Back to where Futurama is treated nicely, Futurama was able to reach out to 859,000 adults between 18 and 34 on April 23th, making it the most-watched telecast in the target demo in Cartoon Network history. Ever. Together with the prior throne occupier - Family Guy - it "propelled the network's Adult Swim franchise to #1 in its time period on all cable during April with men 18-34 and men 18-24." (quote CN)
Rising numbers don't seem to stop yet either. Just last week was Adult Swim's most watched period for most of its target demographics since the block started.

Richard 'Ricky' Heggland was able to scour a short Q&A question session with Vibeke Hansen (representative of the Norwegian TV2

After being sold out for quite some time, amazon.de restocked the Futurama Season 2 DVD set at a whooping 45% off (€29.99). The set is region-2/PAL (European standard) and includes German, English and Spanish sound/menus. Back in the days, I wrote an article on how to order them from amazon.de if you don't know German.

After showing "The Why of Fry" yesterday, Sky One is going to air reruns on Sundays for the time being as they caught up with FOX in the US. Supposedly, Sky is allowed to show episodes before they ran on FOX, but I very much doubt that will happen. Next Sunday will be "Luck of the Fryrish".

I just got confirmation by the public relations director of Vivendi Universal Games that there won't be a Game Cube version of the Futurama Video Game in Northern America. SCi (Europe) does not yet confirm a release date for that version either, after all. I've been told by people testing the game that there were only PS2 and X-Box versions around at that time (about three months ago). This could indicate some problems with the time line or with technical/quality issues. Seemingly, two of the game producers have abandoned ship (or got thrown overboard) at the development company, which doesn't really bode well in the final stages.

Well, actually, it's some time till the 11th of May. Anyway, the edel-version of the Sounds & Quotes for the Season 2 episode Mother's Day are ready:

Mom: "Jerkwad robots make me sick to my ass!" (listen).

Also, if you go to eMerchandise before Thursday and enter "MY_MOM" as a coupon at the bottom of the shopping basket page, every item (non-Futurama, too) not yet at 10% off will be set to that. I'd suggest having a look at the Futurama Series Coasters (see our review) as the popular Slurm Can is out of stock.

April 27th: No Futurama (KotH repeat)
May 04th: No Futurama (KotH repeat)
May 11th: No Futurama (Simpsons repeat)

And then most likely:
May 18th: No Futurama (KotH season finale)
May 25th: No Futurama (NASCAR Coca-Cola 600)

With a bit of luck, we'll get a new episode (likely The Sting or Bender Should Not Be Allowed On TV) after that on June 1st - one day before the Season 3 DVD set is released in Europe.

You won't need head and shoulders shampoo to watch Futurama on Cartoon Network. But you may need some popcorn or chips, cause you don't want to miss any of this week's episodes.
Sun 27th: Put Your Head On My Shoulder
Mon 28th: Raging Bender
Tue 29th: A Bicyclops Built For Two
Wed 30th: A Clone Of My Own
Thu 1st: How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back

An update on the situation of the European Futurama Season 3 DVD set release:

German Amazon now lists the set. However, the release date is said to be September 13th and the price €54,99. Compared to that, Amazon in the UK offers the set for June 2nd and at £29.99 which translates to roughly €45/$45 after adding shipping to western Europe or the US.
If the late date on the German amazon isn't wrong, it could be explained by the local station PRO7 never airing one of the included episodes. If you can live without having the (horrible) German sound, I'd recommend buying the sooner and cheaper British set.

I added some more fanart to the various submitters area and I welcome a new artist in the area too, his name is J. Barboza and he has made his own image episode guides.

The Hollywood Reporter (through Reuters) sent an article called "Cable networks targeting late night" through the wires.

Cartoon's "Adult Swim" animation block caught fire quickly after Turner Broadcasting (a division of AOL Time Warner, as is CNN.com) expanded it from two to five nights a week in January. Replacing kid-friendly fare with off-kilter cartoons ranging from original fare like "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" to acquisitions like "Futurama," "Swim" is draining pools of young viewers accustomed to broadcast fare from 11 p.m.-2 a.m.

From January 13-March 23, "Swim" outdelivered "Kimmel," "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," "Late Show With David Letterman," "The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn" and "Last Call With Carson Daly" in viewers 12-17, males 12-17 and males 12-24.

CNN decorated the broad article with a promo shot of Futurama's "Time Keeps on Slippin'" and subtitled it "'Futurama,' the Fox series now appearing on Cartoon Network, has been key to the latter's late-night success."

In other news: FOX's Futurama replacement "X-Men 2 Special" last Sunday stank in the ratings.

April 20th: No Futurama (X-Men 2 Special)
April 27th: No Futurama (KotH repeat)
May 04th: No Futurama (KotH repeat)

Even though the King of the Hill repeat last week fared worse than any Futurama episode in that time slot, FOX is seemingly going to air more KotH for most of May. The planned-for Simpsons repeats have been pushed back to 8:30PM as The Pitts vanish from Sundays. On the 25th of May, FOX is airing NASCAR. After that, we can hope for some Futurama.

