One of the biggest television renewal upsets last spring was Fox choosing to bring back fledgling series Dollhouse while canceling Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Both shows were struggling for ratings but Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles seemed more likely to be picked up as it was concluding its second season compared to Dollhouse only having aired twelve episodes (the thirteenth episode, “Epitaph One”, is currently only available in the DVD box set for season one and via iTunes). Obviously, loyal Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles fans were upset at this decision.
Those fans may have come to terms with the series never returning to television, but they haven’t given up hope for a direct-to-DVD movie. It seems unlikely but Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles producer James Middleton gave some indication that it could happen:
“The quick answer is, yes, there have been many discussions. I can’t go into more detail about the subject until I have something truly substantial to report. What the fans should know is that I hear them and I too would love to see T:SCC come back in some form.”
Sure, people may only be having “discussions” at this point but at least they’re talking. That’s a good first step for a show that desperately needs a conclusion. Without spoiling anything, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles pulled out all the stops for the season finale and left the series on a giant cliffhanger. Then it got canceled and we were all left wondering what would happen next. Some may find it easy to dismiss fan support as futile but there’s growing precedence for their voices being heard.
Futurama fans of the world have five reasons to celebrate. Variety is reporting that the show’s original stars — John DiMaggio, Billy West, Katey Sagal, Maurice LaMarche and Tress MacNeille – reached an agreement with 20th Century Fox TV late Friday to return to the show. This compromise comes on the heels of 20th putting out a casting call in July to find replacement voice 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 revive the long-canceled Futurama, and Comedy Central was on board to begin airing the new episodes in mid-2010. Part of the announcement included stars West, Sagal and DiMaggio returning to the series; however the actors had not finalized a deal and salary discussions soon escalated.
It’s believed that the Futurama cast initially asked for around $75,000 per episode (a number disputed by at least one actor), but that number was reportedly brought down to $40,000. The final number wound up below that, but above what 20th was offering.
Despite 20th’s move to start recasting Futurama, it was widely assumed that both sides would eventually figure out a way to stay in business together. In what many considered a positive sign, some of the Futurama cast attended the recent San Diego Comic-Con, although they were not a part of the show’s official panel discussion.
New Futurama episodes will begin airing on Comedy Central in 2010.
Now that all the dust has settled, and San Diego Comic-Con is slowly becoming a fading memory, we wanted to bring our readers a look at some of the things we saw, people we talked to, and stuff we did during what we like to call NerdiGras.
We put together this little video to show you what we all went through last week, so check it out, and be sure to stay tuned for all of the interviews, specials, and news we have to offer you from The Flickcast team!
Things are really starting to heat up on the San Diego Comic-Con front this week with more and more studios and networks announcing their schedules and what talent they will be bringing to the show. This time around we’ve got the word from a network with some of our favorite shows on it including 24 and Dollhouse. I’m talking, of course, about Fox.
The kind PR folks at the network sent us over their Comic-Con schedule so we could share it with you. Also remember that The Flickcast will be at Comic-Con in force so be sure to check back right here for all our coverage of the show. Also, for the complete Comic-Con schedule, go to the official Con site.
Now, without further to do, here’s all the info from the official Fox Press Release:
Non-Stop Action, Thrills, Laughs And Excitement Are Coming To Comic-Con From Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Eliza Dushku, Joss Whedon, Danny DeVito, Matt Groening And Many More On Hand In San Diego To Showcase An Awesome
Line-Up Of Blu-ray And DVD Releases
Get A First Look At The Hottest New Titles Including “Dollhouse” Season One,
“It’s A Very Sunny Christmas,” “Futurama” The Complete Collection And More
Unveiling of “Wolverine” Wax Figure By Madame Tussauds Hollywood
WHO: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment brings the thrills, the action, the mystery and the laughs to San Diego Comic-Con International as they showcase an assortment of some of the most highly anticipated Blu-ray and DVD titles of 2009.
Previously on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt had to go on without Christina but were joined by special guest Rick Marshall of MTV’s Splashpage and Movie’s Blog to talk comics, movies and all things geek. Some of the topics discussed included John Carter of Mars casting, the rebirth of Captain America, the power of Twitter in movie marketing and upcoming comic-book-to-film adaptations including Whiteout, Scott Pilgrim and Iron Man 2.
This week, Christina is back and the team is ready for action with new topics such as Megan Fox as Lara Croft, the new Conan and his similarity to the old Conan, Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland, the sad performance of Year One, the return of Futurama and much more. And once again, the team made some interesting picks this week including one of Christina’s favorite video games, The Sims 3, Matt’s pick of Justice League Unlimited and Chris’ pick of the Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks miniseries Band of Brothers.
As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter and at Facebook, MySpace or via email.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
It’s official: Comedy Central has picked up the rights to renew 20th Century Fox Television’s Futurama for 26 new episodes, six years after getting initially cancelled by the Fox network. In a recent EW interview with a 20th Century Fox spokesman, they say the DVD sales and reruns have had a “blockbuster” performance:
“When we brought back Family Guy several years ago, everyone said that it was a once in a lifetime thing — that canceled series stay canceled and cannot be revived,” 20th Century Fox TV Co-Chairman Gary Newman and Dana Walden said in a joint statement. “But Futurama was another series that fans simply demanded we bring back, and we couldn’t have been happier when Matt and David agreed that there were many more stories yet to tell.”
Both creators David X Cohen and Matt Groening were of course ecstatic about the news. Said Groening: ”We’re thrilled Futurama is coming back. We now have only 25,766 episodes to make before we catch up with Bender and Fry in the year 3000.”
Between this mistake and the mistake of canceling Family Guy, maybe this means Fox TV will think twice about axing an animated series, or even a live action series (Could we see the resurrection of Greg the Bunny?). You can currently catch reruns of Futurama on Comedy Central throughout the week and you can even pre-order the complete box set inside of a limited Bender head from Amazon today!