There's a new future for the popular FUTURAMA TV series with Comedy Central picking up rights to air at least 13 additional, soon-to-be-produced episodes, which will air in 2008.
This augments the initial license agreement Comedy Central entered into with Twentieth Century Fox Television last fall for Matt Groening's and David X. Cohens Emmy-winning animated comedy series FUTURAMA according to David Bernath, svp programming, Comedy Central.
Comedy Central and Twentieth Century Fox Television had signed a multi-year deal to acquire all 72 existing episodes of FUTURAMA with an option to exhibit any new episodes that might be produced in the future. Actors Billy West, Katey Sagal and John DiMaggio will all be back for the new episodes.
FUTURAMA, winner of the 2002 Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (less than one hour), follows the adventures of Philip J. Fry (West), a pizza delivery boy who was accidentally frozen on New Years Eve in 1999 and thaws out 1,000 years later with a fresh start at life and a "diverse" new group of friends, including Leela (Sagal), a tough, but lovely one-eyed alien and Bender (DiMaggio), a robot who possesses human characteristics and flaws. The series aired for five seasons on Fox (1999 to 2003) earning Emmy nominations each season.
"We are thrilled that Matt Groening and Twentieth Century Fox Television have decided to produce new episodes of FUTURAMA and that Comedy Central will be the first to air them," said Bernath. "There is a deep and passionate fan base for this intelligent and very funny show that matches perfectly with our audience and it is great that we can offer them not just the existing library, but something they've never seen as well."
Comedy Central (www.comedycentral.com), the only all-comedy network, currently is seen in more than 88 million homes nationwide. Comedy Central is owned by Comedy Partners, a wholly owned division of MTV Networks.
