Watch Futurama… In Live Action!
Good news, everyone! Comedy Central have remade the opening sequence of Futurama in live action to promote tonight’s series’ premiere. Take a look!
Tagged: Comedy Central
Comics at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear
Well, you knew Captain America was going to be there, didn’t you?
We also had V wandering around as well:
“Our integrity sells for so little, but it is all we really have. It is the very last inch of us. But within that inch, we are free.”
It was a fun rally. We hope you were there or at a satellite rally, or caught the broadcast on Comedy Central.
‘MadTV’ Canceled by Fox
Fox announced the cancelation of Mad TV. The series lasted an impressive 14 seasons but had suffered season-to-season ratings declines for a while now so the news came as no surprise.
"There’s been great interest in recent years," executive producer David Salzman told Variety. "We’ve had a number of networks inquire as to whether the show was coming off Fox and saying that they’d be interested. We have not started to talk to them yet, but now is the time to begin those conversations. I think we have real prospects, but you never know, especially given the economy."
The announcement came Wednesday, allowing the produces to plan to wrap production of the shortened season in December. "This will give us a proper sendoff, a chance to promote the finale and bring back old cast members," Salzman said.
"They said it was too expensive for a daypart where dollars have been shrinking," he said. "Their thought was, the show is what the show is, and that essence needs to be maintained — but it’s hard to produce as big and ambitious a show as ours for less money than they’re paying now."
Comedy Central has been airing reruns of the show, based in name only on the legendary humor magazine, but their deal with Fox expires at year end. Salzman intends to find a home for the 326-episode library and hopefully continue to produce new episodes.
Quesada and Colbert – Together Again!
Well, given the writer’s strike and the fact that people have to cross picket lines in order to get in the building, The Colbert Report doesn’t announce their guests in advance. But Marvel Comics does.
Marvel Comics today announced that Joe Quesada, editor-in-chief, will be a guest on The Colbert Reporton Tuesday, January 29. In order to do so, he must cross the Writers Guild picket line outside the program’s mid-town Manhattan studio.
The WGA has been on strike since early November, seeking (among other things) a share of Internet revenue and a larger portion of DVD profits. Ironically, the Marvel film studio just signed an interim agreement with the WGA last week.
The last time Quesada appeared on the show, the gave Colbert Captain America’s shield. Since his appearance is the very night before the release of the return of Captain America (Bucky gets promoted), perhaps Joey needs it back.
Then again, perhaps it won’t be Joe Quesada. Maybe it’ll be a Skrull. Skrulls would cross picket lines.
The Colbert Report airs on Comedy Central 11:30 PM Eastern and Pacific.
Martha Thomases co-wrote this here article.
Today South Park, tomorrow the world!
Via Cynopsis: South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker entered into a heavy-duty contract with Comedy Central to create South Park Digital Studios. The facility, located inside of the show’s Culver City studio, will serve as a home for all digital extensions of the South Park franchise as well as an incubator for new animated projects. Comedy Central gets a first-look option at anything they come up with.
The deal also includes a three-year contract extension that will carry South Park through its 15th season and gives Matt and Trey an unprecedented 50/50 split in ad revenues generated across the web, video games and mobile platforms, in addition to undisclosed millions in upfront cash.
And to think they were going to quit after the 65th episode.
Back to the Futurama
In the future, there will be no graves and nothing will stay dead. Motor-shock is coming.
The first original Futurama production since the series was canceled in 2003 will be a feature-length film, Futurama: Bender’s Big Score that will go directly to DVD and be available on November 27th. The new film features the show’s original cast and crew, and its release marks the second time that a Fox cartoon series has spawned a direct-to-DVD film after cancellation (Family Guy: Stewie Griffin, the Untold Story was the first). Previews were shown at SDCC with the crowd going nuts, as you’d expect.
Fox is planning to release three additional Futurama direct-to-DVD features during 2008, Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs, Futurama: Bender’s Game, and Futurama: Into the Wild, Green Yonder. In addition to the original cast each Futurama film will feature guest stars. Al Gore, Sarah Silverman and Coolio appear in Bender’s Big Score.
The release of the direct-to-DVD features doesn’t affect the previously announced plans to revive Futurama in episodic form on Comedy Central in 2008 (see "Futurama Revived"). The producers of the series plan on chopping up the features, adding new material and airing the resulting reconfigured new 22-minute episodes on Comedy Central during 2008 along with reruns of the original 72 episodes, much as they did with Stewie Griffin, the Untold Story. Click here to see a faux trailer.
Viacom sues YouTube for $1 bil
Looking for that video of Stephen Colbert accepting the mantle of Captain America last night (apparently Marvel has just discovered the shield missing), or decrying the death of Steve Rogers in his Word segment from last Thursday? Don’t bother going to YouTube for ’em. Comedy Central’s parent company Viacom announced today that it has sued YouTube and its parent company Google, seeking more than $1 billion in copyright infringement damages.
The lawsuit was not exactly unexpected — last month Viacom demanded that YouTube remove more than 100,000 unauthorized clips after several months of talks between the companies broke down.
Considering the fight is about who can make more money "out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others’ creative works," so far it looks like, whoever wins, the fans might still be the losers.
