I was convinced that when we cracked open our brand new set of “Futurama” DVDs, it would be filled with nothing but football games. Why not? “Futurama” had to be the most pre-empted TV show in the history of Fox, and possibly in the history of TV. It was just amazing. I have the feeling that, in any given season, it was pre-empted more often than it was aired. When I would tune in to see it, chances were one in three it would be on.
Well, interestingly, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. The DVDs did not contain footbal. They continued “Futurama.”
Just not all of season one, as advertised.
Instead, our boxed set was missing disk three and instead had two copies of disk two.
What the HÊLL goes on with show?
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my buffy season 3 had the same problem, just exchange it
I’m curious to know if they deleted that joke about “John F. Kennedy, Jr. Airport.”
It’s a plot Peter. Fox wants to drive us INSANE!!!! Well, I haven’t biught the set yet so I should be fine for Purple Monkey Dishwater 🙂
Not to detract from the value of one of the Simpsons’ sister series arriving on DVD (or as I like to call it, “the future”), but I’m quite satisfied with the nightly airing of Futurama on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. Of course, it doesn’t come with the extras, but the way they go about it, you can watch the entire series in a couple of months.
Unlike The Simpsons, which is syndicated and can’t get aired in anything even remotely resembling chronological order (not that that has too much of an effect on the watching experience). In fact, the FOX affiliate here in the Chicago suburbs just runs the show in sets. They’ll get 10 or 20 episodes and run them six or seven times, then get a new set, rinse, and repeat.
I love both shows, though, and don’t have the money to spend on things I can get for free. You know.
Yeah, really, Peter. I opened up my DVD package, and I found the word “the” in it! 🙂
For what it’s worth, I got all three different DVDs of “Futurama” in my set. So definitely take yours back (yeah, like we need to tell you that). I do have to say I love the packaging design on the set–three separate slim plastic cases, meaning I don’t have to unfold a big-ášš accordion-file box a la the TNG DVDs. Clever.
Your problem, however, reminds me of a couple years back when I bought one of the DVD sets of “The Avengers” produced by A&E. One of the DVDs was properly printed and labelled as “The Avengers” but instead contained the movie “The Jackal” with Richard Gere.
Virgin Megastore absolutely refused to take the DVD back until I forced them to slap it on their DVD player in-store and see for themselves. Even then, they looked at me so suspiciously I think they thought I had “recorded” “The Jackal” somehow on the DVD.
Yeah, you’d think Fox would give a show, created by the guy who made the Simpsons, a better deal. I my area it’s always pre-empted. I don’t think they even have a last season this year, except for a few episodes.
Same thing always happened with Star Trek DS9, and recently, a rarity, a new Buffy episode, which introduced Caleb, was canceled for sports.
What kind of shotty disrespect are they giving us fans?
Peter, if you want to catch any episodes you missed, if not all the show, check out Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. They show it all week. I saw the guest appearences of the original Star Trek cast.
That was a pretty funny episode. Go check it out!
David,
did you forget about FIREFLY? It was ALWAYS pre-empted. heck, it was even shown out of order, with the poilt shown last!! The powers that be at FOX need to be shot.
i hate this show, especially now that it comes on so late at night during the week. it never fails that while channel surfing to put myself to sleep i come across it and then i’m left laughing so hard that i’m wide awake and can’t get to sleep until like 2 AM.
i just hate this show so much.
Are the extra features closed-captioned and/or subtitled? (Well- the ones on disc 1 and 2 at least? heh) Just asking cuz I’m a deaf Futurama fan.
eddie
Good news, everybody! Futurama season 2 is slated for DVD release in early September. And I’ve heard rumor that Firefly (the complete run) will be out on DVD in December – someone mentioned that show.
I have Futurama season 1 and have gotten through the first two disks (I had three different ones in my box). Watched each show twice so far – first without commentary and second with. Some good stuff to make the commentary viewable at least once. This show had lots of classic stuff – and since it was pre-empted so much, a lot of the shows don’t seem overplayed. I had never seen “Hëll Is Other Robots” at all – a very funny one.
Instead of disc 3, mine came with a CD of an announcer saying “You’re watching Fox. We hate you, nerd.” ‘sup with that?
I havn’t had a lot of luck with Fox DVDs either. My buffy season 3 wont even play the first disk and my Anglw season 1 disk 1 won’t play at all because of a gouge in it. Does anyone have Fox DVD’s email?
I too have the Avengers DVD boxes.. I had gotten 2 of the same disks in one box but luckaly they have a customer service email address and they replaced the disk.
When I got my set the first time, I had a defective disc three, which was really aggravating, because it has some of the funnier episodes on it (the Slurm factory to name one).
The machinations around Futurama depress me so much, I don’t even bother talking about them anymore.
I mean, it started when the show started and they didn’t just logically put it on after the Simpsons. (OF course, given the recent Simpsons malaise, it might have shown up “Big Brother” and Fox didn’t want that.)
Peter –
Beware! For it is the Squirrels who plot to destroy your mind through their scheming!
Fear them, for they seek to rule us all!
http://www27.brinkster.com/christy747/hamlinesquirrel.gif
Season 2-Set in september? Oh, you lucky ones. Here in Europe it’s out since May 2002. ;D
My Futurama set was fine.
Also they did replace the JFK Jr. Airport joke…but they mention it in the commentary.
One more comment about the JFK Jr. Airport joke — it had been replaced before the show’s first rerun airing on Fox, so that’s been taken care of for a few years now. And, in addition to being mentioned in the commentary, the joke is also seen on one of the DVD extras: the script for the pilot episode, scanned in with margin notes and everything.
But, yeah, my Futurama set was fine, too. I still haven’t decided whether to be happy or disappointed that Fox’s “Da Boom” promotions are left out, though. I mean, it was a big thing for the network, but it runs neck-and-neck with “It’s time to Foxify” among Fox’s all-time lamest promotions.
I strongly doubt the flawed disc was a deliberate plan to screw over FUTURAMA fans — more likely just a packing error. Based on the above comments, it should be easily fixed.
What’s MORE frustrating is that instead of being pre-empted by football, FUTURAMA is now being pre-empted by KING OF THE HILL reruns. That’s right — RERUNS! The final episodes of this wonderful sci-fi cartoon are being delayed (I hope — I’ll be hella pìššëd if they’re never aired) to show reruns.
And for those interested, here are the final upcoming episodes of FUTURAMA:
Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV
The Sting
Bend Her
Obsoletely Fabulous
The Farnsworth Paradox
Three Hundred Big Boys
Spanish Fry
The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings
And yes, the STAR TREK episode (“Where No Fan Has Gone Before”) was considered the last show to be made. That’s why Bender makes the comment about Trek that it’s “another classic science fiction show cancelled before it’s time.”
I get the odd feeling that Fox will not show the remaining Futurama episodes. If thy are going to cancel this show, why not just cancel it?
I don’t quite get why they changed that JFK Jr. joke. Given how over-the-top the reaction to his death was, it felt like they were about to rename the airport anyway.
Okay, the network spends millions on shows like Futurama and Firefly, in hopes that they’ll succeed, win their time slots and make even more millions for Fox. Then they pre-empt, replace, show out of order and eventually, cancel them. All that potential profit is lost. So why not give these shows a fighting chance to succeed? I’m no financial wizard, but this makes no sense to me business-wise. Seriously, can someone explain this to me?
The JFK JR joke is also in the animantic of the pilot. For those of you who want to know…..
Hope this isn’t too anal, but:
Peter, you *did* get the whole first season – it was nine episodes long (though thirteen were commissioned). The remaining eps – the ones on disc three – aired as the first eps of season two. That’s why the box is labeled “Volume One”, instead of “Season One”. Not that it makes any difference, but where the hëll else can I use this meaningless tidbit?
My Buffy Season 2 set had was missing disc five and had an extra disc four. What’s with Fox box sets?
Another proof, to pile upon my huge heaping pile of proofs, that life isn’t fair. That’s rule #1 of reality. At least half the time we work hard ourselves to make sure it isn’t fair in at least some ways. If Fox really is doing to undermine Futurama, they are just shooting themselves in the foot (Or is it ‘paw’ for a fox? In that case they have 3 spares). If life were fair, they’d suffer for it. Guess what?
Do you know that I’ve never even seen Futurama to date? I’ve seen plenty of Simpsons, but no Futurama! It’s sad. It gets shown where I live in Israel on the kind of cable stations that I just can’t afford, and so for the past 4 years, alas, I’ve never been able to see it, as much as I’d like to. It’s sad.
You want a BAD DVD experience. My grandma order 24 season one for my Xmas gifted. I got it six weeks after it was ordered. I opened the set, Disk one was scratched and disk two was warmed. I was after the return time for Amazon so I couldn’t return it. So, I have to save up the money for that… plus Futurama, Family Guy and maybe start making a dent in Star Trek.
FUTURAMA is far from being the only show getting such shabby treatment. Nor is it a recent phenomenon.
Consider THE FLASH tv series. I spent almost two months overseas in the middle of the series run, and returned to discover I’d only missed ONE episode. The series was subsequently cancelled because it hadn’t “found its audience”. More like “the audience couldn’t find an invisble, constantly moving show”.
Or, even earlier. When a Canadian network snapped up ROBOTECH (at the very start of the North American anime invasion), I went to their corporate HQ, fortunately located in my city. I hand-delivered a typed letter congratulating them, but also explaining to them that it was an ongoing story, with beginning, middle and end. That one had character and plot developments and that the series needed to be shown starting with episode #1 (I gave the title) and then listed the other 85 episodes, in order for the series to make any sense.
So, what happened?
They started with episode #21. Went on to #34 – skipping a couple which were presumably deemed too violent for the kiddies, but leaving them to wonder what the heck happened to that major character who seems to have disappeared without explanation? Then, the climactic #36, followed by #35. #37 – 66 were OK except that the rest of the series (#67 – 85) were left out entirely as the station then went back to #1 and from there forward.
