Official Futurama Thread - Futurama back in '08 -RK has 2 years to afford cable

Started by ©brad, August 11, 2003, 04:12:20 PM

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SiliasRuby

The Beatles know Jesus Christ has returned to Earth and is in Los Angeles.

When you are getting fucked by the big corporations remember to use a condom.

There was a FISH in the perkalater!!!

My Collection

MacGuffin

'Futurama' without original voices?
Talks between Fox TV, cast members break down
Source: Variety

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 thesps 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."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

polkablues

My house, my rules, my coffee

Stefen

Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

hedwig


Stefen

Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

Gamblour.

These fucking voice actors need to shut the fuck up. What is Katey Segal doing anyway?!?!
WWPTAD?

Stefen

Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

hedwig


SiliasRuby

The Beatles know Jesus Christ has returned to Earth and is in Los Angeles.

When you are getting fucked by the big corporations remember to use a condom.

There was a FISH in the perkalater!!!

My Collection

MacGuffin

'Futurama' cast returning for reboot
Original voices ink deal; end spat with Fox
Source: Variety

The "Futurama" characters won't be sporting new voices after all.

The five "Futurama" cast members -- John DiMaggio, Billy West, Katey Sagal, Maurice LaMarche and Tress MacNeille -- have just sealed pacts with 20th Century Fox TV to return to the show as it reboots with 26 new episodes for Comedy Central.

Both the actors and 20th are believed to have found a compromise. Move comes after 20th put out a casting call earlier this month to find replacement actors for the show.

"We are thrilled to have our incredible cast back," creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen said in a statement. "The call has already gone out to the animators to put the mouths back on the characters."

The studio announced in June 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 they hadn't and talks broke down as the studio and actors were wildly apart on episodic salary.

It wasn't the first time 20th had gone that route during a tough negotiation on one of its animated shows. The studio once made a similar move on "The Simpsons" when it couldn't come to a deal with that show's stars; although casting feelers were sent out, a deal was eventually made, just as in this case.

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.

It was believed that the "Futurama" cast were asking for around $75,000 per episode, although the actors have said their request was actually much lower than that. It was not clear what 20th was offering.

Created by Groening and 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 that were slashed in the process led to a smaller writing staff and a shorter delivery schedule.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

SiliasRuby

The Beatles know Jesus Christ has returned to Earth and is in Los Angeles.

When you are getting fucked by the big corporations remember to use a condom.

There was a FISH in the perkalater!!!

My Collection

ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ

The voice actors for the show are some of the best, at least that I'm aware of.  If they really ended up getting new people, the show would implode on itself.
"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye

Ravi

http://www.hitfix.com/articles/2010-3-4-new-futurama-episodes-premiere-on-comedy-central-in-june

New 'Futurama' episodes premiere on Comedy Central in June
Billy West, John DiMaggio and Katey Sagal and the full vocal cast will also be back
Published on Thursday, Mar 4, 2010 By Daniel Fienberg

New episodes of the resurrected animation favorite "Futurama" will return to Comedy Central in June.

Comedy Central sources confirm to HitFix that Thursday, June 24 at 10:00 p.m. is currently set to be the premiere of the first new half-hour episode of "Futurama"since 2003.

"Futurama" launched in 1999 on FOX and aired through 2003. Adult Swim and then Comedy Central kept the show alive in repeats, with Comedy Central giving a home to extra-long "Futurama" episodes "Bender's Big Score," "The Beast with a Billion Backs," "Bender's Game" and "Into the Wild Green Yonder."

Ratings for the constantly recycled repeats, as well as DVD sales, helped to spur talk of a comeback and, in June of 2009, Comedy Central announced that the network had ordered 26 new episodes to premiere starting this year.

Fan enthusiasm was temporarily tempered by overblown reports that the vocal talent including Billy West, John DiMaggio and Katey Sagal might be replaced for the run of new episodes. Eventually, the full cast reached new agreements and Philip Fry, Bender, Leela and the rest of the "Futurama" gang will sound very much like you're used to them sounding.

Created by David X. Cohen and Matt Groening, "Futurama" won the Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program in 2002.

ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ

"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye