Twentieth's animated sitcom, Futurama, has been cleared in 90% of the country to debut this fall on weekends in broadcast syndication, the company said Tuesday.
Futurama will air on stations owned by the Fox, Tribune, Sinclair, Hearst and CBS. It currently airs in first-run and repeats on cable network Comedy Central, which recently renewed it for two more seasons.
"Between the program's recent renewal on Comedy Central, its rapidly-growing 11 million Facebook followers and its upcoming premiere in broadcast syndication, this Matt Groening-created series is truly on a hot streak. Twentieth Television is thrilled to launch the program on weekends this fall, as it will undoubtedly introduce, and in some cases, re-introduce, the comedy to viewers and fans," said Paul Franklin, Twentieth's executive vice president and general sales manager.
Like Twentieth's Family Guy, Futurama was revived by a cable network after first airing on Fox's primetime schedule. Comedy Central acquired the show in repeats, and it did so well that seven years after its last original episode air on Fox, the network ordered new episodes. On Comedy Central, the show averaged 2.5 million viewers per week, with especially strong ratings among young men.
Futurama, created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen, is produced by Twentieth Century Fox Television, with Rough Draft Studios contributing the animation.
