Well, there you go; another reason "Futurama" was doomed from the start at FOX.

Funny side note: FOX "News" is suing liberal comedian Al Franken because his new book taunting the right wing uses the phrase "fair and balanced" in the title. (Fox "News" claims they copyrighted the phrase.) The book immediately shot up to #1 in sales at Amazon.com. Way to go, FOX "News!"

"You won't have Nixon's Head to kick around anymore, you stupid hippies!!"
**punt**
"Aroooooo! Save me, Body of Spiro Agnew!!"

I don't know much about the politics in America. But the biggest Liberal party(VVD) in the Netherlands is a right wing party, but in America liberal partys are always left winged???

(I have voted VVD(Liberal))

The term "liberal" is abused in American politics as anything that's not conservative or left-wing. No clue why. Many of the US republican/conservative/right-wing agendas such as small government, reduced social system, reduced weapon control, power to unsupervised markets are quite liberal ideas by the literal meaning.
The report used "liberal" in the American way (akin to "leftist" in European politics).

On the other hand, they support patriot act, "family values" (fun fact: did you know that the nazis were first to use the term "family values"?), war on drugs and oppose gay rights and abortion, just to mention a few.

I don't consider myself "liberal" at all and love Futurama. Shows what polls know. Most of them are slanted by whoever is doing the polling.

Hah, hah, that's hilarious! Politically, I'm mostly right-winged/conservative, and I don't understand how Futurama is even considered left-winged/liberal. The show doesn't seem politically slanted in one direction or the other at all! But as #5 pointed out, polls are often slanted. But I just find the whole idea very amusing ;).

Thank you mArc for the explaination

I'm really a moderate and could care less about most issues. But alot of the issues I do care about I tend to be more to the right than left. The show didn't have too many political ideas in my opinon. They didn't like Nixon and the writers liked the enviornment, but I'm also a conservationist. To me the Simpsons, well the last one I watched, seemed more liberal then Futurama about drugs, gay rights, and other things. And King of the Hill makes fun of conservative vlaues. I think #6 is right about the poll, but if it gets Futurama more attention I'm for it.

Matt Groening is definitive a liberal. But he is not above making jokes about both sides of the political spectrum in his shows.
He always spoke out VERY clearly against right wing politics in Interviews. Do you remember the Simpsons Episode (aired during the US presidential election) in wich Bart writes "I will not plant subliminial messages" on the board and the words "Al Gore" shine through?

What about suicide booths??

I would have thought that Futurama is too clever for most liberals... ;)

Farnsworth: "Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in... get the hell off my property!"

Free Waterfall Junior: "You can't own property, man."

Farnsworth: "I can. But that's because I'm not a penniless hippie."

THAT is pure comic genius... :D

It shows that the polls have no idea what they're talking about. The poll was probably run by some left-wing idealogues looking to show they have a network. I am a happy Conservative Republican thank you and I Love Futurama.

Futurama is set 1000 years in the future and the only political party that they seemed to advocate were the Brain Slug Party and they seemd as Right-Wing as you could get. I wouldn't even consider the Simpsons as liberal. In both series, if the humor called for it shots were taken at all 20th & 21st Century parties equally. But essentially I consider both Futurama and the Simpsons as apolitical.

A for the rest of the Fox Broadcast Network, I consider them Facist. Afterall who but a facist would cancel popular TV Shows despite the public outcry. Sounds like a communist dictator to me (named Berman).

Do they break it down by evening results? The Simpsons is a big hit among conservatives. And one could say that Bernie Mac's show is socially conservative.

I bet it is a bunch of liberals watching all that reality garbage on the rest of the nights on Fox.

Funny, I consider myself very conservative, but I have watched Futurama since the first episode in 1999. Maybe the they think a dead president who wants to "go into people's houses at night and wreck up the place" is obviously liberal, so the audience must be liberal as well.

Wow! I'm glad to hear that even conservatives like the show! It shows you've got a sense of humor too!!

I'm a raving progressive (mistermed liberal), and IMO Futurama is the single best television show ever. I'm *amazed* that it survived this long on the Fox, as has the Simpsons!

Anyway, way to go Mr. Groening! You've been able to create not one, but two politically charged shows that both conservatives and radical liberals can enjoy!

