[TV] Futurama Hires All New Voice Actors
Posted by Ashish on 07.20.2009
Show gets rid of original voice cast...
In a pretty surprising turn of events, the Hollywood Reporter reports that Comedy Central and 20th TV were unable to come to deals with the cast of voice actors for Futurama and will now proceed to hire all new voice actors. The studio claims that they offered the originals "modest" pay increases but could not match what the actors were demanding. Some of the original cast actors include John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Billy West, Tress MacNeille and Katey Sagal.
A deal to produce 26 new episodes of Futurama was reached back in June.
Creator Matt Groening has gone through disputes with voice actors on The Simpsons but that show has never had to replace a key voice actor. Family Guy doesn't have to deal with these issues since creator Seth MacFarlane voices all the main characters.
Good riddance. They need Futurama more than Futurama needs them. They'll come back with their tails between their legs,it's not like their in demand.
Posted By: Propagandhi (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:27 PM
That could end up not turning out too well.
Posted By: YAK MAN (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:29 PM
And it's dead before it even starts.
Posted By: Todd Vote (Registered) on July 20, 2009 at 02:31 PM
Loved the first 4 volumes of DVDs of the series, but have very much disliked the way it's gone since they started with the "2 hour movies broken into episodes" format. Didn't like the movies and this will unofficially kill the show.
Posted By: Random Boy J (Registered) on July 20, 2009 at 02:34 PM
Between this news and the last Futurama movie I'm not eager to watch a new season.
Posted By: Joseph Lee (Registered) on July 20, 2009 at 02:34 PM
HA HA!
Posted By: Nelson. (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:38 PM
John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Billy West, Tress MacNeille and Katey Sagal.
Yeah it's because these guys have been so busy doing other projects.
Posted By: Captain_America (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:41 PM
The network will come around, if this is in fact true. There's no chance of this being a success if the original cast is not involved.
Posted By: Guest#9983 (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:46 PM
nooooooooooooooooooo
Posted By: Guest#6677 (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:48 PM
This is probably just a negotiating ploy on Fox's part, but if it turns out to be true, they may as well just cut their losses & not bring the show back. I haven't seen anyone in the Futurama online community who has said they will follow the show with new voice actors. West, DiMaggio, and Segal are not replaceable on Futurama.
Posted By: tcraven (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:49 PM
well i wont be watching
Posted By: Guest#7577 (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:50 PM
Bummer, kinda pissed that the voice actors are doing this. Drops the excitement level over new Futurama's.
Money is cool and all, but what about being involved with something good besides totally interchangeable cruddy kids cartoons.
Posted By: Hypnotoad (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:51 PM
...hmm....so they don't want it to succeed?!
Posted By: Diablopepe (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:51 PM
south parks creators do all the voices. even the girls
Posted By: Guest#0678 (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:51 PM
no billy west on futurama = EPIC FAIL! seriously, just pay him.
Posted By: goliath (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:51 PM
None of the same actors will be back? I really, really hate this phrase but I think it would be most appropriate:
EPIC F'N FAIL!!!!!!!!
Posted By: Axle (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:54 PM
Okay now it's gonna suck.
Posted By: Dewey Cox (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:54 PM
Fuck this shit, i was one of the few people i know who actually liked futurama, i don't know how it will be with new voices. even if its still funny it will never feel the same. they should just create all new characters rather than insult the fan base with weird voices coming out of our favorite characters.
Posted By: stronelis (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:55 PM
Family Guy doesn't have to deal with these issues since creator Seth MacFarlane voices all the main characters.
________________________________________
MacFarlane does a lot, but not all.
Meg, Lois, Chris, Joe and Cleveland could all be considered main characters- none of which are voiced by Seth.
Posted By: cyks (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:57 PM
Family Guy has seen voice replacements before (Meg was replaced after the pilot), and Seth McFarlane only does 3 of the voices of the core family unit (Peter, Brian and Stewie), Seth Green (not McFarlane) does Chris, Mila Kunis does Meg and Alex Borstein as the much underrated Lois.
