[12] Source for list:[8][9] Though Utopia's premiere was met with general optimism, the show has ultimately been almost universally panned by critics and viewers alike.
Fox executives could have saved substantial production costs and achieved basically the same boring result by filming 14 randy monkeys in a cage containing only 10 bananas.
"[33] Brian Lowry of Variety criticized the show's choice of cast: "If 'Utopia' has any legs at all, it will as a cable-style freakshow, not some grand “experiment” in democracy.
Indeed, the diverse lineup seems designed to draw from various unscripted staples – a dash of Doomsday Preppers here, a dollop of Duck Dynasty there – and throw them together in the same blender.
The female cast members avoid the trap of being portrayed as catty and vicious; as a result, they are granted no personalities at all, just a penchant for swimming naked ... the first night [ends] with one case of alcohol poisoning, another of threatening sexual behavior, and two fights, Piraro sadly opines that so far the group is failing miserably at utopia, as if the producers had been hoping for a dull, conflict-free Eden.