Kudos!!

david

About the poll being slanted: Please discriminate between
1) asking people if they think Futurama is liberally skewed
2) asking people who watch Futurama which way they are skewed

The pollsters did the second. So the only way to slant it would be using a slanted sample of people (eg, ask at liberal HQ). As Carat is an ad agency, they have every interest to have a representative sample set as they want to sell the report or sell with help of the report.

Also, just because Futurama attracts a bigger share of liberal viewers (my guess: it's popular at colleges/universities/etc where liberals are overrepresentated), it doesn't mean it's forbidden for conservatives and the Futurama crew wisely didn't try to shut out either side by making fun of only one political pole.

I'm very left wing liberal, and I love the show. It doesn't seem too far of a stretch to me to hear that its got a large liberal viewership, but that doesn't mean that conservatives won't and don't like it. True, Futurama and the Simpsons will make jokes about whatever party it needs to for the sake of humor, but the conservative jokes just stand out as funnier to me.

This obviously means that Futurama was never suited to Fox in the first place.

CARTOON NETWORK - ARE YOU LISTENING? GREAT SHOW UP FOR GRABS!!!!

Heh, the factoid makes a lot of sense to me. I consider myself pretty liberal, bordering on socialist, and I can count with one hands the times I haven't voted Democratic.

What I like best about Futurama is that it doesn't rely on labels for its political satire. It just illustrates the total absurdities from all parts of the spectrum free from partisanship. Hippies and fat-cats alike.

On a side note, to non-American readers, the brand of conservatism Bush the Lesser hammers through is not real conservatism. It is best described as utopian anarchism - the belief that unchecked buying and selling can solve all of the world's problems, end of story. Fox News is a big nest of this, too. We distort, you comply.

#1 - thats what the article is about, don't go on like u invented it
and is it just me, or does that thing mArc wrote contain the longest sentence in the history of the world?

and no, the entire sentence does not appear at the top of this page, u have to go back to the news page
incidentally, does anyone know what this thing at the bottom right of the page is?
it looks like a bomb with 3 bananas coming out of it. it brings u to the top of the page, but wtf is it?

#20/21: I edited the book part in later on so #1 brought it up first. The version on the comments page stays the same though so that people can see what the comments where about.

And I so could've made the Futurama part fit into the first sentence still. Germans just like words and sentences long ;)

Not talking about the bottom right thing, that's a secret :p

I am so far from liberal it's not even funny.

Groening, Cohen, Cartoon Network, PLEASE produce more new episodes. <zoidberg>I need more, More, MORE!! </zoidberg>

I think the Fox News Channel has different viewers than the Fox regular channel. Idiots and mongoloids watch the crappy shows put out on the Fox network. These television shows are for people who sit around eating pizza and jacking on in fromt of their computers in their free time. As far as the 'liberal viewers' of Futurama, I don't know how scientific the poll was but it would make complete sense. The makers of Futurama are liberal, the cast members of Futurama are liberal, the guest stars of Futurama are liberal. Being a conservative myself, I don't care about the other viewers of the show, and I think this post was a first attempt to keep the web site alive after the series has ended.

Hey [-mArc-], Just an idea but, how about our own, unscientific poll to see if the CGEF visitors match the Ad Agency's view of the world?

Fox news is a joke, and really is a good example of why FOX is so corrupt and moronic. It is nothing but conservative greedy idiots *murdoch* wanting to show what THEY want to show.

Futurama and the Simpsons' always seemed more left to me. Jokes about Nixon also help.
I'm glad to hear Futurama is mostly watched by liberals, makes me like the show even more.

Oh, having Al Gore quest star was always the kicker to show Futurama and the staff as being more liberal. Isn't Gore's daughter on the writing staff? I loved the joke about Al Gore being on the money in that Valentines day show.

The show is still definetly not political. I think anyone can enjoy it, and the writers do have fun with hippies.

Futurama, because it's above the issues (it's the 31st century), doesn't seem as overt to me as the Simpsons. Funny thing, I think Nixon might be a moderate in today's climate.

What are you talking about Baz? It has nothing to do with shows "they want to show". It all has to do with money. If Futurama isn't making money, then it's not worth the money to spend on it. It's economics. You don't invest money in something that isn't making you money, no matter how good it is.

