"Futurama" is Set to Premiere This Fall in Broadcast Syndication
Twentieth Television Clears 90% of Country for Animated Series' Weekend Debut
NEW YORK , April 5, 2011 - Twentieth Television today announced that the Twentieth Century Fox Television produced comedy, "Futurama" has been sold in 90% of the country for broadcast weekend syndication debut in September 2011. The sci-fi animated series, recently renewed on Comedy Central for an additional two seasons, is sold to top market stations within the Fox Television Station, Tribune, Sinclair, Hearst, and CBS Television Station groups.
In making the announcement, Paul Franklin, EVP & General Sales Manager, Twentieth Television, stated: "Between the program's recent renewal on Comedy Central, its rapidly growing 11 million Facebook followers and its upcoming premiere in broadcast syndication, the Matt Groening created series is truly on a hot streak. Twentieth Television is thrilled to launch the program on weekends this fall, as it will undoubtedly introduce, and in some cases, re-introduce the comedy to viewers and fans."
Premiering on weekends starting in September 2011, "Futurama" is cleared in 90% of the country including: Fox Television Stations' KMSP-FOX / WFTC-MNT (Minneapolis); CBS Television Stations' KPIX-CBS / KBCW-CW (San Francisco), WUPA-CW (Atlanta), WKBD-CW (Detroit); Sunbeam's WLVI-CW (Boston); Belo's KASW-CW / KTVK-TV (Phoenix); Sinclair's WTTA-MNT (Tampa), KDNL-ABC (St. Louis), WPGH-FOX / WPMY-MNT (Pittsburgh), WLFL-CW / WRDC-MNT (Raleigh), WBFF-FOX / WNUV-CW (Baltimore), WZTV-FOX / WUXP-MNT (Nashville); Local TV's KDVR-FOX / KWGN-CW (Denver); Cox's WRDQ-TV (Orlando); Hearst's KQCA-MNT / KCRA-NBC (Sacramento); and Bahakel's WCCB-FOX (Charlotte).
These join the previously announced stations in the top markets including Tribune's WPIX-CW (New York), KTLA-CW (Los Angeles), WPHL-MNT (Philadelphia), WDCW-CW (Washington DC), KDAF-CW (Dallas), KIAH-CW (Houston), KCPQ-FOX / KZJO -MNT (Seattle), WSFL-CW (Miami), KRCW-CW (Portland), WXIN-FOX / WTTV-CW (Indianapolis), WTIC-FOX/ WCCT-CW (Hartford); and Weigel Broadcasting's WCIU-TV (Chicago).
Seven years after its last original episode aired on Fox, the sixth season premiere of "Futurama" last June led Comedy Central to its best Thursday prime ever among young men. The animated sci-fi comedy continued its out-of-this-world winning streak throughout the summer, averaging 2.5 million viewers each week, along with a 1.5 P18-49 rating, a 3.0 M18-34 rating and 3.3 M18-24 rating. In the social media realm, the "Futurama" Facebook fan base has grown from one million "likes" prior to its return last summer to over 11 million "likes" today, making it one of the top television sites on Facebook.
"Futurama," created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen, is produced by Twentieth Century Fox Television, with multi-Emmy(R) Award-winning Rough Draft Studios, Inc. contributing the animation.
About "Futurama"
Hatched from the mind of The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Futurama blasts contemporary culture and science fiction alike with an animated comedy barrage. Hapless NYC pizza guy Philip J. Fry makes a fateful delivery to a cryonics lab on New Year's Eve, 1999 when he's accidentally flash-frozen until the next millennium. Reawakened in 31st century New New York, he finds work at his great-great-etc. grandnephew's Planet Express delivery service. Together with his hedonist robot buddy bender and cyclopsian love interest Leela, Fry travels to the farthest reaches of the universe. Along the way they discover strange alien life forms, velour-clad lotharios, freaky mutants, intergalactic conspiracies and the disembodied heads of celebrities throughout the ages.
About Twentieth Television
A leader in the U.S. program production and distribution arena, Twentieth Television provides a wide array of first-run, network and off-network programming, as well as feature film packages, to the syndication and cable marketplaces. First-run programs distributed by Twentieth Television include the game shows "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" & "Don't Forget the Lyrics!" and the court shows "Divorce Court" & "Judge Alex." Off-net shows distributed by Twentieth Television include "Glee," "Modern Family," "Burn Notice," "Family Guy," "24," "COPS," "The Simpsons," "My Name is Earl," "The Unit," "Bones," "How I Met Your Mother," "American Dad," "The Cleveland Show," and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."
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