That said, Futurama without the original cast????? At the VERY least they need to get Billy West, Katey Sagal and John DiMaggio back or else fans will HATE IT.
Posted By: M:-X (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:59 PM
This disturbs me. I've loved Futurama for years and one of my favorite parts of the show is the greatness of the voice actors. With the knowledge of new voice actors, I am apprehensive to watch the new episodes.
Posted By: David (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:00 PM
Way to go Futurama cast. Your greed has netted you instead of a modest pay increase, nothing.
Posted By: D-Steak (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:01 PM
No one's been hired.
Negotiating tactic.
I hope.
Posted By: Heyyo (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:06 PM
Well this officially marks the end of the beginning of Futurama my friends.
Since the new "episodes" will be entertaining in both the bad voice acting and good new storyline categories.
Posted By: Guest#2469 (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:07 PM
For once, I find myself using this trite saying:
EPIC FAIL
Posted By: M A Weyer (Registered) on July 20, 2009 at 03:11 PM
Can't speak for all of them but pretty certain Katey ain't hurting for money with Married...With Children in syndication and her substantial role in the upcoming second season of Sons Of Anarchy. Pretty sure she can live without Futurama with no problems. Considering how familiar those voices have become with it's fan base, sounds like epic fail for Futurama.
Posted By: McCheezy (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:12 PM
If ever there was a time to use "Epic Fail", this is it. For Bender ALONE, this new show will suck 13 asses without the real voice.
Posted By: Frank (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:14 PM
It's funny how just because you know how to turn on your computer you think you know everything. Most of the main cast are all very popular voice over actors, specifically John DiMaggio and Phil LaMarr, who wasn't mentioned. If you think these guys are sitting around playing with themselves, waiting for Matt Groening to call, you're very very wrong.
Posted By: A Big Fan of Facts (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:24 PM
No Buys
Posted By: Robin (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:27 PM
To the poster who said sarcastically that they have been so busy, they have. They've all done a TON of work since Futurama ended. Check their IMDB pages.
Fox may end up hiring competent voice actors to replace the originals, but I strongly doubt it. Futurama had the cream of the crop of voice-over and it will be tough to top what they've done before.
If they could drag Tom Kenny away from Sponge-Bob though... that's half the cast right there.
Posted By: Gog (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:28 PM
Tough shit to the voice actors. Hopefully the new show will be good and popular so they can see that they shouldn't have been so goddamn greedy.
Posted By: Zingy (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:28 PM
Billy West is essential to the show's survival. If they find people to do impressions, that's fine, but the fact is, they probably can't find one guy to play the professor, Fry, and Zoidburg. Meet his demands. The rest are somewhat expendable.
Posted By: Empire Of Ownage (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:36 PM
Guess they'll have to cancel their upcoming appearance at Comic Con on Sunday...unless this is a PR stunt.
Posted By: GaryML (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:37 PM
I feel like this story is completely bogus. I watched all the commentaries and know that Billy West and John Dimaggio love this show with all they have. I can see Segal not coming back, but man.... what the hell.
Posted By: James (Registered) (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:38 PM
It's always about money with these ppl. Adult Swim lost it because of money. They put Futurama back on the map and they run to Comedy Central for more money. They did the same for Family Guy, but at least Seth stuck with Adult Swim.
Posted By: Guest#6818 (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:39 PM
MacFarlane does a lot, but not all.
Meg, Lois, Chris, Joe and Cleveland could all be considered main characters- none of which are voiced by Seth.
Posted By: cyks (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 02:57 PM
Actually, MacFarlane does voice Cleveland, but you're right about everyone else.
I'd be okay with replacement voice actors for everyone, but NOT for Bender, Fry and Leela. DiMaggio, West and Sagal are the core of that show, and trying to replace them would probably compromise the show's chemistry, especially considering that West voices Farnsworth and Zoidberg as well.