David A. Goodman - writer for the episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" - answered some questions pitched together by the people at the Futurama message board PEEL.

Q: Even though the Welshy jokes were hilarious, why didn't the episode feature James Doohan?

Goodman: We approached James Doohan's agent, who said the Doohan's response to being in the episode was "No way." We don't know why we got such a strong response, but we assumed he thought he'd be working with Shatner.

Read the whole thing in the PEEL thread "David A. Goodman answers your questions (some spoilers)". The Q&A session was arranged by Dave of The Neutral Planet and a friend of his.

I don't really have anything witty or smart to say in regards to these episodes on Cartoon Network this week. So just take my word on it that these episodes are pretty good. Remember, show starts at 11pm.
Sun 20th: Brannigan, Begin Again
Mon 21st: A Head in The Polls
Tue 22nd: Xmas Story
Wed 23rd: Why Must I Be A Crustacean In Love?
Thu 24th: Lesser of Two Evils

Next in our Sounds & Quotes adding marathon: Anthology of Interest I. This three-part episode features guest stars former vice president Al Gore, Gary 'D&D' Gygax, Nichelle 'Uhura' Nichols and even Stephen Hawking. Yes, his real modulator voice - not some cheap self-made ripoff.

Al Gore: "To my left you'll recognize Gary Gygax, inventor of Dungeons & Dragons."
Gary Gygax: "Greetings! It's a" *rolls dice* "pleasure to meet you!"
(listen to it)

Thanks to FrysGIRL, we now have word in from Futurama executive producer David X. Cohen that the Futurama staff will most likely be attending this year's San Diego Comic-Con in California. For the past few years, David and the Futurama staffers have attended the event and always brought a fresh unaired episode for the Comic-Con-ers to view.

DavidX: We ARE currently planning to do a panel at Comicon, probably on Saturday. It's not 100% definite yet, but maybe about 90%.

Saturday's Comic-Con is on July 19th, and admission is between $10 and $20 for a one day pass. I'm definitely planning to go to this event, and will make a CGEF report once I get back. Also attending the con will be Bongo Comics with a booth on the main floor. There, Futurama and Simpsons comics artists sign autographs and sell comics and reprint books. Every once in a while, they also have contests and give out free buttons that feature Futurama and Simpsons characters. And on Sunday the 20th, Bongo will have a panel dicussion regarding their comics.

I got a first picture of the Futurama 2004 Calendar cover for you. The list price is $12.99 and release date should be August 2003. Preorders are available at $10.39. The picture looks like a reference to M.C. Escher's "Hand with Reflecting Sphere". This might hint at an art theme. I'll try to find out.

From May 25th onwards, Futurama will be removed from the Sunday 11PM time slot in Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block when Home Movies takes its spot. However, Futurama will continue to air Mondays through Thursdays at 11PM.
Starting this Sunday, Family Guy will follow up Futurama at 11:30PM but Cartoon Network won't be showing the first season (1ACX) for the time being. Luckily, the Family Guy Season 1 & 2 DVD combi set just came out today in the USA.

Metered market Nielsen ratings for Sunday are in and I thought I'd just let you know even though no Futurama was on.
The 7-7:30PM slot was dominated by a 11.0/19 PGA Masters overrun on CBS, followed by a 5.8/10 Dateline half-hour on NBC. ABC's Dr. Dolittle repeat finished with 4.5/7 average between 7 and 9PM. FOX's Futurama replacement "King of the Hill" episode (repeat) came in fourth with a low 3.4/6 rating.

This compares to:

Futurama - The Why of Fry 3.8/6

Futurama - Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles 4.3/7

Reading ratings: Generally higher = better. First number indicates how many people watched, second tells what percentage of the watching people that is. Advertisers like the first number better, but these highly depend on the time slot as less people watch TV during the nights/dinner time etc.

The Futurama Season 3 DVD set scheduled for release in the UK on June 2nd got a new preorder price on amazon.co.uk: £29.99 instead of £35.19 previously and £39.99 list price.

If you already preordered at the higher price, go check your account page to see if they updated it (otherwise you can always cancel and preorder again).

Update: The Futurama Season 3 DVD set currently has sales rank 17 and preorder rank 5 at amazon.co.uk among the DVDs (updated hourly).

We're back in the No Futurama domain:

April 13th: No Futurama (KotH repeat)
April 20th: No Futurama (X-Men 2 Special)
April 27th: No Futurama (Simpsons repeat)

Going from there, we can expect "No Futurama", "No Futurama", "No Futurama" and "No Futurama", due to May Sweeps during which FOX will try to get high ratings Futurama can't produce in its "never on, never promoted" state. Unaired episodes are expected to be shown starting June.
We'll still have a weekly outlook for FOX - just in case.

The sounds and quotes for "Why Must I Be A Crustacean in Love?" are now up for you to enjoy.

