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Utopia
ItsTotesSoFluff
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Started last night in the US, haven't watched it myself yet but planning on to and I couldn't see a thread anywhere.
Think it's on twice a week and they're live feeds.
Discuss
Think it's on twice a week and they're live feeds.
Discuss
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I really wouldn't want to spend an hour with any of them let alone a year, bit of a shame cos I like the idea behind it, will watch another episode or two and see how it goes.
Castaway
Big Brother
Siberia
So far it feels more like Siberia done for real though they did re-use the castaway "ray" scripts for Josh
I already think they missed a trick. Two camps one religious nuts, the other "others" see which survives the longest
I'd be pretty OK with spending an hour with Dedeker.
I like Hex and the lawyer so far, Dedecker didn't get much screen time but she seems a bit more normal.
I don't see it lasting a year on Fox, they axe things at the drop of a hat. It's a pity the concept is being lost in the craziness of the looney characters.
I may have missed something, but I don't recall seeing all that much of substance, good or bad, from: Kristen, Rhonda, Bri, Chris, Dedecker, or Nikki. So maybe they're all the reasonable people?
The ones who had very obnoxious outbursts at one time or another were: Dave, Jonathan, Amanda, Josh, Aaron, Red, Bella, and Rob.
Mike and Hex engaged with them and were featured in the first episode, but I didn't notice them crossing the line into histrionics.
A fundamentalist like Jonathan was always going to be somewhat strident, and most of the others don't seem to be pushing their religion on the others (except the one atheist guy taunting him). As people like that go, he at least seems like a reasonable person that you can have a sensible conversation with. I can live with there being one religious person like that, even if it occasionally leads to annoying moments with him being judgmental about nudity and such. As long as he doesn't manage to convert everyone it should be fine.
Amanda and Aaron just seemed stressed out by all the others, and it seems possible it wouldn't happen again. Aaron snapped at Red, who frankly deserved some of it, and sincerely apologized for crossing the line. I think he seems decent enough despite the outburst. Amanda was being unreasonable in that she was insisting on special privileges without being willing to explain why she needed it yet. She could have handled that a lot better. But now that her situation is out in the open maybe she can explain things properly and be easier to deal with.
Rob seems like an A-hole through and through, but at least he's not screaming about it.
Bella was annoying, but she seems like once people settle down and learn how to interact with each other she wouldn't be stirring up too much trouble.
Josh had a terrible first day, but he seemed suitably chastened and willing to cooperate with people after that. So maybe he can still recover. He's a wildcard at this point.
Dave and Red seem very impulsive and prone to irrational outbursts, and I'm concerned that they will be a continuing problem.
So despite all the drama, I think there's the chance for most of them to sort things out. A few will need to be evicted though.
They spent something like $140 out of their combined $850 on a bunch of junk food that won't last them the week. At that rate they'll be completely broke before 2 out of their 12 months are up, with none of "their" money or labor invested toward community goals that allow them to produce food after that. They talked about rice, beans, and ramen, but as soon as they got their money they let others order staples for them out of other people's money, while they blew all theirs on hot dogs and chips.
They do have a point about buying rice and beans instead of quinoa, which has a similar nutritional profile but costs several times more. Brown rice would be a reasonable compromise between the two. And since the chef was just checking prices, maybe they figured that out themselves. They probably could have hashed out some of these details before placing an order if the Freedom morons were able to communicate like mature adults. Yet as soon as they got their hands on some money they showed they were full of crap and didn't know the first thing about how to budget or lacked the discipline to apply it. It's too late to start being frugal after you're already broke and don't have any source of income.
Tone down the violence and fighting the show might be a decent look into building a civilisation, but then those who the show is aimed at would probably turn off in droves.
Totally need a Muslim in there to shake it up.
Yeah, too conservative and religious, Islam is just the thing to bring on a new age of progressive tolerance.
They've got the preacher, the libertarian gun freak, and a fiscal conservative joining them. They had one baptism, but that guy is gone.
Bella is non-religious, hippie, environmentalist. They've got a polyamorous dancer/nude model. A tantric sex holistic doctor/yoga instructor who is spiritual but definitely not Christian. Chris, the promiscuous glass blower/chili farmer dislikes religion. Josh, the contractor is an outspoken atheist who was openly disparaging religion on day one.
They've got a ton of people, too many really, with strong beliefs. Some of them are conservative and/or Christian, but an equal number are neither. If you think this bunch has any sort of uniformity on religion or politics you must not be watching the same show. The absolute last thing they need is to be shaken up by more differences of opinion, when differences is all they've got.
Also don't assume cause they don't conform to conservatism some of the others aren't as well. Christine on BB 16 doesn't seem like she'd be conservative but was a big Romney fan. Also just cause some have more unusual occupations doesn't mean they're the opposite to the conservatives. The opposite of a libertarian would be say a socialist and we haven't seen one, plus they've a tea party activist too and a fiscal conservative with this other new chick. Also having only atheists and Christians with no Jews or Muslims is hardly diverse either.
Kaysar on BB6 was one of the great casting choices on US reality TV over the years, especially given he was Iraqi at a time when the US involvement was still ongoing there. Now all we get on these shows are white Christian conservatives for the most part, Survivor being the worst culprit for that.
That might have been good.
I'm personally sorry there isn't an alternative to people wasting money on an expensive toilet and deciding unilaterally what everyone should eat without considering everyone. According to those that watched the live feed the original shopping simply didn't feed the group well enough. Though of course we are pretty much told to side with this lawyer guy who probably gets them wrapped all around his little finger lol. Too many people portrayed as stereotypes and lots of preaching, but then that's what you expect on modern reality shows I guess, the preaching though being more an American thing.
Unfortunately as with all reality TV "it's all in the edit". The producers are clearly aiming for the BB audience.
They could if they had wished to given us a version akin to the Colonial House / Frontier House series but focused on the element of actually choosing the political / religious structures they want to live within, or even had competing utopias.
But no - fights and showmances, that's what reality tv is today >:(
Utopia is interesting in parts, the religious stuff is tedious, but I'd guess some people need religion (the only interesting thing about it is that the most aggressive one is the one who is most into it and got baptized, I think it might explain how so many violent people are found in religions).
I'm interested to see how people deal with an unfamiliar situation, but not sure if I'm interested enough to stay with it.