Although now that I think about it, LaMarche and MacNeille are such heavyweights in the voice actor field (Animaniacs RULES), it might NOT be the same without any of them.
Posted By: Knutcase (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:52 PM
John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Billy West, Tress MacNeille and Katey Sagal.
Yeah it's because these guys have been so busy doing other projects.
---------------
Billy West is a top name in voice-work. He currently has 6 roles/projects in development, and if nothing else he makes alot more money being the voice of the Red M&M.
Katey Sagal has a movie coming ou and a regular role on a tv series.
John Di Maggio is another top voice actor. He has 15 different roles in 2009 alone, including major roles in The Replacement, Batman, Spider-Man, and Penguins of Madagascar.
Tress MacNeille is probably the most talented woman in the voice-over industry. She's had major roles on The Simpsons, Rugrats, and she's currently the voice of Daisy Duck for Disney.
Maurice LaMarche is an incredibly versatile voice actor. He's everything from the voice of Yosemite Sam to being the guy who invented and popularized Pinky and The Brain. He's working as a voice actor on both The Simpsons and The Replacements.
My point is these are all cream of the crop voice actors who helped make the characters on Futurama what they are today, and a deal needed to be reached regardless of cost.
It is NOT like these guys will be living on the street for not being on Futurama anymore.
Posted By: Kif (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:56 PM
Strike one.
Posted By: rob391 (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:58 PM
Boy, don't you hate it when big, bad, mean-old voice actors ask to get paid well for delivering ratings (the whole reason CC ordered new episodes was because they movies did incredibly well in the four-part format)?
Hopefully poor, destitute Fox and Viacom can weather this storm. Shame on you, Billy West. You brute!
Posted By: Jeff Clarke (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 04:06 PM
Losing the original voice actors does really suck but as long as they still have the original writers it will still be good, just have to adjust to the new voice actors.
Posted By: The Diceman (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 04:09 PM
Agreed, Tom Kenny could make a good Fry. It could work, but it probably won't in the long run. Bollocks as some people are inclined to say. Just have a new cast like all the star trek spin offs. (i'm not sure if they're actually spin offs, i never watched star trek, take pity on me Trekkers)
Posted By: the dude (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 04:10 PM
Well
I'm not watching the new Futurama then
Posted By: The Rev (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 05:18 PM
Hey Comedy Central...
Bite my shiny metal ass!
Posted By: Guest#8788 (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 05:30 PM
I can't believe nobody said this yet...
"Terrible news everyone!!!!"
Posted By: withnail (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 05:31 PM
People say it won't be a success with a new voice cast... it wasn't exactly a success before.
Posted By: RobboCop (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 05:31 PM
Well, its pretty well known that David X Cohen himself is a pretty serious douchebag, and the voice actor primadonnas not far behind, and Comedy Central execs not far behind them. So to rotting hell with every last one of them. I don't ever watch Comedy Central because their programming sucks, and though I enjoyed Futurama enough to own all of the dvds, I will not be watching this farce.
Posted By: Lucius (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 05:37 PM
who cares? they can use voice synthesizers to duplicate the exact voices anyway.
Posted By: cbizzle (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 05:44 PM
Isn't John DiMaggio some kind of famous baseball playing man?
Posted By: M. Simpson (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 05:51 PM
I'll just make my own Futurama, with blackjack and hookers! On second thought, no blackjack.
Posted By: Bender B. Rodriguez (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 06:07 PM
I can't believe nobody said this yet...
"Terrible news everyone!!!!"
Posted By: withnail (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 05:31 PM
I think you mean to say:
"Great news everyone!!!!"
Posted By: Pwnage (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 06:11 PM
"Well, its pretty well known that David X Cohen himself is a pretty serious douchebag"
My God this is true. All you have to do is listen to him on Futurama commentary tracks. The guy is so fucking full of himself it's disgusting.
