Inside Fox's War Over $50 Million Reality Gamble ‘Utopia’

By Jethro Nededog, The Wrap

Executive clashes, budgetary battles and ratings fears plague the ambitious unscripted production

Fox's upcoming new reality series, “Utopia,” is causing internal strife, executive clashes and concern that the series’ $50 million price tag won't pay off in ratings success, multiple individuals with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap.

This discord has placed a cloud over “Utopia,” the first big greenlight from Simon Andreae, the executive vice president of alternative entertainment who was brought in to replace unscripted chief Mike Darnell last fall.

Andreae preemptively took “Utopia” — with its provocative premise of “pressing reboot” on the world, as executives refer to it internally — off the market in January ahead of a possible bidding war. Adapted from a Dutch model from “Big Brother” and “The Voice” producer John de Mol, Fox's “Utopia” will move a group of everyday people to an isolated, undeveloped location for an entire year, challenging them to create their own civilization.

Fox intends to shoot the contenders around the clock in this ambitious production, live-streaming it online as well as possibly airing multiple episodes during the week. The hope, insiders say, is that “Utopia” may be the ratings juggernaut Fox has been looking for to replace the failed “X Factor” and the waning “American Idol.”

“Utopia” won't come cheap, however. Executives working on the show have told TheWrap that the costs could amount to as much as $50 million for 20 episodes. That price tag doesn't include the costs of the technology for its online components.

“The bill has arrived and it is on the very high end of staggering,” one executive who declined to be identified said.


Another network executive pointed out that the budget includes the initial set build and will be much lower if the show is a success and continues into three seasons per year, which is the model Fox is considering.

Nevertheless, the high numbers have caused other executives to voice their concern. News Corp.'s live sporting event czar David Hill, who was brought in to shore up “American Idol” and “The X Factor” after Darnell's exit last year, has been particularly vocal.

There has been a lot of friction between David Hill and Simon. The insider told TheWrap, “these two are at odds since Hill rightly pointed out to others in the company that ‘Utopia’ may be a giant expensive embarrassment in the making.”

Fox declined to comment for this story, but executives have told TheWrap that ambitious projects such as “Utopia” never come without some internal conflict, and that Hill and Andreae are working productively together.

“Utopia” debuted in the Netherlands in January on the SBS6 network. Ranking as the network's highest-rated unscripted premiere in six years, “Utopia” continued its winning streak as the No. 1 series in its time period (Monday-Friday) for 10 consecutive nights. It's easy to see why Andreae believed he had to take the show off the market at that time.

But, Hill pointed out that the Dutch series’ ratings didn't hold up over the show's run. And according to ratings numbers one Fox insider provided to TheWrap, that seems to be true.

The show's viewership averaged 1.4 million viewers in its premiere week in January. By March, the viewership had fallen to an average 963,000 viewers. That's a 31 percent decrease in viewership over the show's run. Hill suggested that those numbers don't bode well for Fox's “Utopia,” which Andreae didn't appreciate, according to a Fox executive.

It should be noted however that “Utopia” competed against the winter Olympics for several weeks during its first season in Holland and viewership for the run of the show improved upon SBS6's average share in the timeslot.

An individual with knowledge of the situation also pointed out that many shows see a decrease in viewership over their runs.

Fox's changes to “Utopia” have also caused friction between Andreae and producer de Mol, according to the network insider.


Fox is shooting the series on a closed outdoor set in Santa Clarita, Calif., whereas de Mol's Dutch series actually shot in a cutout from an actual forest. Andreae made the location choice, because he wanted more control over who could come and go on-set (the original was open to outsiders) and he wanted to make sure that the weather would be good year round (Read: Sunny and bathing suit-friendly).

An upset de Mol is allegedly not allowing any more format changes. “Simon sends over ideas, and de Mol tells his team to ignore them and he hardly considers Andrae to be his creative equal,” the insider said.

Meanwhile, Fox is just weeks away from its Upfront presentation to advertisers in May. It will not present controversial new reality series “Boom,” which has also been plagued by internal strife over Andreae's perceived downmarket taste, and the ad sales department has warned against presenting other upcoming reality series, worrying that advertisers will frown upon their risque concepts.

