Futurama may return to Fox

[Ananas]

Groening's 'Futurama' Reborn On Cable

Comedy Central just struck a deal with 20th Century Fox Television to air 26 new episodes of Matt Groening's Futurama cancelled by FBS in 2003 after a 4-season run. The first new episodes will start to air in mid-2010

Source - Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily

Awesome news. And for those unfamiliar with Finke, she sources everything incredibly well and is usually very reliable.

[thatblindgeye]

... Fuck yes. Futurama is probably my favorite animated show, up there with The Simpsons and King of the Hill. Just PLEASE let the episodes be written up with the full force of creativity the writers have.

[Guest musick]

I love Futurama. I especially love that they could almost never run out of ideas because they can just make new planets and whatnot. I can't wait to see how things go with the new season.

[K]

I love Futurama more than anything, but the movies were pretty terrible.

[tenaciousg]

IMO, the only flat-out terrible Futurama movie was Bender's Game.

[KoA]

This is fantastic news! I enjoyed the films so new episodes is definitely something to look forward to.

[MalaCloudy Black]

IMO, the only flat-out terrible Futurama movie was Bender's Game.

This, pretty much. I enjoyed the other ones, and I really wanted to like Bender's Game because of the concept and all but I just. Couldn't.

[Hellfire]

I heard comedy central asked for 20 odd new episodes.

[GoGo Yubari]

Bender's Big Score was absolutely great, the only weak spot it had was that the villains were incredibly underwhelming. The Beast with a Billion Backs was more uneven but I generally liked it fine, and I haven't seen the other ones yet so I can't really judge those.

Either way, I'm psyched for this. It'll be to their benefit that they don't have to sustain a plot over an hour and a half, anyway, so right now I think this is like the best decision Comedy Central has made in regards to picking up a series/making a new series since The Colbert Report.

[LL!]

I heard comedy central asked for 20 odd new episodes.

Did you hear it in post 21 of this topic, perhaps?

[Boulder]

Wooooo.

That wasn't me saying "wooooo," by the way. It was air escaping from my folds of fat.

Wooooo.

[I Don't Mind]

'Futurama' without original voices?

Talks between Fox TV, cast members break down

When "Futurama" returns to TV next year, it might be without the show's original voice cast.

Talks have broken down between 20th Century Fox TV and stars Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche and Tress MacNeille over how much they should be paid to take part in the show.

The studio announced last month that it would produce 26 new episodes of "Futurama," and that Comedy Central was on board to begin airing the new episodes in mid-2010. As part of the announcement, the show's producers said stars including West, Sagal and DiMaggio had all signed on to return.

Turns out that wasn't true.

The stars had all expressed interest in returning. But with the budget for "Futurama" dramatically slashed, the salary offers came in well below what the thespians were asking.

As a result, 20th has put out a casting call to find replacement voice actors for the show.

It's not the first time 20th has gone that route during a tough negotiation on one of its toons. The studio previously made a similar move on "The Simpsons" when it couldn't come to a deal with its stars. Casting feelers were sent out for replacements, but a deal was eventually made with the original cast.

The situation is unusual this time around in that 20th and Comedy Central have been kicking around ways to make "Futurama," originally produced for a broadcast network (Fox), make financial sense for a cable run. Yet there's also still a possibility -- and a window built in -- for "Futurama" to run on a broadcast network first.

It's believed that the "Futurama" cast members were asking for around $75,000 per episode; it was not clear what 20th was offering. Calls to the voice stars' reps were not immediately returned.

Created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, "Futurama" originally aired on Fox from 1999 to 2003. The success of the show's repeats on DVD and cable, as well as a series of first-run DVD releases, led to the decision to revive "Futurama."

Other costs slashed in the process led to a smaller writing staff and a shorter delivery schedule.

"We love the 'Futurama' voice performers and absolutely wanted to use them, but unfortunately, we could not meet their salary demands," 20th Century Fox TV said in a statement. "While replacing these talented actors will be difficult, the show must go on. We are confident that we will find terrific new performers to give voice to Matt and David's brilliantly subversive characters."

Source - Variety

Update: new budget cut - the show will no longer be set in the future

Edited July 19, 2009 by IDM

[Benji]

Bwahaha, thespians, this isn't Shakespeare, it's biting shiny metal asses and impersonations of the three stooges, Variety need to learn their article audience.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and rar boo-sucks, already did this thrice with people today.

Edited July 19, 2009 by Benji O' Doom~!

[TheTruth]

I'm not feeling a Futurama return with new voices for the characters. The voices of the characters are pretty important, and just because it's a cartoon show doesn't mean they can just be replaced.

[RoyWill Rumble]

Maybe I'm just naive when it comes to salaries for TV shows, accustomed to getting paid fuck-all for anything I do, and idealistic that people would just love what they do, but JESUS BALLS $75,000 per fucking episode? Wow.

Edited July 19, 2009 by Willer Queen

[Benji]

That's a starters negotiation fee most likely, and considering the amount the channel would get back from advertisements and DVD sales it's not entirely unreasonable - especially since I'm sure everyone will agree Futurama just wouldn't be the same without them.

[Lint]

Maybe I'm just naive when it comes to salaries for TV shows, accustomed to getting paid fuck-all for anything I do, and idealistic that people would just love what they do, but JESUS BALLS $75,000 per fucking episode? Wow.

As of last year, the voice actors of the major simpsons characters were getting like half a million per episode

[Romero]

I can confirm this. I have an audition for Zapp and Kif.

[Lint]

Seriously? Dude..ya gotta post something doing zapp

[MalaCloudy Black]

You have to get it. I'll forgive any other stupid-as-shit-sounding characters due to new voices if Romero gets a part.