Posted By: Guest#8946 (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 06:14 PM
Well, its pretty well known that David X Cohen himself is a pretty serious douchebag, and the voice actor primadonnas not far behind, and Comedy Central execs not far behind them. So to rotting hell with every last one of them. I don't ever watch Comedy Central because their programming sucks, and though I enjoyed Futurama enough to own all of the dvds, I will not be watching this farce.
Posted By: Lucius (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 05:37 PM
Its pretty well known that you make douchey comments.
Posted By: Douchey commenter (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 06:17 PM
Actually, cleveland is voiced by some guy named mike...mike.
Posted By: the dude (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 06:54 PM
its gunna be like "Joey" all over again
Posted By: shaydee (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 06:58 PM
Katey Sagal is the only one with regular work being on the awesome Sons of Anarchy, the rest will probably live to regret it...as will the rest of us who were so looking forward to new episodes as well(although the last movie did kind of blow).
Posted By: Butters4Prez (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 07:04 PM
I love the show and hope this does not happen.
However, the rumored amount the big voice actors were looking for is $75,000 per episode. That is ridiculous for voice acting per episode.
Almost double what the average joe makes for twenty minutes of your recorded voice? GREED
Posted By: Guest#7857 (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 07:08 PM
I love idiots who rip people for trying to get more money. The same people would be doing the same thing.
Posted By: Heh (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 07:14 PM
If this is true, Groening's got to be shitting bricks about this right now and trying to find a way to get these guys back.
If not, he may be about to receive a very, VERY harsh lesson about how essential good voice acting can be to an animated show's success.
Posted By: BJC (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 07:23 PM
f*ck it, I'll still watch. As long as its still funny, who cares.
Posted By: mfactor00 (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 07:29 PM
We should just see how all this turns up in the end instead of ranting on how horrible the show will be. You'll never know these new actors could top the original ones!
Posted By: Hdj360 (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 08:36 PM
No one is going to watch it without the original actors. Fox is shooting themselves in the foot on this one.
Posted By: Steve307 (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 08:42 PM
Bender with a different voice:| This will be worse than having a "funny sounding Kermit"
Posted By: Champ (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 08:44 PM
All those people saying these guys are all going to fail without Futurama is right.
I mean what the hell is Billy West gonna do beside this? Be the voice of Bugs Bunny, possibly the most successful cartoon character in history? That hack.
Posted By: Guest#9858 (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 08:47 PM
"If this is true, Groening's got to be shitting bricks about this right now..."
just like Bender.
Posted By: nastrodamus (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 08:56 PM
And I was so psyched for it coming back. Now, I won't be watching.
Posted By: Nandy (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 09:19 PM
"Posted By: Douchey commenter (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 06:17 PM
Its pretty well known that you make douchey comments."
And YOU took time out of your life to notice them. Thank you! :)
Posted By: Lucius (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 09:20 PM
So does that mean the show's going to become the Hermes Half Hour?
Posted By: mlsq42 (Registered) on July 20, 2009 at 09:24 PM
"
Katey Sagal is the only one with regular work being on the awesome Sons of Anarchy, the rest will probably live to regret it..."
No they won't, they did just fine without Futurama, the post above describes my thoughts, these aren't run of the mill of voice actors, these are people that have been in the industry for a long time and are very well respected.
"However, the rumored amount the big voice actors were looking for is $75,000 per episode. That is ridiculous for voice acting per episode."
The main Simpsons voice cast pulls in way more than that and the channel gains back that money with the adds and the like, this is just Fox being stupid.
But I'm having a good chuckle at all the trolls here who assume voice acting is the easiest thing in the world and think the Futurama casts have been out of work since the show ended.
I mean, did guys know that the man who voices Bender is Marcus Fenix in Gears of War? He was Wakka and Kihmari from FF10 before that.
Posted By: Gub (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 09:31 PM
I cant believe that what are they thinking. GARBAGE!!!
Posted By: thedouce (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 10:26 PM
Actually, MacFarlane does voice Cleveland, but you're right about everyone else.
