futurama voice actors possibly being replaced WHHY

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Cpickens89

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WTF !! why would they :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

http://tv.ign.com/articles/100/1004973p1.html

July 17, 2009 - Is Futurama being recast? Several outlets, including EW.com, are reporting that apparently 20th Century Fox, who produce the series, are currently auditioning actors to take over all of the major roles on the series, replacing Billy West ("Fry", "Hubert J. Farnsworth", "Zoidberg"), Katey Sagal ("Leela"), John DiMaggio ("Bender"), Maurice LaMarche ("Kif Kroker"), and Tress MacNeille ("Mom").

IGN TV contacted 20th Century Fox and were told, "We love the Futurama voice performers and absolutely wanted to use them, but unfortunately, we could not meet their salary demands. While replacing these talented actors will be difficult, the show must go on. We are confident that we will find terrific new performers to give voice to Matt [Groening] and David [X. Cohen]'s brilliantly subversive characters."

With the show being brought back, certainly it wouldn't be surprising if the voice actors asked for raises – and considering Futurama is now being produced for Comedy Central, not FOX, it's also possible those salary requests were too high for 20th Century Fox and Comedy Central to justify, since cable series typically operate at lower budgets than network series.

However, there are some interesting things to consider here. Several weeks ago, the details of the Futurama panel at Comic-Con were revealed, and they read:

"Futurama: Life or Death?! BE A PART OF SCI-FI HISTORY! Join Executive Producers Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, and stars Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio and Maurice LaMarche for high-stakes thrills as a top-ranking Fox executive decides live, on stage, whether Futurama will make yet another triumphant return, or whether it is gone forever! The very fate of Futurama hangs in the balance! Paramedics will be standing by in case the intense excitement causes any panelists to collapse. Raucous celebration or abject despair to follow the news."

Obviously, the whole "life or death" thing is a joke, since the show has officially been brought back. And then there's the fact that three of the cast members said to be among those being replaced are scheduled to be on the panel. Certainly, salary negotiations could have fallen apart since the panel was first set up, but it makes you wonder… One thing's for certain, it will make the Futurama Comic-Con panel even more of a big deal. If the original cast is there, and this is an elaborate hoax, then fans will no doubt be very relieved. If they're not there, and they are indeed being recast, then it's not hard to imagine plenty of not-so-happy fan questions on the subject, to say the least.

Update: Variety is now chiming in on theFuturama situation, and it looks like this is indeed the real deal, as in not any sort of hoax. Variety confirms that the show has a dramatically slashed budget, and that the salary offers made to the cast were far below what they were asking – which Variety says was likely around $75,000 an episode. The budget cuts (compared to what the show had when it originally was produced) have also led to a smaller writing staff and a shorter schedule to produce episodes.

If there's any hope for fans, it's the fact that a casting call for new voice actors doesn't necessarily mean that a deal still can't be made. In fact, Variety points out that when negotiations were going badly for new deals with The Simpsons cast several years ago, similar casting inquiries were made for new actors – and obviously, in that case, the original cast did eventually come to terms on a new deal. Let's all cross our fingers that history repeats itself here...




this wouldnt be the same without them

they would replace billy west ((he voices half the fricken cast of charactors)) so why not keep him on board instead of paying a couple people to do these voices you know evert season they do there gonna want more an more for there part in the show

if they get rid of john dimaggio then well i dont care to much for the show anymore ... im a huge fan of this man and well bender would not be the same

Katey Sagal does a great job too
this shows gonna go down the toilet

FANS wanted this show back because it was great why change what worked ... they say money's the issue but i dont by it there gonna ruin this show

thats my opinion whats your's ??




p.s. this to me is equivelent to telling seth mcfarlane to get lost ((this would be the family guy creator and voice's of peter , stewie , brian and quagmire
 
F

flynn

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If they're not going to use the same voice actors they should get Matt Goerning to produce them a completely new show.
 
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vogon13

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I always wondered why Fry had the same voice as Stimpy and Leela had the same voice as Peggy Bundy . . .
 
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yevaud

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...and of all people, replacing Billy West? That guy started off small, and worked his way up the food chain the hard way (he was once the "funny guy" on our local WBCN FM station). He goes, and that's it, it's not the same show.
 
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clint_dreamer

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That news sucks. The show will be totally different now. I'll probably take a pass on it which is disappointing since the original Futurama is one of my all time favorite shows.
 
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hansolo0

Guest
I hate to say it but it's all about money. If they can produce the show , and the actors want too much money, then there is no profit in producing it. However, if the show can be produced where the show makes a profit, that leaves them with only a few options. A) ask the actors to take less, actors think "No way!" I'm not taking a cut , without me this show is nothing, I should get fairly paid! To which they may or may not be right. If in the end they don't or won't take a cut, the only other option is B) Try to find other 'sound alike' actors that can do the job for less. In the end we get our show back, and may not even notice a difference. ( I would've like to have seen how this would've turned out if this had been announced after the fact, the original actors had been replaced after a few new eps had already been aired. ) Or C) it's too expensive with the current actors, they won't negotiate, so no new episodes. :| They might be able to work something out where they pay the actor's what they want but only use 1 or two actors sparingly?
 
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