Anyways, I'm not a liberal, and I like Futurama. I've encountered Al Frankin before, and he's a hack. He should be sued. He writes books filled with lies and diss-information which flame the vocal right (Gingrich, Coulter). He's using the FOX popularity to catapault his new book, which is wrong, and naturally the only way he'll encourage people to read it.

The reason Futurama didn't make money for Fox is that Fox played musical timeslots with it, and preempted it at every opportunity, causing Futurama fans to turn to other sources of entertainment.

I agree with #27. Anybody can enjoy Futurama...and the show is not political...though I hardly know the meaning of political, hee hee.

I'm a Liberal and I HATE all reality TV shows...except Fear Factor. I like being grossed out once in a while.

I might not know about this liberal thing but futurama is my favorite show. I wonder has FOX ever even watched the show at all. Its the best since the Simpsons so I'm just going to say.......What's the deal FOX

I'm not really considered a Liberal or Conservative... I'm basically moderate, but I still enjoy Futurama and some of its political humor. It didn't seem politically inclined or anything, except for poking fun at some of our Presidents.

And to add to #30, FOX never promoted Futurama either, as far as I know.

I love futurama and I'm about as Liberal as Sean Hannity!

N.B. Don't boycott FOX just remember they are the ones who bought us this awesome show in the first place.

What? Me, a liberal? It's a damned lie! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of eldeberries! I'll bomb 'em back to the Stone Age! Nuke 'em 'till they glow, then shoot 'em in the dark! (Gee, maybe I'm over-reacting a little).

i am right wingg and i think its funny how they have nixon in the show
i love futurama it is da best show of all time

This is off the subject, but since NEWS CORP. owns DirectTV they should create a FOX Vault Channel, which would show old reruns of FUTURAMA, THE SIMPSONS, 24, KING OF THE HILL, MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, as well as discarded or short lived shows like ANDY RICHTER CONTROLS THE UNIVERSE.

On subject, I am a moderate, so I love the jabs both FUTURAMA and THE SIMPSONS make at the left and the right.

liberals,liberals,liberals; ill never understand them.

Reading this thread I see the problems with with political labels. Racists, rednecks and white trash get grouped with conservatives and hippies, crazy people, and grating intellectuals get grouped with liberals.

If I had to place myself anywhere I guess I'd say liberal. I think what everyone needs to do is stop attacking the "special" people who have flocked to the right and left and deal with the differences of a real, intelligent level.

Well, on topic, I'd say that more liberals watch futurama because... well, I don't really have anything on topic to add. Sue me you conservative scumbags. :^P

This is the biggest problem with political labels, you think you have to hate the other side. Calm down everyone. The majority of people are moderate, like me, and don't care about issues that don't affect them. And no one is stupid or misguided if they are on the right or left, its just what they believe is correct. No one should be condemned or demeaned for thinking and believing in stuff. Get over your political parties and watch some Futurama. Its a good show and that's all that really matters.

And who here likes Gail Berman? No one, right.

I'm ultra conservative, and I love Futurama too. I think that's one thing us and the libs can agree on, FOX SUCKS FOR CANCELLING FUTURAMA!

I'm more conservative than Mike Savage. Futurama's still my favorite show ever.

Left-wing, right-wing...what now there's a bird involved?

-Chris H.

It's clearly a liberal show... there are shots at religion and other conservative bastions, and it's also a very clever show, which reduces the amount of conservatives who could understand to to George Will....

Chalk up one more for non-liberal viewership.
And it really does bug me that the lefts got the term 'liberal' and rights got 'conservative'. Who decided that? I am a liberal conservative that loves Futurama and expects nothing less from FOX.

I am a leftist radical (I am not liberal in any way, I'd kill you all without hesitation) and I consider Futurama the most wonderful and leftist show on american TV in a long time. Anyone considering Futurama right, moderate or even non-political needs to pull their head out of their ass and pay attention...

WOW! It dosn't matter about your policail stand to watch a tv show. Number 40 said the smartest thing why do people care what the other person is. Number 34 made a good point too, Fox did bring us this asome show, but they do ingore that Furuama had the biggest tv petion to stay on in tv history. I think they should make a season unrealsed from Fox and release it only on VHS and DVD and not go through a company... thats what Sifl and Olly did after they went of air.... They should make a movie too.