“Utopia,” with all its bells and whistles, is a show Fox can throw a flashy presentation around.


That means de Mol's Talpa Productions has Fox in a bad position due to the tight schedule. And although Fox would like to get the budget for “Utopia” closer to $40 million than $50 million, the production company isn't budging on its price with de Mol not entertaining further compromises on the format.

A representative for Talpa Productions denied reports of conflict to TheWrap. “There are no issues at all between Talpa and Fox,” the representative said. “We are both on the same page and working together as a team collaborating to make ‘Utopia’ the best show possible.”

Another possible problem for “Utopia” are comparisons to CBS's “Big Brother,” which Talpa also produces.

An individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap that a CBS attorney has placed a call and sent a letter to de Mol's attorney that expressed concern over media reports characterizing “Utopia” as a mixture of “Big Brother” and “Survivor,” formats which CBS has the sole rights to in the U.S.


Previously, CBS sued ABC for airing its “Big Brother-like” series “The Glass House,” which also employed nearly 20 previous “Big Brother” staffers. CBS settled the dispute and received financial compensation.

The recent hiring of “Big Brother” producer Jon Kroll as one of “Utopia's” showrunners has further increased fears that CBS will view the series as a “Big Brother” knockoff, according to one Fox insider.

“It could be said that inside Fox the atmosphere has been anything but utopian,” the insider said.

‘Utopia’ Kicks Cast Member Out Before Filming Even Begins

By Jason Hughes. The Wrap

As viewers of the streaming live feeds already know, “Utopia” has begun. The Fox series won't premiere on the network until Sept. 9, but the social experiment is under way. Only, there's something missing. One of the announced participants, Andrea Cox, did not enter the five-acre set on Friday.


Cox purportedly failed to live up to the confidentiality agreement she'd signed in the days leading up to the beginning of production. Her violations included attempting to contact her fellow castmates, or “pioneers” as the show is calling them, producers confirmed for TMZ. Participants were sequestered in a hotel before beginning the “Utopia” experience.

The year-long reality show was designed for cast shake-ups, with announced eliminations and additions planned via peer and viewer voting. But with only 14 of the proposed 15 “pioneers” entering the “Utopia,” there's already a need to bolster their ranks. Neither producers nor the network have indicated how and when they might do that.


“Utopia” will premiere across three nights at 8/7c on Fox: Sunday Sept. 7, Tuesday Sept. 9, and Friday Sept. 12. The reality series then continues on Tuesdays and Fridays at 8/7c.

amirm said:

Watched the premier last night. I must say, as these shows go, it was a good watch. The production quality was top notch, with 150 cameras capturing audio and video clearly 99% of the time. With the personnel and equipment to record all of this for a year, and the cost of creating the camp, one can see how it would cost that much.

They had smartly picked the people and it was fascinating to see so much happen in the span of just two days. I hate big brother type show and this does NOT come across that way. It is kind of like Siberia except that was scripted and this one is not.

One interesting aspect of it is who we live amongst. Seeing everyone's beliefs, reactions and method of dealing with conflict across wide swath of the American population is fascinating.

Overall, I would say this is as close a reality show gets to feature produced programming. It has the support of major motion picture but the "actors" do as they please. At least I think that is the case .

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audio.bill said:

Sorry, but I have to disagree with Amir regarding this show. I tried watching it but couldn't get myself beyond the first few segments of the premier episode. As they explained the premise of the show to the participants, they all sat there just shaking their heads in agreement as if they were in some type of hypnotic trance. It reminded me of how infomercials are presented, and I couldn't bear to continue to watch it. I admit to liking some other "reality" shows, but found this to be one of the worst and hardest to view. I predict it will be a huge failure, but I'm not a gambling man. To each their own of course applies here.

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I'm somewhere in between. We watched both hours. If you look at the people who were selected how could there not be problems. I think the pastor might have the biggest problems especially with the convicted felon

I haven't watched it since the first episode however as I said in another thread my wife and I are having a hoot watching Dating Naked on VH1

Fox's ‘Utopia’ Cancellation: What Went Wrong With the $50 Million Social Experiment

By Jethro Nededog, The Wrap

“Utopia's” failure may have been foretold even before anyone in the United States saw a second of the show.

