All hope is lost. Utopia no longer exists. OK, maybe not all hope since few people cared about it in the first place, but Fox has officially closed its ambitious reality show.
Fox put a lot of work into Utopia, building it up as its launching pad for the Fall 2014 season, but the network quickly realized that it wasn’t getting viewers. It had premiered on a Sunday, but once it began airing in its regular Tuesday and Friday slots, the audience left. Fox then cut the show’s Tuesday episodes and it only aired on Fridays.
According to Deadline, the latest episode on Halloween only drew 1.56 million viewers and a 0.5 18-49 rating. That was the final nail in the coffin and the show was cancelled on Sunday. The show’s live-streaming feeds have already stopped and the cast is being sent home.
The show had aimed to put people with varying personalities in an isolated location to build their own Utopian society. It was created by John de Mol, who is also the producer behind CBS’ Big Brother and NBC’s The Voice.
According to TheWrap, Fox alternative programming chief Simon Andreae clearly hoped that de Mol’s magic would continue, pumping $50 million into the show. However, other Fox and News Corp. executives were less enthusiastic.
It’s hard to understate how much Fox really needed this show to work out. With American Idol no longer the blockbuster it used to be and The X Factor failure of the past three seasons, the network only has chef Gordon Ramsay to fall on for reality programming. In fact, MasterChef Junior repeats will air in Utopia’s place.
This is the fourth show to get cancelled this season. On Friday, NBC cancelled both A To Z and Bad Judge, while the week before, ABC axed Manhattan Love Story.
image of John de Mol courtesy of Katy Winn/INFevents.com