I don't think you can consider the show to skew left or right, even when Nixon's head is involved. For one, his head is only there to serve a purpose of a parody of the real Nixon. Secondly, the reason the PE crew didn't want him to win was a-political . . . it was to get Bender's body back. Actually, "A Head in the Polls" is my least favorite episode, because it's so apathetic and unfunny in every way.

But to comment on the Al Franken thing, I'd just like to ask, what's this guy's problem? It seems to me that he's only doing this on purpose to gain "publicity" for his new book. Fox News Channel is the only news channel on the air with any semblance of conservatism, and every Democrat in the known universe cries foul because it's popular. Naturally, they'll take any possible chance to crack wise at it, which in my opinion is immature and desperate. Franken's act is old and desperately unfunny anyway, while Hannity and Colmes and The O'Reilly Factor are at the very least entertaining.

Why is it that "liberals" (I really hate using that term, because it's so general) have to resort to name-calling and immature tactics anyway? Franken's book "Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot" is a good example of that. I don't recall Rush ever writing a book called "All of Al Franken's Movies Have Tanked and Nobody Cares About Him."

About FoxNews being the only news channel for conservatives:
The main result of the report i talked about in the update was that more conservatives watch CNN than FoxNews. They just don't stay as long there. That's why FoxNews has the higher ratings. So, basically, conservatives wanting actual news go to CNN and when they got that, they go to and stay at FoxNews to have their view justified for them, running it in background while doing the laundry. Abouts.

well, i'd first like to admit that i consider myself ah... uh... liberal, i mean, definitely liberal in my attitudes and beliefs, but i'm not an extreme left-wing, and i'm certainly nowhere near the right. but i never thought that political beliefs had anything to do with whether i liked a show or not.
but i do believe that FOX News, and the FOX network in general, are slanted too far to the right (ironic because a lot of their shows- including the animated series- would cause Bill O'Reilly to excrete a brick). i think al franken is just parodying (if that's a word) and they're just all hot and bothered because they're... well... fascist.
can't futurama just be a damn good show?

to #49- it's really sad. my mom does the same thing (leave Fox News on, on a 24-hr. loop) and when she's not looking, i either turn the television off or turn it to CNN. i've even scolded her for supporting them.

Yes, Rush Limbaugh's never called anyone childish names. (Every "feminazi" knows that!) Lunatic fascists O'Reilly, Michael "Savage" Weiner and Ann Coulter have called--with straight faces--for the violent murder of those who have political points of view that vary from their own. That's significantly worse than anything Franken's ever said about them.

Whoa, look at that deficit GO!

And isn't it hilarious how quickly right-wingers will run for their lawyers, in spite of all their rhetoric about frivolous lawsuits? Did I say "hilarious?" I meant hypocritical. My favorite example:

"When Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., had filed a lawsuit in March against Bill Clinton, pundit James Carville and Larry Flynt for $30 million, claiming 'loss of reputation and emotional distress,' the timing couldn't have been much more awkward for Barr. That very day, he was championing a bill that would cap damage awards for "pain and suffering" at $250,000."
--Salon.com, June 14, 2002. Bob Barr now works as a consultant to the ACLU!!! A simple Google of "bob barr" will turn up enough lunacy to make one's head pop.

...Sorry to post AGAIN, but I forgot my second-favorite example: raving racist/fascist/liar/creep Michael "Savage" Weiner sued three websites, including MichaelSavageSucks.com and SavageStupidity.com, for "domain name infringement"--and lost VERY handily. It was obvious from the get-go he had no case.

Actually, this will become my THIRD favorite example. After all, the FOX News attack on Franken--which has been revealed to have been demanded by O'Reilly, whose own book isn't selling nearly as well--will have to take top billing.

Maybe if these dinks didn't file so many of them, they wouldn't have to complain about frivolous lawsuits...

FUN FACTS:

Average Number of U.S. Casualities In Iraq Since Combat Was Declared "Over:" One American Serviceman PER DAY (and rising). No URL, but anyone can do the math, if they aren't too busy listening to FOX News tell everyone everything's going GREAT over there...