Farnsworth: "We, by which I mean you, will have to rush him to his ancient homeworld, which will shortly erupt in an orgy of invertebrate sex."
Fry: "Oh, baby. I'm there!"
Leela: "Fry, do you even understand the word invertebrate?"
Fry: "Nope, but that's not the word I'm interested in. No need to pack pants, people. Let's roll!"
(listen to it)

Zapp Brannigan shouldn't be in control of a Titanic-like spaceship. Find out why this week on Cartoon Network at 11pm along with why Fry can't relate too well to a member of the ape species.
Sun 13th: A Flight To Remember
Mon 14th: Mars University
Tue 15th: When Aliens Attack
Wed 16th: Fry and The Slurm Factory
Thu 17th: I Second That Emotion

Midnight passed and my edelfied random number generator picked 5 lucky people among the 98 correct entries (692 total). Without further ado:

1. David Ho.
2. Tom Gr.
3. Eric Gar.
4. Abby P.
5. Justin B.

All five of them have been notified by email and have until Saturday ends to claim their free Futurama Season 1 DVD set. To the rest of you: Tough luck, suckers. Just go and buy it (plus preorder Season 2)
Thanks goes to FOX HE for enabling us to give out these goodies.

Today is your last chance to take part in our region 1 Futurama Season 1 DVD contest. To stand a chance, you'll definitely have to have all five trivia questions right. The five winners will be picked at midnight (PDT) and have 72 hours to respond to the notification email. Good luck.

Issue 12 of the Futurama comics has been shipped to your favourite comic book guy a week ago. Time to give it a review (or finally buy it if you didn't yet).

No. 13 will have the following plot:

Things go to hell in a handbasket when Bender loses his job after accidentally poisoning the Planet Express crew. But there are slim pickings on the unemployment line for a former bending unit turned toxic chef. That is until he gets an offer he can't refuse from the robot devil.

Look for it in May.

SQFreak posted a link to a Winston-Salem (local NC paper) article called "Futurama is getting attention it deserves" on PEEL. It's mostly about the region 1 release of the Futurama Season 1 DVD set, but also includes short interview snippets with Futurama executive producer David X. Cohen talking about the episode commentaries

"At this point, it's like a little reunion. [...] We do them in real time, with surprisingly little preparation.

and Futurama promotion by Cartoon Network:

They've [Cartoon Network] doubled and tripled the ratings in their demographic. [...]
I saw an ad on CNN during Moneyline. That told me they must be doing a lot of ads, if they're covering Moneyline.... This, after going literally three years without any promotion on Fox"

You can read the whole article by Tim Clodfelter at journalnow.
Indeed, the Futurama ratings on Cartoon Network seem to be going up. While the best scoring Futurama episode in January landed on #64 (out of all things shown on Cartoon Network that month), February ratings sees Futurama as high as #9, which is really good for an 11PM show.

I hope you all enjoyed The Why of Fry. Like mArc promised here are the Framegrabs and Sounds & Quotes. I didn't have enough time to do the trivia yet but expect it later today.

As The Why of Fry is likely to trigger a bit of response, both the episode reviews and the episode capsule are already up, now that it aired on the East Coast. If you haven't seen it yet, beware that these include heavy SPOILERS. Be strong and wait the few hours.
Quotes, sounds, framegrabs and - Andie willing - trivia will be there by tomorrow morning.

Next season 2 Sounds & Quotes are up. This time it's for the Nixon-heavy episode "A Head in the Polls".

Bender: "Game's over, losers. I have all the money. Compare your lives to mine and then kill yourselves." (listen)

Go read and listen to them.

FrysGIRL submitted 1 picture, yes you read it correctly. By this I have set the record for World's Smallest Update. This update is also dedicated to a) #futuramachat b) The Fanart Zone c) my mom. This is TGIF signing off for today

The region 2 (Europe) Futurama Season 3 DVD set is now up for preordering at amazon.co.uk for £35.19 (12% off). Orders placed over this link help us pay our server bills.
The release is scheduled for June, 2nd and the 4 disc set will feature 22 episodes. More details on our Futurama DVD Season 3 preview page.
A pre-order for the German discs should be available soon (currently only lists an import).

Things are getting unclear here... The line-up:

Sun 06th: FUTURAMA "The Why of Fry"
Sun 13th: NO FUTURAMA - KotH repeat *
Sun 20th: NO FUTURAMA - X-Men 2 prview

So, tomorrow we'll finally see "The Why of Fry", (*) but TVGuide lists a King of the Hill repeat for next week and an X-Men 2 preview for the week after. In other words: If the KotH repeat holds true, tomorrow could be the season's finale due to FOX supposedly not airing Futurama during May sweeps. This would mean that Season 5 consisted out of 8 episodes aired over a 5 months time span unless possible summer runs of the remaining 8 episodes would be counted towards this season.

After a long pause, Kanaal Twee is starting to air Futurama Season 4 tomorrow on Saturday at 17:25. If you have information on changes to our international listing, give me a short notice.

At the end of May, Cartoon Network will bump Futurama back to 11:30PM on Sundays with Home Movies taking the 11PM slot. Coming up this week:
Sun 06th: Fear Of a Bot Planet
Mon 07th: A Fishful of Dollars
Tue 08th: My Three Suns
Wed 09th: A Big Piece of Garbage
Thu 10th: Hell is Other Robots
Futurama airs Sun - Thu at 11pm on Cartoon Network.