Comedy Central Launches Facebook 'Countdown to FUTURAMA' Today

COMEDY CENTRAL is taking FUTURAMA fans on a 50 day multi-platform journey leading up to the series' seventh season premiere on Wednesday, June 20 at 10:00 p.m. The "Countdown To 'Futurama'" launches on Facebook on Tuesday, May 1 and for 50 consecutive days will provide fans with exclusive content including preview clips, character designs, episode stills, story boards and more each day. For the countdown kick-off, COMEDY CENTRAL will post a sneak peek clip from the season premiere episode, "The Bots and the Bees." "Futurama's" Facebook page has over 20 million fans and ranks among the top five animated television show pages.

Beginning on Monday, May 7, CC Digital will feature the first of seven weekly podcasts, which will include a week's worth of "Countdown To 'Futurama'" content. Hosted by Executive Producer David X. Cohen, who will be joined by a rotating cast of other "Futurama" writers and producers, this all-new feature will provide viewers with inside commentary on each piece of exclusive content along with a first look at images from upcoming episodes, as well as character designs, stills, storyboards and concept sketches. The "Futurama" weekly podcasts will only be available on iTunes(R).

In addition to Facebook, COMEDY CENTRAL will integrate the "Countdown To 'Futurama'" on-air and online, including a daily feature on the CC Insider blog, the COMEDY CENTRAL Tumblr page and on mobile via SMS messaging.

"Futurama" focuses on the life of Philip Fry (Billy West), a 25-year-old pizza delivery boy who accidentally freezes himself on December 31, 1999 and wakes up 1,000 years later with a fresh start at life at Planet Express, an intergalactic delivery company. There he meets love interest Leela (Katey Sagal), a sexy cyclops with anger management issues, and best friend Bender (John DiMaggio), a beer-powered kleptomaniac robot. In 2011, the series earned two Emmys(R) for Outstanding Animated Program and Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for Maurice LaMarche.

"Futurama," created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen, is produced by Twentieth Century Fox Television, with Rough Draft Studios, Inc. contributing the animation.

20th Century Fox Television, a division of News Corp, is a leading supplier of entertainment content domestically and around the world.

Available in 99 million homes nationwide, COMEDY CENTRAL (www.comedycentral.com), the only all-comedy network, is owned by, and is a registered trademark of, Comedy Partners, a wholly-owned unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA and VIAB).