SCIFI WIRE - The Cartoon Network has bought the cable-TV rights to the 72 half-hour reruns of Fox's SF animated series Futurama, Variety reported. Cartoon will schedule Futurama somewhere in its weekly Adult Swim block, from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Sundays, starting in January 2003, the trade paper reported.
A Sunday-night success on the Fox Network since it debuted in March 1999, Futurama has slipped in the ratings in the last year or so, the trade paper reported. Fox hasn't made it official, but the show is unlikely to come back after it burns off its final original 16 or so episodes during the upcoming 2002-'03 season, where it's scheduled on Sundays at 7 p.m., the trade paper added.