag fry and hi never ending queer love story with lela. its trash. adventure time is waaaaaaay better because bender was the only funny charcter in futrama. im glad this filth is off the air

    Comment by Theresa — September 5, 2013 @ 4:51 am

  12. long live jake the dog and fuck futrama

    Comment by Theresa — September 5, 2013 @ 4:52 am

  13. bite my shiny metal ass futurama can never die

    Comment by Markis Stoll — November 29, 2013 @ 6:43 pm

  14. fuck this to much people love futurama so let it be on for a longer vote if I’m right

    Comment by Markis Stoll — March 26, 2014 @ 6:19 pm

  15. Bring Back my favorite Show!!!
    The all mighty FUTURAMA!!!

    Comment by journey — August 1, 2014 @ 2:27 am

  16. I pay to watch futurama Netflix/who ever I just want to see what happens next xc

    Comment by Michael Nguyen — August 17, 2014 @ 6:43 pm

  17. I am addicted to another show that went off the air. Someone pick this show back up. “COME ON ALREADY”…

    Comment by FAN — August 19, 2014 @ 9:58 pm

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