Fox Television promised to deliver a new and engaging “social experiment” with the world premiere of Utopia. Debuting in a Sunday primetime slot, the hidden camera reality show drew in substantial viewers but was not the groundbreaking human study that was promised.
Throwing 15 so-called “pioneers” into an enclosed plot in rural California with only the bare necessities, the show had the potential to thoroughly explore how humans who have lived their whole lives in our world would build a new society. Unfortunately, Utopia does not do this.
Instead, the show’s premiere is reminiscent of most other hidden camera reality programs. Instead of 15 citizens willing to work together, it seems that the producers chose people who are polar opposites and will cause the most friction as the group attempts to build society.
This droll drama comes as no surprise; one of the executive producers of Utopia is John de Mol, who is also a producer on Big Brother, a similarly unscripted show that follows 13 contestants as they compete to win a cash prize. Unlike Big Brother, which has competitions to serve as episode structure, Utopia has no master plan or goal. The viewer is just watching the Pioneers work through whatever problems they can cook up.
Out of the 15 Pioneers on Utopia, not one feels like a genuine person. Each personality seems cooked up in some sort of way to ensure that these already incompatible people will be nose to nose in a seething argument over the smallest thing. That is precisely the formula for creating characters that are hard to like.
Since the show’s episode structure depends on what the Pioneers have done in the last few days, it is unlikely that it can continue broadcasting two episodes a week for the next year. (This is Fox’s grand vision for the show). The Pioneers are unlikeable, and it is unlikely that many viewers will take the time to sit down and follow their overly dramatic lives.
For fans of hidden camera reality, it is best that they stick to watching Big Brother live feeds instead of wasting viewing hours on quasi-social experiment of Utopia.
