Utopia (2014 American TV series)

Utopia is a reality series that premiered on Fox on September 7, 2014. Based on the original Dutch series of the same name and created by John de Mol Jr., the series follows a group of people who attempt to maintain a society in a remote area. Conrad Green was its executive producer. Originally scheduled for two nights per week, Tuesday and Friday, on October 2, 2014, Fox announced that Utopia was pulled from Tuesday nights, and would air only on Friday nights. On November 2, 2014, the show was cancelled after airing weeks of what was promoted as a year-long project. It is estimated that Fox paid $50 million to develop the show.

Premise The series follows a cast of 15 men and women who were placed in isolation and filmed twenty-four hours a day for a planned one year. The cast was to create their own society and figure out how to survive. The series was initially shown twice a week, with online streaming 24/7 with 129 hidden and unhidden cameras all over the Utopia compound. The live streams began on August 29, 2014, the day when the 15 pioneers entered Utopia. Over 5,000 people auditioned for the series. Every month, three pioneers were nominated for elimination—to be sent back to their everyday lives. The live-streamers were able to decide which new pioneers got their chance to join the cast.

Cast This is the cast of the show at the time of its cancellation: NameAge on entryOccupationResidenceStarted Aaron Thomas 26 Chef Oxford, Mississippi August 20 Amanda Scott 30 Behavior specialist Seattle, Washington August 20 Bella Chartrand 45 Real estate entrepreneur Griffin, GeorgiaAugust 20 Cal Swangash 39 Farmer Portland, Oregon October 1 Chris Tuorto 25 Chili farmer Cary, North Carolina August 20 Dedeker Winston 26 Belly dancer Los Angeles, California August 20 Ernesto Santana 39 Contractor Oceanside, California September 21 Hex Vanisles 25 Unemployed Detroit, Michigan August 20 Josh Johnston 36 General contractor Salt Lake City, Utah August 20 Kristen Vanstromhttps://www.facebook.com/kristennvanstrom 24 Entrepreneur Jamestown, New YorkSeptember 4 Nikki Noce 29 Holistic doctor Brooklyn, New York August 20 Taylor Vaughn 24 Construction Worker Omaha, Nebraska September 11

On September 2, 2014, contestant Hex Vanisles was medically evacuated while filming for the premiere, but returned to the show a few hours later.

Past Utopians Source for list: NameAge on entryOccupationResidenceStatusStartedTo Andrea Cox 38 Chef San Diego, California Non-starter n/a n/a Dave Green 31 Unemployed Queens, New York Left Utopia August 20 September 5 Jonathan Lovelace 44 Pastor Church Hill, Tennessee Left - Injury August 20 September 10 Red Vanwinkle 42 Handyman Cecilia, Kentucky Banished August 20 September 30 Rhonda Deniston 48 Entrepreneur/Political Activist Oceanside, California Rejected Candidate September 4 September 9 Katie Cercone 29 Animal Rescuer Sacramento, California Rejected Candidate October 1 October 6 Bri Nguyen 20 Veterinary assistant Westminster, California Left Utopia August 20 October 25 Mike Quinn 33 Attorney Manhattan, New York Left - Family Emergency August 20 October 26 Rob Hospidor 38 Security programmer South Amboy, New Jersey Banished August 20 October 31

Episodes

Reception Though Utopias premiere was met with general optimism, the show has ultimately been almost universally panned by critics and viewers alike.

According to review aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Utopia received an average score of 38% based on 4 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Utopia holds a Rotten Tomatoes score of 33% based on reviews from 6 critics, and a rating average of 4.5 out of 10, with the consensus being "Utopia squanders a lofty premise and quickly devolves into a hellish slog that barters in the most irksome reality television tropes."

Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sardonically dubbed the show "Fox's Folly" and wrote that it "really ought to be called "Farming, Fighting, and Fornicating – But Mostly Fighting." Reviewing the episode "Season Premiere – Part 2", which aired on September 9, 2014, Owen stated: "Tuesday's episode, which saw a 43 percent ratings decline according to The Programming Insider, featured still more fighting – a failure to order Ramen noodles threatened to become Utopia's assassination-of-Archduke Ferdinand moment – and hints at fornicating between two settlers in a barn loft. Fox executives could have saved substantial production costs and achieved basically the same boring result by filming 14 randy monkeys in a cage containing only 10 bananas."

Brian Lowry of Variety criticized the show's choice of cast: "If 'Utopia' has any legs at all, it will as a cable-style freakshow, not some grand “experiment” in democracy. Indeed, the diverse lineup seems designed to draw from various unscripted staples – a dash of Doomsday Preppers here, a dollop of Duck Dynasty there – and throw them together in the same blender."

Willa Paskin of Slate disparaged Utopias attempts to condemn the "misbehavior" it "desperately [requires]" from its participants: "Utopia ... strives to frame its mission in a positive light, distancing itself ... from the on-camera misbehavior its producers so desperately require. Through the first two episodes, five of the eight men assembled have violent physical outbursts. The female cast members avoid the trap of being portrayed as catty and vicious; as a result, they are granted no personalities at all, just a penchant for swimming naked ... the first night [ends] with one case of alcohol poisoning, another of threatening sexual behavior, and two fights, Piraro sadly opines that so far the group is failing miserably at utopia, as if the producers had been hoping for a dull, conflict-free Eden."

Utopia (2014 American TV series)

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