![]() ![]() While some have touted the pandemic thriller to have arrived in an untimely manner, ‘Utopia’ has received high praise from most quarters for portraying a dystopic America with extreme accuracy. If the British original is anything to go by, we can expect a gripping tale of how the group deals with a world-changing reality while staying ahead of threats along their way. The eight-episode series has some serious star power, including the likes of John Cusack. Their excitement at the discovery soon wears thin when they understand that a shadowy deep state organization is hot on their heels. We may never get viewing metrics from Amazon or any of the streamers, who are under no obligation to provide them, but it sure would be helpful in understanding some of their decisions, both as a critic and a consumer who pays multiple streaming bills each month.A group of adults meets online, and they come to possess a near-mythical cult underground graphic novel. I have no explanation, but obviously it comes down to Amazon's formula regarding cost versus eyeballs. Why was Hunters renewed and not Utopia? Well, its reviews were a bit better, and it had more of a 'fun' hook. Why did The Expanse get a sixth season? That I can't tell you. I'll miss this cast, which included John Cusack, Rainn Wilson, Sasha Lane, Desmin Borges, Dan Byrd, Ashleigh LaThrop, Farrah Mackenzie, Christopher Denham and Euphoria's Javon Walton, but at the same time, I'm glad they're now free to do other things, because I don't think a second season would have necessarily improved upon the first without jumping the shark a la Lost.Īs for Amazon, I wish it hadn't allowed the potential audience for Utopia to busy itself watching The Boys, which also held the focus and attention of the streamer's marketing department, making the Utopia launch something of an afterthought. As always, it's the audience that ultimately decides whether a show breaks through on a cultural level the way that Tiger King or The Queen's Gambi t did this year, and Utopia just never seemed to make a dent with the public. Streaming success is based on buzz, and when the media decides a show isn't worth its time - notably, Collider did not review Utopia - it's hard to get people organically excited. I enjoyed the series, but it's only 51 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and there just wasn't a ton of conversation out there around the show. I'd speculate that Utopia was a fairly expensive show for the streamer, but what's totally fair to say is that it failed to register with critics or audiences on the whole. See, Amazon didn't release a statement explaining its oddly-timed decision, which only invites speculation. ![]() ![]() which can probably be blamed for this particular show's cancellation, though not for the typical reasons. ![]() I honestly didn't see this one coming, and yet, I'm not surprised, as nothing surprises me anymore thanks to the pandemic. What started as the show that David Fincher walked away from at HBO ends with Amazon walking away and leaving creator Gillian Flynn stuck holding the bag. In case you missed it on Friday night of the holiday weekend, Amazon canceled Utopia after a single season during which it laid out a rich mythology that is now all for naught. ![]()
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