Fox recently announced a new reality show “Utopia.” In the show, 15 strangers are thrust together for a year in order to create a new society. The “utopia” will be live-streamed 24 hours a day. The show has been compared to both CBS’ long-running shows “Big Brother” and “Survivor” because there’s competition, survival and live streaming.
It got me thinking: How many show ideas are just recycled and repackaged as something different, yet smelling very familiar? If it works for one, why can’t it work for the others? Look at “The Voice” and “The X-Factor.” Both are singing competitions, but differ from “American Idol” in that they have coaches and teams. (Side Note: “American Idol” should probably just be taken off the air. It actually should’ve been taken off when they hired Ellen DeGeneres as a judge… like who thought that was a good idea?)
This year, both “Survivor” and MTV’s “The Real World” have borrowed twists from “Big Brother.” The 29th season of “The Real World” is titled “Ex-Plosion,” where it’s now seven strangers picked to live in a house… annnnnnd a few of their exes. Ruh-roh.
But every once in a while there’s a new twist that breathes life into a show. “Survivor” 27 was titled “Blood vs Water,” where it pitted former contestants against their loved ones. It added an entire new level to the game play: Will they align with them or will someone backstab their mom (Spoiler alert: It happened).
Let’s just all cross our fingers that reality shows can stop copying each other because I’m a little tired of seeing the same twists on different networks.
And if they keep bring back old contestants, how am I supposed to have my chance to be a contestant?