Fox 'Utopia' Canceled: Cast Members to Receive 'Post-Production Counseling' as Reality Show Ends 10 Months Early
FOX network has decided to cancel its reality-TV social experiment "Utopia" just two months after airing its first episode.
The innovative reality series was initially scheduled to air for an entire year, The Hollywood Reporter reported, but after an eight week-long streak of lackluster ratings, FOX finally decided to pull the plug.
"Utopia"-- which was created by "Big Brother" and "The Voice" creator John De Mol -- chronicles the lives of 15 strangers who are isolated in a remote California location and forced to build a "perfect society," Entertainment Weekly reports.
The cast has had no knowledge of the show's plummeting ratings. "Utopia" producers are expected to inform the cast of the show's premature ending and will provide them with "post-production counseling before allowing them to return to their regular lives," EW reports.
Though the show's debut episode received low ratings, producers still attempted to salvage the costly social experiment and switch its time slot from airing Tuesdays and Fridays to only airing on Fridays, says Deadline.
Despite the schedule change, "Utopia" continued to tank. Last Friday, marked the show's lowest rating of 0.5 among adults 18-49 and a little over 1.5 million viewers.
Starting Nov. 7, "Utopia's" Friday time slot will be replaced with repeat episodes of "MasterChef Junior" and "Utopia's" live-stream component will conclude Sunday, according to EW.
Prior to "Utopia's" cancellation, FOX's reality chief, Simon Andreae, admitted that the show was "difficult" to advertise to viewers.
"I hope ['Utopia'] launches significantly above average, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's a show that grows. It's a reasonably difficult show to market in that we don't have footage," Andreae told The Hollywood Reporter. "We have nothing to show. We have no scripts; we don't really have guardrails for content. We're placing 150 cameras on a compound, and people are just living it out."
"Utopia's" cancellation follows a number of cancelled shows on the FOX network including "I Wanna Marry Harry," "Riot" and "The X Factor."
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