For the 15 residents of Utopia, it’s the end of the world as they know it. Fox on Sunday canceled its big-budget “social experiment,” effective immediately (meaning last Friday’s episode was the series finale).
Faced with low-ratings, Fox is pulling Utopia from Tuesdays effective immediately. The reality series will continue to air on Fridays. Utopia‘s regular time slot was 8 p.m. Tuesday, with a second original airing on Friday for the first six weeks. MasterChef Junior, which was supposed to succeed Utopia on Fridays will now do the same on Tuesdays starting Nov. 4.
The conclusion of Utopia‘s three-part launch on Friday night drew 1.9 million total viewers and a 0.7 demo rating, down 24% and 22% from the Fox freshman’s Tuesday outing. Following Tuesday’s drop, Fox Television Group co-CEO Dana Walden acknowledged that Utopia was launched “really early, maybe before viewers were ready for a new fall show … but with patience it will grow and we’re going to have patience.”
Based on a Dutch format, the U.S. version of Utopia is billed as a 365-day-long social experiment where 15 folks have been selected to live and work together on a bare-bones plot of land while being filmed by 130 cameras. Unlike similar reality TV trials like Survivor and Big Brother, there’s no host, competition or prize. There aren’t even humans carrying around cameras. The action is captured entirely by remote-controlled gizmos positioned in trees, on rocks and throughout the only pair of buildings on the Utopia site
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