It seems that my letter was not as effective as I’d have wished and those cretins still looked at cartoons as BUGS BUNNY stuff where continuity was an unknown concept. :p
A few points: I think “Futurama” suffers from second child syndrome. “The Simpsons” has been so successful that I think people just couldn’t wait to carve into Groening’s second show. Also I think it has that built-in bias that keeps a show like “Buffy” from ever winning an Emmy while shows like “The West Wing” pick them up like they’re peanuts. (Not that I don’t like “The West Wing” but it’s a “serious” show that people admit to liking and “Buffy” is just that vampire show, right?)
However, Futurama did air after “The Simpsons” when it was first on and it led into “The X-Files” when that show was hot so I don’t think it was *never* given a chance. Also as far as doing right by viewers, football, I’m sorry to say, has many more viewers than Futurama will ever have. Something has to go in that slot. It’s like when “Seinfeld” was king. Any show that went up against it and got cancelled, someone from the show griped that it was up against “Seinfeld” But what were the other networks supposed to do, run a test pattern?
Actually, I’ve just been hoping that Cartoon Network would take over “Futurama.” They’re obviously capable of paying for original material and I hear that the “Adult Swim” block has been very successful for them.
Also, let’s not forget that “Simpsons” got lucky when it premiered, and was successful beyond anyone’s expectations. I think it must have tapped into the right moment in the national zeitgeist–the “Cosby Show” mold of family comedy was starting to get a little tired, and “Simpsons” happened to hit the right contrast to be enthusiastically embraced by a segment of the viewing public. (I was a cynical college student who was already a fan of “Life In Hëll,” so I was pretty much the target demographic for the show when it premiered. “I’m a white male aged 18 to 35! Everybody listens to me!”) It was also the first prime-time animated show on U.S. TV in two decades (and the bar for animation in the US was much lower then).
Whatever the reason, there was no reason to expect to be able to capture the same kind of lightning again. Fox may not have given the show the best treatment, but it doesn’t follow that it would have ruled the airwaves if it had only been given the perfect time slot. (I think the maximum viewership an SF show can potentially achieve will always be lower than that of a family comedy.)
(Besides, the treatment of “Furturama” is nothing–nothing, I tell you–compared to the treatment of the “Clerks” show…)
As a trump card, and another nail in Fox DVD’s coffin, when I bought Buffy Season One, the entire package was empty. No discs, no fliers and strange black marks all over the plastic cases.
Imagine the hëll I went through at Best Buy when I took it back.
“It was empty and you want a new one. Right.”
The Tick (live action, not the cartoon) was another show that Fox couldn’t seem to get rid of quickly enough. I swear that in the first three weeks it aired on a different night and time every week.
Way to build an audience, Fox!
;-P
“The Tick” strikes me as one of those series that would be perfect for collecting on DVD. The material is already there and it appeals to that audience, the kind of people who would buy a show on DVD. It’ll probably never happen because the show disappeared so quick, but I would just love to see it, if for no other reason than Liz Vassey, an actress I fell in love with from ABC’s critically acclaimed but super-short-lived series (Poor Ms. Vassey. Starring in series that fit that description seems to be her lot in life.) “Maximum Bob.”
Good news, everyone!
(sorry, considering the topic, I couldn’t resist…)
Columbia has announced they WILL collect the live-action Tick series on DVD, for sometime later this year.
(Along with Soap — a personal fave — Dilbert, Newsradio and others.)
I’m not sure if I agree with your assessment that Futurama was the most pre-empted show. I think the better and funnier cartoon Family Guy holds that title.
I haven’t converted from VHS to DVD yet. Though, after reading through these posts is reason enough why I’m still going to be the last person on Earth to buy a DVD player. Anyway, I notice Fox tends to shaft plenty of shows with potential by never adversiting a particular show, or giving it a crummy time slot, or pre-empting it with Simpson reruns (most of the time anyway).
Another DVD packaging thought: is there a reason they make it so hard to pop the discs out? I’m always afraid I’m going to crack them or something. I really hope they release Firefly on DVD (though Mal’s stint as Caleb on Buffy has me suddenly having an aversion to seeing anything with him in it, he plays them too similarly, methinks). Oh, one other DVD thought. . .does anyone think they’ll release the Buffy musical episode seperately on DVD? I was planning on only getting up to season 5 and believing that buffy is still dead but out of season 6 and 7 I really want to have “once more with feeling” and “tabula rasa” — they should invent a way to order like your 5 fave episodes and they’ll custom package them. I wish they’d do that with ST:TNG so I can replace my VHS copies of “The Inner Light,” “Best of Both Worlds,” and “Rascals.”
Fox seem to like us Brits then, they release their DVD box sets way before they do in the US and for Buffy and Angel they give us shiny book effect cases that you slide each individual disc into it’s own page/sleeve, then you slide the book into its case. Sadly the first Buff boxset didn’t have that design so it looks a bit out of place.
Message for Homa
Although i haven