Why Futurama Was Canceled - CBR

Cartoonist, writer, producer and animator Matt Groening reached cultural icon status with his series The Simpsons. Premiering on Fox in 1989, the adult animated television show was a huge success and continues to run even to this day. Realizing how well-received Groening's creation was, Fox began asking for more ideas from him. Thus, the animator created Futurama, a show about a pizza delivery guy named Fry who wakes up one thousand years into the future and learns to navigate this new life through all sorts of funny antics.

Though it was Fox who elicited Groening to produce Futurama, it seemed the network was always against the show. Because of this, Futurama has a fraught history, as it was shifted around from time slot to time slot and network to network, canceled and revived, and endured many complications spread out over its ten-year run.

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Futurama's troubles began with the very first episode. When deciding when the series would air, Groening and Fox both had differing opinions on time slots. The animator wanted Futurama to air on Sundays at 8:30 PM right after The Simpsons so as to give it the best exposure. Fox allowed it to do so for two episodes, then moved it to a damning Tuesday night time slot where it wouldn't get as big an audience. To alienate viewers further, Fox moved Futurama again, this time back to Sundays, but at 7 PM instead. This shifting around made it difficult for fans to anticipate when the show would air, and the sporting events airing on Fox at the time made it even harder.

By 2003, Fox had slowly let Futurama slip from its grasp. Fox had planned for a Season 5, holding on to episodes meant for Seasons 3 and 4 to create it; however, that season never came to fruition. Futurama wasn't canceled in the traditional way -- rather, the network simply stopped purchasing episodes and it faded into obscurity.

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Groening was very outspoken about Fox's mistreatment of his show. In an interview with Mother Jones, he talked about his frustrations with the people in Hollywood, calling them "babies" and "bullies." Groening elaborated on how he received no support from Fox, saying, "You can’t expect people to behave in their own best interest. It’s in Fox’s best interest for this show to be a success, but they’d rather mess with the show and have them fail, than allow creators independence and let them succeed."

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Though Fox didn't champion Futurama or Groening, the animator got to prove them wrong when Comedy Central picked the show back up in 2008. With the support of its new network, Futurama eventually reached cult-status and a total of seven seasons. The series was also nominated for a plethora of awards over the years, many of which it won, including 12 Emmys. Though it was clearly successful, all good things must come to an end, and Comedy Central canceled it in 2013. However, it's possible Futurama could return, as producers said they still have "many more stories to tell."

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