The first show I thought, Oh, good gawd, this is so bad. Why am I watching? OK, sometimes I even screamed it aloud. I knew why I was watching: there was nothing else on TV to watch! I remember thinking, Is this what my life has come to?? But the longer I watched, the more interesting it became. I like shows about interpersonal relationships probably because I don't have any.
The show was based on a Dutch television program that is getting the highest ratings of any Dutch reality show, so producers anticipated much success. To become a utopian, candidates needed to create three-minute audition videos and subject themselves to a casting process. Producers selected the first fifteen people based on their wide range of skills and experiences much like a microcosm of society. There were lawyers, doctors, convicts, ministers, construction workers, plumbers, survivalists, hunters, chefs, hillbillies, and one pregnant woman.
My favorite utopian was the single, cat woman who demanded organic food, lectured on the use of cancer-causing microwaves, passionately supported organic gardening, sold watercolors on ebay to help support the group, and showed all kinds of evidence of being an earth-worshipping goddess. Everyone thought she showed all kinds of evidence of being a little off her rocker, too. She got a lot of flack for talking to herself, but since cameras were on them 24/7, I argued she really wasn't really talking to herself. Hey, I talk to myself so what's the problem? I loved her self-affirmations. She sometimes hugged herself.
I wondered whether these people were what they claimed to be and if it was really unscripted. Some viewers did online digging into the former lives of the utopians and found them to be actors, models, and have fake names so it's questionable how staged this "reality" show was. I wonder how much they got paid? Anyway, with this personality mix, there was bound to be interpersonal conflict regardless of whether it was staged or not. This made it fascinating. For instance, during hot weather the girls walked around naked or went skinny dipping in the pond while the minister sat on the edge of society with his hands over his eyes crying. That was priceless. Some utopians were useless and lazy while others worked constantly. Some were easy-going while others were volatile.
It was scheduled two days a week and had planned to continue for one year. The show schedule was then reduced to once a week due to low ratings. This went on for two months, then it disappeared for two weeks during the World Series. I don't think that was a good move as it lost a lot of viewers during this hiatus. I also think they should have aired it during the summer when it had no competition from the big fall line up.
Although Fox sunk $50 million into production, property development, website construction with viewer passport and participation options, and 24/7 streaming feeds, ratings were so low they dropped it yesterday without warning. No closure sucks. We didn't even get to see them get the news or watch them pack up and leave. It's hard to believe they paid so much for this show and then instead of finding a way to make it pay for itself, the whole thing just disappeared overnight. I've read some of the comments on the website. Many viewers were very disappointed explaining they are home-bound and disabled and watching the feeds 24/7 became their entertainment. It became their life. I never got into the feeds, but I think it might have been just a matter of time!
No, it wasn't good T.V. but it was entertaining to a certain degree. Now I'll have to find a new guilty pleasure.
Not much to choose from....
*Cable television has some excellent programs, but they aren't free on Hulu.
Are you sure the minister was crying and wasn't peeking through the gaps of his fingers and crying in 'ecstasy'???? Hahahahaha!!!! Everything is staged.
ReplyDeleteHe seemed pretty horrified. And talking to himself trying to resist temptation. hahaha Staged or not, it was funny.
Delete