Tribune, Weigel Pick Up Weekend Runs of 'Futurama'

By Paige Albiniak
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

Tribune and Weigel Broadcasting each have acquired Twentieth's
animated comedy Futurama, to air on
weekends starting fall 2011.

Those sales bring Futurama's
coverage to 30% of the country, with Tribune picking up the show in 12 markets,
including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Dallas, and Weigel acquiring
it in Chicago on WCIU.

Tribune plans to air it in a weekend block of animated
sitcoms that also include Twentieth's other animated sitcoms Family Guy, American Dad, and The Simpsons in some markets

The show, which aired on Fox from 1999 to 2003, recently re-launched
in primetime on Comedy Central to an audience of 2.9 million viewers.

Futurama was
created by The Simpsons' Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X.
Cohen. The show is produced by Twentieth Century Fox Television, with Rough
Draft Studios contributing the animation.

Paige Albiniak
Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.