Good News, Everyone! All the Times 'Futurama' Was Canceled and Saved
'Futurama' is back on Hulu, main fans to ask why 'Futurama' was canceled in the first position and what number of times the TV display has been resurrected.
The primary characters of "Futurama' celebrate.
TV fans constantly lobby for their favorite shows to be saved, but Futurama is the prime example of the phenomenon. Matt Groening's animated series was resurrected by Hulu on July 24, 2023—and it's not the first time that the show has been canceled only to be brought back from the proverbial dead. The history of Futurama is its own kind of comedy.
For those who somehow still haven't seen an episode yet, Futurama centers on the crew of the hapless Planet Express delivery service as they fumble through their adventures and personal lives in the 31st century. At the heart of the story is Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy who was cryogenically frozen in the 21st century only to awaken in the future.
Continue reading for how many times Fry, Leela, Bender, and the rest of the crew have been through the TV wringer.
Fry points while standing on the coffee table in 'Futurama.'
How many times was 'Futurama' canceled?
Futurama began its life on Fox, home to Matt Groening's long-running smash hit The Simpsons. The show premiered on March 28, 1999, and lasted for four seasons—but those four seasons involved it being moved across the Fox schedule numerous times.
Even though the series was critically acclaimed, with Season 1 still holding an 82 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it was never as successful in the TV ratings as The Simpsons.
Fox never officially canceled Futurama, but stopped ordering new episodes during Season 4, which effectively ended the show in 2003. That same year, Matt Groening told the Calgary Sun that "The other people at Fox didn't ever toughen the show...We won the Emmy for best-animated display and I did not even get a begrudging phone name."
But in 2007, TV executives noticed Futurama still had a fan following in reruns, first on Adult Swim and then on Comedy Central.
Four direct-to-DVD Futurama movies were produced: Bender's Big Score, The Beast with a Billion Backs, Bender's Game, and Into the Wild Green Yonder.
Comedy Central edited these films into TV episodes, which they collectively broadcast as Futurama Season 5. That was the first season to air on Comedy Central, which chose to cancel Futurama after three seasons.
The network announced in April 2013 that Futurama Season 7 would be the show's final season, and it ended with "Meanwhile" on Sept. 4, 2013.
"I felt like we had been already in the bonus round on these remaining couple of seasons, so I can’t say I was devastated through the news,” co-creator David X. Cohen advised Entertainment Weekly. "It was what I had expected two years earlier."
But after the 2nd cancellation, those continual reruns persisted and Futurama lovers kept watching. Repeats of Futurama aired on SyFy, Comedy Central, and Adult Swim; episodes lately air on FXX and Adult Swim, whilst streaming on Hulu. And speaking of Hulu...
Professor Farnsworth and Leela glance on excitedly in a scene from 'Futurama.'
How does Hulu's 'Futurama' revival examine to the unique?
In February 2022—virtually a decade after Futurama's 2nd cancellation—Hulu introduced plans for an 8th season. While there was first of all some controversy when actor John DiMaggio had a pay dispute with the streamer, the struggle was resolved and the complete authentic voice forged returned for Season 8, which premiered on July 24, 2023.
The new season (which has additionally been referred to as Season Eleven because of the broadcast seasons airing in a couple of parts) selections up right away after "Meanwhile."
The first episode fittingly facilities on the phenomenon of streaming TV, as advised thru a 31st-century lens. The Planet Express workforce realizes they've been frozen in time for 10 years (the identical amount of time Futurama has been off the air!), and a dejected Fry comes to a decision to set himself a function: circulation each episode of the widespread cleaning soap opera All My Circuits.
Without spoiling anything, his quest leads the staff to move paths with an organization known as "Fulu."
Futurama Season Eight has the identical tongue-in-cheek, incessantly self-deprecating humor of the first seven seasons. Not simplest are all of the unique characters and their voice actors again, but the season options appearances from fan-favorite habitual players like Morbo the Annihilator and his co-anchor Linda. Everything is just about as the show left it... which is the entire shaggy dog story of the first new episode.
Anyone who loved Futurama again in 1999 will still adore it just as a lot in 2023.
And for the reason that Futurama facilities on a personality out of time, it's greater than appropriate that the display itself has been able to stay from running out of time on 3 separate occasions. It could have been canceled twice via two other networks, however it is never in fact long past away. It's just long past directly to its next adventure.
New episodes of Futurama stream Mondays on Hulu.
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