Comedy Central announced today that Futurama will be ending its run, again. The series, which has been picked up and then cancelled several times and has enjoyed renewed success in recent years, will be ending its run on September 4. A decline in the ratings in 2012 is the likeliest culprit.
The animated comedy still has several new episodes to air, however. Comedy Central ordered a 26-episode seventh season of the series after Season 6 and the first half of those episodes aired in 2012. The latter 13 will begin airing the evening of June 19 and Comedy Central has already put out a pretty sweet trailer to celebrate the latter half of the season.
Despite the series winning an Emmy in 2011, it’s no surprise that Comedy Central would decide to drop Futurama from its lineup. According to EW, the series has steadily declined in the ratings. In 2010, the program averaged 2.6 million total viewers, but by the first half of Season 7, that number had dropped to just 1.7 million total viewers.
Futurama initially aired on Fox from 1999 to 2003, and was later resurrected after reruns did well on Adult Swim. The show then went through some format changes, with four direct-to-DVD releases airing in half-hour increments on Comedy Central before full season orders became the norm again in 2010. From what executive producer David Cohen has said to EW, the cancellation wasn’t a surprise.
“I felt like we were already in the bonus round on these last couple of seasons, so I can’t say I was devastated by the news. It was what I had expected two years earlier. At this point I keep a suitcase by my office door so I can be cancelled at a moment’s notice.”
Futurama has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride, and that’s probably the best attitude a person can have concerning the program. Plus, at least there are 13 more episodes that will hopefully sort-of wrap the story up (although, if they’ve already been completed, I’m not holding my breath). You can help Fry and the gang go out with a bang by tuning in to Comedy Central beginning on June 19 at 10 p.m. ET.
