Utopia falls season 2 cancelled1/9/2024 Millar and Netflix spun the cancellation by saying Jupiter is going to be a universe, with a new live-action series - based on an unrelated Millar comic titled Supercrooks - given a series order and put under the Jupiter umbrella. And Jupiter was, for a while, a fixture on Netflix’s own public top 10 chart visible to subscribers, although that metric is vague as it is not clear if it’s measuring fully-watched episodes or smaller samples or just acting as a visibility booster. But a day after the cancellation, Nielsen showed Jupiter atop its streaming chart, generating 696 million minutes of view time in the week of May 3-9, better than Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale (690 million) and other original series from Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and Disney+. When Jupiter was canceled, some observers presumed bad metrics were the cause. “Unless the show is an undisputed hit, it’s going to fall under the microscope,” says one Jupiter insider. As is the norm with many a shuffle, any project not part of an incoming exec’s portfolio will be scrutinized. Holland was replaced last fall by industry veteran Bela Bajaria, who took the mantle as head of global TV. To compound problems, Netflix then underwent an executive shuffle that saw Jupiter‘s greenlighter, vp original content Cindy Holland, and its two original executive overseers exit the company. A Netflix insider pegged it closer to $130 million for the season, but with the cost of shutting down production and the long post time, several sources peg it at upwards of $200 million. It is unclear in what range the final budget landed. “If you’re going to make a big superhero show, you need at least that much.” “Marvel shows are $15 million to $20 million per episode,” notes one producer working in the comic book space. With episode spends now reaching above even what DeKnight originally asked for, show insiders say he was proven right in some respects. Louis Leterrier, the filmmaker behind Netflix’s acclaimed Dark Crystal and Lupin series, was brought in at the eleventh hour as a consultant, according to sources, but the move was too late to save the troubled show. Issues didn’t stop there, however, as even after wrapping production, the show spent an inordinate amount of 2020 in postproduction. It wasn’t long into shooting that the show found itself overbudget and running behind, with DeKnight, never one to shy away from speaking his mind, according to people who have worked with him, clashing with Netflix over “creative differences.” The production was shut down about halfway through its eight-episode shoot DeKnight was replaced by Sang Kyu Kim, who then had to retool the first batch of episodes. The streamer, however, backed him down to under $9 million. The series was plagued with issues from the start, with then-showrunner Steven DeKnight initially asking Netflix for a budget of at least a $12 million per episode, according to sources. The show, however, seemed to be a victim of several factors, some of its own making, some not, and illustrates the birthing pains of building from a highly publicized acquisition. As well as its Tuesday slot, Utopia is set to air on Fridays for five more weeks.Netflix Reveals First Images, Release Date for Italian Porn Biopic Series 'Supersex' Certainly, reality TV tends not to get much digital afterlife traction – however, maybe Utopia could prove the exception. Now that could be a one-off with people DVRing the premiere while they watched SNF in real-time. Utopia grew 20% in Live + 3 among the key demo to a 2.4 result. Then again, the Live + 3 numbers that Fox released for the show’s September 7 debut showed a near doubling from the network’s stated DVR expectations for the reality show. Granted that 2.0/6 among adults 18-49 was the best unscripted debut of the year so far but subsequent numbers could not be pleasing to Fox execs. That was a more than 50% free fall from Utopia’s September 7 OK debut up against the NFL and NBC’s Sunday Night Football. And it comes following, the Tuesday Utopia debut drawing a very soft 0.9/3 for the new show. Even on one of the least watched nights of TV, that’s a hit. The first Friday airing of Utopia (0.7/3) saw the freshman Fox social experiment show fall 22% from its last broadcast on September 9. If the ratings are any indication, it might soon be time to call the show Dystopia.
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