Average Increase In The Federal Deficit Under Bush: 1.6 Billion Dollars PER DAY. (www.brillig.com/debt_clock/) ...It has to be paid for SOME day, folks.

no, but rush limbaugh did coin the words 'feminazi', 'evironmentalist wacko', etc etc. ann coulter calls people on the left traitors. bill o'rielly shouts down anyone who doesnt agree with him. now, the other thing is, how EXACTLY is the mainstream news liberal? this has ALWAYS bothered me. if they WERE liberal, you would see them hammering away at issues like animal rights, sweat shops, the homeless, environmentalism, fucking underpaid illegal immigrant tomato pickers (yes, the far left can be pretty ridiculous) etc etc. why did the media jump all over bill clinton for getting a blow job? why have they JUST NOW started criticizing george w bush? if they were REALLY liberal (or at least UNBIASED, and had balls) they would have questioned his motives on iraq from the get-go, because the "16 words" they complain about now were perfectly obvious at the time too (among other lies)..

anyway, listen, im not saying where i stand (okay id say im MODERATELY liberal, but i can agree with some libertarianism, or TRADITIONAL conservatism), but the media is NOT liberal. and if you want to call al franken on his name-calling, you CAN NOT deny that these far-right nitwits like sean hannity or ann coulter are of guilty of it too. and the problem is, at least with ann coulter, i find her name calling to be a lot more dangerous. calling someone with a certain political belief in a democracy a TRAITOR is hypocritical, AND there's millions of people buying into that bs. i mean, joe mccarthy was among the WORST people in american history, destroyed by his own party, and i didnt think that was too much of a disputed fact until her new book, where she says he was great, really kept those commies out, and it was those damn liberal lies that brought him down.. and who knows what millions of people who dont know any better will believe about him now..

anyway, shut up about the politics.

Before someone gets bent out of shape: I meant "fun facts" sarcastically--no disrespect to our (genuine*) servicemen and women. (I was in the US Air Force during Gulf War I; didn't see combat myself, but several of my friends went to Kuwait and thankfully all came back. *"Genuine" doesn't include AWOL chickenhawks who hid out in the National Guard to avoid combat during the Vietnam War.)

Anyone with a mind who lets him/herself be pushed into the narrow meaning of words like liberal or conservative needs a severe introspective reality-check. These words are really meant to be used for statistical purposes. Also, liberalism overlaps both conservatism and progressivism and should not be thought to be equal to 'left-wingedness'.

Considering the themes occuring in Futurama like sci-fi, computers and computer games, and it's take on social ignorance and immorality i'd say it was written for the 'progressive personality' in the political spectrum. Ultimately however, I wouldn't be surprised people from all political backgrounds watch it as it isn't expressively biased politically. As long as the kind of humor involved is understood.

However in the last 20 episodes or so there has been a strong increase in sitcom elements like banal sex-jokes (Spanish Fry) and soap elements like (cheap) tear-jerks (Jurassic bark, Leela's homeworld). I think you could say the show has become more 'conservative' the last season, with the intention of targeting more viewers from 'less sophisticated' crowds. The fact that it's broadcasted on Fox (Fascists Obey Xenophobia) maybe has something to do with that?...

We are doing pretty good in this post... Go Conservatives! Beat down the child molesters, the drug dealers, the welfare recipients, the law breakers, the violent criminals, the criminal aliens... need I go on you tolerant liberals?

No, because then I'll close this comments.
No flaming others ("you blabla blabla").

A point that everybody seems to be missing when questioning Futurama's political slant: Matt Groening may be a "liberal", but a tenet of classic American liberalism has always been to give fair treatment to all points of view. So a show run by a true liberal would tend to be politically balanced in it's viewpoint. This is a notion that seems to be lost on the current right-wing media establishment. Ever since Reagan canned the notion of fairness in media, shows like Rush Limbaugh and the O'Reilly Factor have emerged that specialize in simply shouting down anybody who doesen't agrre with them. Of course, they claim that they are just doing this to balance out the "liberal" media, which is why this canard is so central to current right-wing political discourse.

Hey guys, how 'bout a link to the study? I'm curious if it's any good...

The reason Fox News stands out as a "conservative" network is because the media have been dominated by the left for decades. I majored in journalism and know of what I speak.

I never even identified myself as a liberal or a conservative (I'm a true moderate), and the liberals (I'm sorry, I still hate using that word, because I have my liberal ideas of my own) on this post have already begun the slaying.