Posted By: Knutcase (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 03:52 PM
----------------------------------------
he doesnt do clevelands voice, ive seen the voice actors and its a different person but he does do quagmires voice.
so to set it straight he does the voices for: peter, brian, (his actual voice) quagmire, and stewie.
Posted By: Actually Good Sir (Guest) on July 20, 2009 at 10:42 PM
"Family Guy doesn't have to deal with these issues since creator Seth MacFarlane voices all the main characters."
Unless Seth MacFarlane demands more money and FOX cancels them..... again.
Posted By: Guest#0038 (Guest) on July 21, 2009 at 12:21 AM
"Family Guy doesn't have to deal with these issues since creator Seth MacFarlane voices all the main characters."
Unless Seth MacFarlane demands more money and FOX cancels them..... again.
Posted By: Guest#0038 (Guest) on July 21, 2009 at 12:21 AM
From what I read today, Seth McFarlane is the highest paid writer on television, so I don't really see that being an issue.
The other thing is that with the exception of Seth Green, Patrick Warburton, and Meg (her voice actress' name escapes me right now), the rest of the cast are also writers, so they are getting compensated well. Another thing is that Family Guy, because it's small cast and staff, are very close with Seth and work well together, whereas Futurama was never really a "family" show (by that, I mean the cast was close friends with the management).
I'm sure that Billy West and Katie Seagal weren't asking for $100 million like Seth McFarlane got, but are probably under the correct impression this will be one of the last big paydays they can get, so they want all they can get.
Posted By: Random Boy J (Guest) on July 21, 2009 at 04:53 PM
I certainly hope that the announcement of voice auditions does turn out to be a negotiating ploy. It's one thing to change out voices after a few shows or one season. It's entirely another to change out most of the cast after a total of 10 years passing.....it simply won't fly. Greed may be accused at both the studio execs and the cast, but if the original voice actors aren't part of the new episodes, I will not watch even one episode. One comment said we should give the possible new voices a try, maybe they'll be even better. You are completely missing the point and/or you simply aren't a real fan of the show to have such a flippant attitude over what the heart of the show is.....you can draw brightly colored pictures and write funny (or not) stories for the pictures, but when you add the VOICES....that's when the characters are "real"......and when you've been listening to those voices for 10 years (7 of them in repeats), NO other voices, no matter how close they sound to the originals, will suffice. I have watched every single episode and the movies. There's no changing of voice actors that I would accept, short of the actual death of those actors. As for suggesting that the actors need the work.....the only actor who visibly needs the work is Phil Lamarr......who happens to be staying on. Check out IMDB before you insinuate such drivel. All of the actors have remained faithful to the fans all these years with appearances.....despite being cancelled, then not, then resurrected to Adult Swim, then switched over to Comedy Central. Everybody knows that animated shows in general are labor intensive and thus more expensive to create, but those that become successful garner TREMENDOUS profits in the long run. Think about future back-end syndication; think about merchandising; think about Full featured films; think about spin-offs. $75k per episode is really not that much when you think about some past situations with very popular shows wherein cast members threatened to walk unless they got a quarter mil per episode....now THAT'S greed! If at the end of the day 20th/CC decides to eschew a dedicated fanbase in the hopes of garnering a completely new fanbase that hasn't already been exposed to the show, and therefore will likely NOT re-check it out cause the voices changed, then they will lose LOTS more money in the short-term. Without Billy, Katey et al, the show is doomed to fail. So, to recap, either this is a ploy in negotiating or 20th/CC execs are really, really, REALLY stupid.
"Just HAD to come back for the Crushinator, didn't ya robot!"
"Good News, Everyone!"
"......I guess I'll have to listen to idioticness!"
"Bite my Shiny, Metal Ass!"
Keep the actors or cancel the show. None of the above lines will ever sound the same.
Posted By: splazmataz (Guest) on July 22, 2009 at 01:34 AM
I hope John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Billy West, Tress MacNeille and Katey Sagal will reconsider and will star in the new episodes of Futurama.
Posted By: Dani (Guest) on July 23, 2009 at 06:26 AM
