A fire destroyed most of Sable Ranch, where reality TV shows including Utopia and Wipeout were filmed. But Netflix’s Ultimate Beastmaster was spared.
Utopia
Camp Cutthroat’s “secret” filming location was used by this Fox show
At the start of the Cutthroat Kitchen spinoff Camp Cutthroat, Alton Brown, wearing a red beret and shorts, stood in front of the first three returning chefs. “You cutthroat veterans are some of the first outsiders to set feet inside those gates,” he told them. That was not quite true, because those gates previously belonged to… continue reading
Why Utopia did not fail despite being cancelled
After 13 episodes, Utopia has been cancelled by Fox. The ambitious series was to take place over an entire year; instead, it lasted less than two months. A cast with far too many unpleasant people who behaved badly from the very first minutes doomed the series early on. Instead of a show about building a new society, it quickly… continue reading
Utopia producer Jon Kroll on ratings, cast, conflict, and more
Fox’s Utopia began, perhaps like most utopian experiments, with a lofty ambition: a prime-time network show that was not formatted and did not rely on a competition for a prize to power its episodes. Instead, the series was a throwback to original modern reality series The Real World, following the lives and interaction of people in an… continue reading
Masterchef Junior will get Utopia’s Tuesday timeslot
Fox has pulled Utopia from the Tuesday night schedule effective immediately, and will give that timeslot to MasterChef Junior as of Nov. 4. In the meantime, it’ll air repeats of its animated shows, followed by the World Series. The second season of MasterChef Junior was scheduled to return a few days later, on Nov. 7, and would have aired Friday… continue reading
Utopia will now give viewers a nomination for evictions
After less than a month on the air, Fox’s Utopia has announced how cast members will be voted off the show, changing a previously-announced format by adding the ability for viewers to nominate someone for eviction. Before Fox’s press release came out, Entertainment Weekly published a story headlined “Fox shakes up ‘Utopia’: Castmates to be voted out.” To me, that read kind… continue reading
Utopia devolves even further into anarchy and racism
On Utopia’s lowest-rated episode yet, the group votes to adopt anarchy as their first structure, as if that will be an improvement over what they’ve had so far. I wanted this series to work so much that I’ve kept watching, hoping it could recover, but I’ve had enough; this cast of intolerable people who behave selfishly,… continue reading
Fox will be patient with Utopia, blames wrong thing for huge ratings decline
After it lost more than half its viewers from the first to the second episode, Fox is admirably standing behind its ambitious reality series Utopia, doing everything ABC should be doing with The Quest. However, I also think the network misunderstands why viewers fled the show. More than half of young viewers 18 to 49 bailed between… continue reading
Utopia populated by unpleasant people who behave badly
Reality shows live and die based on their casting, and right now, Utopia is on life support. Earlier this summer, Utopia executive producer Conrad Green told me, “The intention of this clearly isn’t to make it into some big shoutfest of oppositional views.” Alas, episode one was mostly a shoutfest, heightened by alcohol but fueled by people… continue reading
Why Utopia will actually be different
Fox’s Utopia debuts tonight, and there have been a lot of words used to describe it: It’s a risky! bold! different! expensive! (The Wrap said well over $50 million.) pure! (I’m so tired of reading John de Mol quotes about how pure this show is.) social experiment! The last phrase is so overused in reality television that it’s virtually meaningless, but this may… continue reading
An expulsion, fighting, nudity: Fox’s Utopia starts strong
Fox’s decision to start Utopia‘s live feeds before the broadcast has already paid off. In their first weekend–first day, even!–there was drunkenenss, fighting. The show is already down two people and it hasn’t even aired on television yet. Big Brother‘s rabid feed watchers have always wanted to see what happens as the cast moves in,… continue reading
Free Utopia live feeds start today as the cast moves in
Fox’s Utopia begins streaming today from southern California, as 15 people–including a pregnant woman–leave sequester in a hotel and move onto a five-acre site, where they’ll attempt to create a new society over the next year. The actual series will debut Sept. 7 after football, and it will air twice weekly after that, on Tuesdays and Fridays. Unlike Big Brother,… continue reading
Watch Utopia’s trailer: Paradise Hotel + Big Brother + Truman Show
On Monday at its upfront presentation, Fox unveiled the trailer for its new “social experiment” reality series, which will air this fall two nights a week: on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. and Fridays at 9 p.m., where it will compete directly against Shark Tank. The trailer doesn’t contain any footage from the show that will… continue reading
The new Fox series that combines Big Brother and Survivor
The brand-new reality series that strands 15 people for a year and broadcasts live feeds of their interaction is coming to Fox. Utopia debuted to strong ratings just a few weeks ago in the Netherlands and was created by John de Mol, who’s behind the original Big Brother format. The show is like Big Brother… continue reading
The reality show that strands 15 people for a year with farm animals and electricity
Last night, Big Brother creator John De Mol launched a new series in the Netherlands, one that strands 15 people for a year to start a new society. It’s like Big Brother except without the challenges, manipulation, and everything else that’s part of Big Brother. Utopia is loosely based on the Thomas More novel of… continue reading