#63 is right . . . anyone who has ever taken a college journalism class knows how slanted the media really is . . . How often do you see republican senators or right-wing views on CNN, C-Span, MSNBC, etc. You hardly ever will.

Example, I still see more interviews on news channels with Tom Daschle than I do with Bill Frist, and Frist has been the senate majority leader for quite some time now.

Anybody who doesn't think that liberals control the American media is just kidding themselves.

The reason that Fox stands out as a Conservative network is that it is a Conservative network. It's run by a former high-ranking Republican party operative for Christ's sake. And you'd have to be blind to not see how heavily slanted their coverage is. As for Al Franken, Zack, have you ever watched Rush Limbaugh for any length of time? The title of that book is a pretty good reflection of Limbaugh's style.

Shall we list the connections between the ABC/CBS/NBC/CNN and the left? Perhaps you should read "Bias" by Goldberg.

Futurama with a highly liberal viewership. Now there's a switch. I wonder what criterion they were using. What definition of a liberal are they using anyway? Use of these kinds of labels have rendered them virtually meaningless. I enjoy Futurama regardless of what a bunch pollsters claim. Matt Groening may be liberally minded but he has a wicked way of polking fun at just about everything, right, left or in between. I appreciate anyone who is able to run a humorous skewer through any subject.
And BTW, Fox is hardly a right-wing bastion. Much of its lineup of shows are as intellectually bankrupt as those on ABC, NBC, or CBS. The Big Four are in it for the money and will put out any crap that sells. Shows that manage to have intelligent writing/plots and interesting characters are doomed from the start, unless they have the numbers. Its as simple as that. Futurama was promoted poorly and was killed off before it had a chance to bloom.

conservatives are retards who doesnt like changes...to damn afraid to try anything new. in other words, FOX.

"conservatives are retards who doesnt like changes...to damn afraid to try anything new. in other words, FOX."

What are you talking about? FOX brought us Married With Children, the Simpsons, Family Guy, and Futurama . . . tell me you would have seen those shows on any other network.

The study often cited by people "who know of what (they) speak" (*faaaaaaart*) polled journalists and reporters and found that a majority of them are "liberal."

It did not, however, poll the editors, or the heads of the conglomerates that control much of U.S. media, making it fairly meaningless. It's like saying FOX News is "liberal" because the guy who programs Bill O'Reilly's teleprompter voted Democrat.

Nevertheless, it is constantly used as "proof" that the Raving Red Menace controls the media--somehow, in spite of that "fact," these Commie Rats STILL haven't been able to brainwash our kids and subjugate us under their Iron Boot. (Odd, that. Actually, I take that back. The horrible liberal brainwashing HAS succeeded in making kids less and less hateful of skin colors, cultures, and religions that are different from their own. How VILE!)

Before "The Liberals," it was "The Jews" who controlled the media, and before that (as Mister Burns would tell you), the rallying cry was "Freemasons Run The Country!!!" It's all about setting up a phony enemy to unite your stooges against, so that you may better take advantage of them. You need look no further than the war in Iraq, and the ever-changing rationale for it as it continues to get Americans killed.

I think democrate and republican are labels, while liberal and conservative are more like descriptions of a mind-set people develop.
Put me down as another conservative who doesn't like being condescended to by the current crop of democrates in office, BUT thinks that Futurama is the best show on TV - along with several other so-called liberal shows. Lazy stereotypes that conservatives are small minded, racist, have no sense of humor ect. just don't fly in the real world. It's not about ideology with TV shows it's about wheather or not that ideology distracts from the show's function as a comedy. Futurama, Family Guy and The Simpsons are clearly liberal, while King of the Hill and South Park lean more to the right (or liberitarian). 24 successfully represents both. Futurama, FG, SP (and lets throw in Titus too) are able to be unbiased and make fun of both parties and sides of an issue in one episode while shows like The Simpsons can let their ideology hijack the comedy. For example, Futurama is clearly in love with Al Gore, but also not above making cracks on him. The Simpsons will do an episode about Sideshow Bob or Krusty running for office that amounts to 22 minutes of republican bashing. All well and good, but are there democrat-mocking equivalent episodes? They need to take their satirical licks too. Futurama is well written and creative enough to appeal to anyone who likes good TV. Period.