Fox animated series Futurama isn't going away anytime soon, but the
network has no plans to order any more original episodes of the series, insiders
said.
Due to a long lead time on animated production, Fox executives had to tell
producer Matt Groening (The Simpsons) and his production company this
month whether or not they wanted to keep the show going for the 2003-2004
season.
The answer was no, at least for now.
"We have tremendous respect for Matt, but the show's production schedule
requires an advance renewal decision that we don't have the luxury to make at
this time. We may want to order more in the future, but we could not meet this
early deadline," a Fox spokesman said.
The network already has approximately 20 episodes produced or in the final
stages of production, and that will keep Futurama going
through the remainder of this season and 2002-2003.
So far this season, the 7 p.m. EST/PST series is averaging 6.4 million viewers
and a 2.9 rating/8 share in adults 18 through 49, according to Nielsen Media
Research.
Futurama originally debuted on Fox in March 1999.
