Columbia was the last studio still producing live-action and two-reel short films (other studios were still making animated one-reelers well into the 1960s, but the Stooges' last live-action competition, one-reel series "Joe McDoakes", had ended its run in 1956), and the market for such films had all but dried up. As a result, the studio opted not to renew the Stooges' contract when it expired in December 1957. The final comedy produced was "Flying Saucer Daffy", filmed on December 19–20, 1957. Several days later, the Stooges were unceremoniously fired from Columbia Pictures after 24 years of making low-budget shorts.