Get in line for the Suicide Booth: Futurama is being canceled. Again. And discussions are already happening to bring it back. Again. But it’s time for Matt Groening and company to just stop screwing around and take this show to the home it deserves: The Internet.
For those looking for the bad news:
Comedy Central has decided not to renew Futurama, which means that the 31st-century-set animated comedy will end its 140-episode run on Sept. 4. The final 13 episodes, which represent the second half of season 7, begin airing on June 19 at 10 p.m.
We’ve been in this situation before and it’s tempting when you’re doing episodes that are as good or better than anything you’ve ever done to continue doing it,” Groening tells EW. “We’re catching our breath and seeing what the fans have to say.”
Here’s what we want to know… Why don’t we just stop screwing around, and put this show on the Internet?
As we’ve noted before, Matt Groening is buried under so much cash from The Simpsons he can basically do whatever he wants. So why not take Futurama online?
Here’s a logical progression: Sell the episodes on Amazon Instant Video, something Comedy Central has certainly been happy to do, wait six months, run them on Hulu with ads, and then put them on Netflix. It’s the perfect show to test a plan like this, because the audience are a bunch of wired, fanatical nerds who will gladly pay to keep the show going.
Come on, Fox. You owe Groening this one.