During the last few years, Fox has
not had a hit reality show on their network since MasterChef in 2010. X-FactorUSA did not perform as well as executives had hoped. American Idol has beenstruggling over the last few seasons to connect with their viewers. Fox used to
take chances and broadcast risky reality shows like “Who Wants to Marry a
Millionaire” and “My Big Far Obnoxious Fiancé”.
Fox has looked to reality shows outside the country to adapt. Boom and
Utopia were two shows that were being adapted for U.S. audiences that were
automatically controversial. The reality competition Boom where players try to
defuse a bomb by answering questions correctly. Fox needs to take risks on
their reality series and promote their product.
During the summer of 2014, Fox
debuted their “social experiment” reality show called Utopia. Utopia is a
reality television series about 15 people who are in an isolated area for a
year and are presented with a chance to create their own civilization. In April
2014, there was concern that the show would not perform as well as the Dutch
version. The original version debuted in the Netherlands in January and did
very well in the ratings for 10 straight nights. However, TV analysts also saw
that ratings began to decrease over time and a few executives at Fox were
concerned it would not do well. Ratings for Fox’s Utopia’s September premiere
were a 2.0 rating and then dwindled down over the next 2 months. This show was
a big gamble for Fox costing the network more than $50 million dollars. There
were also changes that the new executive at Fox wanted producers on the show to
comply. This show was bound to fail before the show started filming because of
the internal arguing between executives, the high cost, and not having a soliddirection for the show. One of the issue viewers had with Utopia was that there
were no prizes for the participants. There was no rooting or cheering for a
particular contestant, but watching them create a new government. Reality
television will not fade away as some people would hope, but it will evolve.
Utopia was a great concept, but if it were executed correctly, the show would
have done well. The show could have changed the reality television format like
what MTV’s The Real World and CBS’s Survivor did to television.