A provocative idea that fell apart in the execution, Fox canceled the series on Sunday after two months of consistently low ratings.

From day one, the show suffered from internal bickering at the network's highest levels and a heavy-handed execution by producers and Fox's new alternative chief Simon Andreae.

Andreae bought the Dutch format in January from producer John de Mol's Talpa Media, which is also behind such ambitious hits as “Big Brother” and “The Voice.” Fox's alternative programming chief made the bold buy just three months after being announced to the position to avoid a bidding war on the show that was performing well in The Netherlands.

But as the price of the show soared to a $50 million price tag, some executives within Fox began to wonder if the series was worth it. News Corp.'s live sporting event czar David Hill, who was brought in to shore up “American Idol” and “The X Factor” after the network's veteran reality head Mike Darnell's exit last year, was particularly vocal.

As a network insider told TheWrap at the time, “These two are at odds since Hill rightly pointed out to others in the company that ‘Utopia’ may be a giant, expensive embarrassment in the making.” At the time, Fox denied that Hill had any reservations about the show.

The $50 million included the initial set build which would then be used over and over again if the show made it to further seasons.

Hill had reason to be concerned. While “Utopia” debuted in the Netherlands in January as the highest-rated unscripted premiere in six years for the SBS6 network and remained No. 1 in its time period for 10 consecutive nights, Hill pointed out that the Dutch series’ ratings didn't hold up over the show's run. He was right.


According to ratings numbers obtained by TheWrap, the show averaged 1.4 million viewers in its premiere week in January. By March, the viewership had fallen to an average 963,000 viewers. That's a 31 percent decrease in viewership over the show's run. Hill suggested that those numbers didn't bode well for Fox's “Utopia,” which Andreae didn't appreciate, a Fox executive told TheWrap.

Then there was the show's execution. Andreae opted to shoot the series on a closed outdoor set in Santa Clarita, Calif., whereas de Mol's Dutch series shot in a cutout from an actual forest. Andreae made the location choice because he wanted more control over who could come and go on-set (the original was open to outsiders) and he wanted to make sure that the weather would be good year round, which would make for sunny, bathing suit-friendly days. After all, Andreae was behind Discovery Channel's hit survival series “Naked and Afraid” and knows what a little skin can do for ratings.

Andreae's changes to the format rubbed de Mol the wrong way.


“Simon sends over ideas, and de Mol tells his team to ignore them and he hardly considers Andrae to be his creative equal,” the insider said. A Talpa representative denied there were creative differences with the network.

Andreae was right on one count – the participants shed their clothes within the first week, but that had no affect on ratings as the show drew only 1.98 million viewers and a paltry 0.7 rating among viewers in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 year-old demographic.

Another early fault in the show had to do with casting. The program was meant to bring people together, so they could form a new society. But producers chose such extreme — some viewers called them stereotypical — versions of Americans that agreements were hard to come by.


Executive producer Jon Kroll even joked on a Sept. 3 press call ahead of the show's debut that the production team might have done too well with choosing differing points of views in its first group of pioneers as they had a hard time seeing eye-to-eye on anything in their first week in seclusion. He said that the next two cast members nominated to join the group showed some promise of creating more harmony among the cast.

Additionally, the insider said that executives were disgusted with the show's castmembers after hearing their discussion of the money to be made from doing the show.

After the show's horrible first couple weeks of ratings, Fox chairmen, who had inherited the series, responded to questions about the show's ratings.

“No one thought we were going to launch a huge ratings juggernaut, but with patience it will grow and we're going to have patience,” Fox Television Group co-chairman and co-CEO Dana Walden told TheWrap in September.


And later that month, Fox's COO Joe Earley expressed optimism that with the end of de Mol's “Big Brother” season, those viewers would latch onto “Utopia's” similar premise.

“The people who love ‘Big Brother’ should love ‘Utopia,'” Earley offered. To his credit, “Utopia” did maintain its audience the week after “Big Brother” ended, but then began to lose them again in subsequent weeks.

The death knell for “Utopia” came on Oct. 1 when Fox tried to do some triage and pulled it from its Tuesday airings just four weeks after the show debuted – two weeks ahead of schedule.

Its actual death would arrive appropriately on Halloween weekend after the show's Friday episode fell 27 percent in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic.