Utopia (US) Live Feed Discussion

[Rahul]

Bri was looking for a new place to sleep.  Good news for Chris.

 

Not so good news for the rest of them, I reckon. If I'm not mistaken this would be Bri's first night without her daily sex romp in the bushes, and just as she is on the precipice of real power.

 

Isn't Bri about to begin her first day as Utopia's dictator soon? I'm guessing between the pile on for her egregious neglect of the animals and the sex drought, Bri is only going to turn into an even bigger nightmare to deal with. Hell hath no fury like a petulant twentysomething scorned on national television and all that jazz.

Edited September 17, 2014 by Rahul

[DeLurker]

@Andyourlittledog2 - thanks for the recaps! As amusing as the distilled version is for me , watching the feed full strength most require the patience of a saint.

Edited September 16, 2014 by DeLurker

[kikismom]

So these guys are well paid to be on tv and pretend to be poor, nay, pretend to pretend they're poor (because even within the fake reality of the show, they're plowing through their fake budget like drunken sailors), so all this ... qualifies them for public assistance?   Is that real public assistance or pretend public assistance? 

Every day, they find another way to prove that their "new society" is dependent on the old society they walked away from, and not by being forced but to actively discuss more ways the former "non-Utopian" society can be of advantage to them.

These people have a breathtaking lack of self-awareness.

[candall]

This is small potatoes in the general scheme of racism, animal neglect and aliens, but. . .did I read that these idiots really spent a chunk of their finite funds on a kitchen counter and cabinets?

 

I understand wanting a toilet, a stove and a refrigerator, maybe even a microwave, but didn't they already have a serviceable plywood counter and a whole wall full of pre-built cubbyholes?  (If they're going to replicate stuff, how about a second toilet?  15 people:  yick.)

 

I would looove to see a secret feed from the production area.  I can't decide whether the wranglers are in there high-fiving about all the sex and backbiting or tearing out their hair because they have to barge in there every five minutes and nanny the toddlers.

 

They surely didn't anticipate a revolving door of emergency services personnel.  It would be funny if they're as frustrated as the viewers.  "Condoms?  Now we have to get them condoms?  They knew they were coming for a year and no one stuck a box of Trojans in the crate?"

Edited September 16, 2014 by candall

[DeLurker]

 

"Condoms?  Now we have to get them condoms?  They knew they were coming for a year and no one stuck a box of Trojans in the crate?"

At least they are practicing safe sex. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

At least they are practicing safe sex.

 

Based on comments by Bri and Chris, no they're not.  Neither of them like condoms.

[candall]

At least they are practicing safe sex. 

I think the Bri/Chris canoodling began before the call went out for protection.  Maybe he came prepared.

 

And watch out for Bella!

[DeLurker]

Oh Dearie Dear! (said in my best Piglet voice)

[Zahdii]

9/15/2014     Monday

 

Coming soon:  Replacement for Jon is coming this week, he might be here by Wednesday. 

 

7-ish - People are starting to get up.  Hex, Kristen, Red, and Taylor are beginning to work in the barn.  Only two eggs this morning.

 

Nikkie's doing her morning yoga and Bella's watering her garden.

 

By 8:30 AM it looks like everyone is up.  The vet is supposed to be coming at 9, but will probably be late.  Chris, Hex, Kristen, and Taylor are talking about selling the cows.  They don't think they'll ever be able to take good care of them.  (It's mind boggling to me that 15 adults can't take care of 2 cows and 15 chickens.)

 

Bri and Chris are mad at each other because Chris is starting to realize that it wasn't very nice of them to deliberately make noise last night, he's starting to think about how that looks and how it could affect his relationships with everyone else.  Bri doesn't care about any of that because she's still mad about getting called out over her treatment of the animals.  Chris makes her a bowl of oatmeal with peanut butter and she drops it, getting it all over the floor and the refrigerator.  Then she walks off leaving Chris to clean up.

 

Hex calls a meeting to explain how her three days of anarchy is going to work.  Paraphrasing "Anarchy is the absence of authority.  It doesn't mean that there are no laws.  There are still rules.  You don't let things get out of control.  We can't have abuse of power like what's going on 'out there'.  You have to be respectful.  Be conscious of the people around you.  You have to be responsible and accountable.  Use your own moral compass.  Self-police.  No one needs to tell you what's right and what's wrong.  You all already know right from wrong.  Do whatever you want.  Destroy or build.  Human code.  Just go do your thing."  And I might have fallen asleep.

 

Next thing is she tells everyone they have $10 to spend (what happened to no money in Hex's version of Anarchy?) 

 

Then Aaron addresses the group, complaining about some people are not being courteous of those who are still sleeping in the morning. 

 

A lot of fighting over whether or not to keep the cows.  Both Rob and Red say they hate cows and want them gone.  Rob wants to open the big gates, put the cows out and lock the gate.  Amanda says the cows give them milk, cream, butter, and cheese.  Red wants to let the cows give birth, sell the calves and butcher the mama's.  Bella says if they sell the cows it must be to a nice place where they'll be properly cared for and no chance of being butchered.  Josh says that people are just trying to get out of their responsibilities.  Now everyone's talking over each other so one by one people drift away. 

 

Meeting breaks up.

 

Now Amanda is arguing with Bella about the garden.  Bella keeps complaining about how she doesn't get enough help in the garden, but several people have said that they went to help and Bella said she doesn't need their help.  Then when she does allow someone to help she nitpicks them.  Amanda points out that Bella has Taylor hauling water from the pond to water the plants when she has a hose right there.  Bella doesn't want to use the hose because of the fluoride in the water and the hose will get water on the leaves.  That Bella, I think she lies awake at night and dreams up ways to make things hard on herself and everyone else.  All this is happening while Nikkie weeds the garden and Taylor is watering it, an Bella's sitting on the ground.  She'll work the garden if she's alone but the second she gets help she sits down.

 

The vets have arrived.  The first thing they're told by Bri is that they want to get rid of the cows.  The vets are thrilled!  Then they go into the barn and feeds go BEV, no sound. 

 

When feeds come back, the vets are discussing how to convert the setup for keeping goats.  NO WAY.  They talk to Bella about the chickens.  The see improvement, but stress the need for a daily schedule if they want egg production to increase.

 

Now he's telling some people from now on he's only cooking for himself and Kristen.

 

It's part of his plan to get the respect he believes he's due.  When they're eating their inferior food and he and Kristen are dining in style they'll all respect him and stop complaining about his cooking.  Yeah, that'll work.

 

He and Kristen also plan on overcharging the group so they have extra money to spend on themselves.

 

By 11:30, Exec Producer of Utopia tweeted the following:
Jon Kroll @hippykid 31s
@deedee42066 @ladybug245 Per the vets, the cows are fine. They can't sell the cows; they have to take care of them.

 

As for selling the cows:
@ladybug245 I don't plan on letting them sell the cows anytime soon...

 

Between 11:30 and 12:30 Bri and Chris have a running argument, finally culminating with Bri declaring that she's done with him.

 

She goes off to cry alone.  Chris barely waits 10 minutes to start talking to Hex.  She thinks she's giving him post-breakup relationship counseling, but he's definitely checking her out.  He also tells her that Bri is going after Taylor next.

 

Bri gets Kristen to help her move her bedding away from Chris's bedding.  lol, she wants to move next to Taylor "But there's no roooom!"

 

Aaron has a new plan to get rid of Josh.  He's ordered a bottle of tequila and wants to get Josh drunk.  He's hoping that Josh has another bad drunken night or is kicked out for breaking his 90-day no booze probation.  He's already starting to tell people he smells alcohol on Josh's breath.

 

Amanda tells Josh that Production says they're not going to be able to sell the cows, they're going to have to just take proper care of them.  Josh spreads the word.  Dede's mad, says it's cruel, but I think she's worried she'll be made to help in the barn more.

 

Amanda, Dede, and Mike are talking about how Utopia isn't making much progress.  Not enough people are doing much.  They have a go at Bri, she's immature, inexperienced, etc.

 

Just after 2 PM, Tony, an exterminator arrives.  (He was called by Aaron as Aaron's first order of business for Anarchy Days.  He wants to sabotage it by spending as much money as he can and he has a few other things planned.)  First thing Tony points out is the filthy kitchen, the food encrusted stove, and left out food and says that that's why they have so many flies and now an ant infestation.  He says to clean up and keep it clean and that will help a lot.  He also checks out the barn, and says what everyone else has said.  Move the manure pile and the composts heaps.  He'll return tomorrow with some plastic bags they can fill with water that will help with the bugs. 

 

Bella shows up and when she finds he doesn't intend to spray, just use basic measures to deal with the situation she's all smiles.

 

It's getting hot so several Utopians hang out at the dock.  Amanda is discussing the barn chores with Bri.  Amanda thinks things would get done if everyone divided into teams of three to attack projects together.

 

A little later they have another house meeting.  Mike is being an ass, mocking Nikkie as she tries to present her ideas.  I always wonder why people like that guy.  They decide on a new strategy for getting customers.  They want people to be able to come and do whatever they want on Saturday and Sunday with an option of joining Nikkie's Yoga or Aaron's Boot Camp at the end of the day.  It's going to be called "The Utopia Experience".  They want to put on performances of some sort so they're applying for an entertainment permit.

 

Aaron is telling everyone about the bug bags the exterminator will deliver tomorrow.  I bet they're going to look so pretty when they're half full of dead flies.

 

Nikkie wants to work with Kristen on building the business website when they get the computer.  Kristen says she doesn't want help.  Aaron's backing her up.  Amanda and Chris are backing up Nikkie. 

 

For now it seems that Kristen will be left to do it herself, and that might be a problem because she and Aaron have already talked about password protecting website so no one else has can make changes or see the parts of the site that will deal with profits.  They're planning on skimming the profits and giving their 'friends' a larger share of the profits than the others.  I can't see that working out, but we'll see.

 

Later, Kristen and Taylor are hanging out and talking about Josh.  Taylor doesn't like Josh because he thinks Josh is a know it all, and Kristen hates Josh because Aaron hates Josh. 

 

Uh oh.  They got mail and it's bills.  They got an $8.63 electric bill, Sanitation is at $72, and Mike doesn't name the amount of the water bill.  He just says it's substantial.  Later comments seem to suggest it's about twice as much as the $72 Sanitation bill.  Mike says he'll make some phone calls tomorrow and see if he can get the bills reduced.  Dede wants to know if they can get on an assistance program because they are running out of money.  Good luck with that.

 

Just after 7, the Grocery delivery is here.  Aaron grabbed the grocery list and ran to the gate while stuffing the list in his pocket.  He gets a few funny looks but apathy rules and nothing is said about it.  The grocery bill is about $360.  Mike doesn't look happy but he pays the delivery guy.  Aaron distributes peoples personal items and gets them on their way before he starts looking at the communal groceries. 

 

He's finding the secret goodies that he and Kristen got to make sure they can get to them quickly and can't be seen by anyone else.  Then they get the groceries back to the LQ and start putting up food.  When no one's looking they hide stuff.  They'd come up with a plan the night before to inflate the prices on the communal groceries so they could get extras for themselves. 

 

He makes dinner in the stove that still hasn't been cleaned.  He makes his usual crappy food for everyone else, but he and Kristen get a DiGiorno's Pizza for themselves.  They claim that they pooled their $20 and got the pizza and some other stuff.  When questioned about how they got so much for only $20 Aaron says he get a good deal.  Then he offers a slice of pizza to anyone who would clean out the oven for him.

 

Just after 9 PM they have another Goddess Circle.  Red joins in! 

 

Amanda again refuses to participate.  She tells Aaron that she doesn't like the name 'Goddess' and she really doesn't like that she has no control over what happens there.  A person would think that they were out fornicating in the woods dressed in animal skins the way she acts.  She shares some of her religious beliefs and I'd say she's at least close to being fundy lite.  She uses the word 'convicted' a lot as a verb for 'convinced'.  Example: "The Lord convicted me to do this or that" or "I became convicted to pray for guidance."

 

The day is supposed to be winding down. But there are still a lot of people up.  Aaron and Kristen are alone on the dock complaining and making fun of everyone else.

 

 

Not long after the dock is now being used by Hex, Chris, Rob I think Taylor, the lighting is poor.  Chris is drunk, as is Hex.  Aaron gave Chris a bottle of tequila because it's his birthday tomorrow.  Chris decided to celebrate early.  He's drinking most of it himself, but he's letting Hex have some too. 

 

They're doing that drunk bonding thing where people tell all about their life story.  I came in late so I missed most of it.  Then Chris started talking about himself and I had to hit the mute button for a while.  But if you want to know, Chris says that from the moment he was born he had a light in his eyes and a aura about him that made everyone who saw him realize he was special.  He grew faster than other kids, could learn things at a very early age, his teachers were in awe of him, he was a musical prodigy, and MUTE.

 

Meanwhile Amanda has realized that her personal order has been shorted.  Aaron says that some of her stuff didn't come in but he'll have them delivered tomorrow when he has the cupcakes he's ordering for Aaron's birthday arrive.

 

Later, she shares with several people that she thinks there's something hinky with the grocery order. 

 

She's ignored and leaves.  When she's gone, the others make fun of her.  Aaron's talk about her being bipolar or something has taken root.

 

It's 11:30 PM and Amanda, Josh, and Nikkie are talking about who they want to vote for when eviction time comes.  They all want Aaron gone.  They think Kristen is useless, then they discuss how little work is being done.

 

Not long after that, Amanda and Josh talk privately and she tells him that she thinks Bella was right about the grocery delivery because she sleeps near Aaron and Kristen and she heard them talking during the night about pulling off a scam.  They decide to get hold of the receipts in the morning and find out the truth.

 

Busy day.

[candall]

WOW! 

 

There you go, Hex.  Anarchy!

[hincandenza]

These people are so hopeless, it's as infuriating as it is comical. Such profound stupidity, greed, selfishness, short-sightedness, and a lack of any introspection or self-awareness. I'm shocked they're not out of money already, and morbidly fascinated how far they'll go when that finally happens (the show can't legally force them to stay there, so I figure a week tops until the remaining food runs out and the chickens are all dead). I'm also both surprised and yet... unsurprised that people can still outright steal without any consequence. Red, Aaron, Kristen, Bri, Chris, Dave, just off the top of my head, have actively stolen money or food and then lied about it.

I know the mods wisely "convicted" (TM Amanda) us to not talk politics, but I will say that I find myself torn between smugness that if you randomly took the last 15 people who posted on this forum, we'd be immeasurably better at this... and despair that maybe I'm the one who's out of touch, that these aren't weirdos but actually a reasonably accurate cross-section of America at this point.

And then I feel sad and want to go lie in bed all day...

[Wildgypsie]

Well said @ Hincadenza

[dogfish]

And where in hell did they find so many adults willing to engage in all this sex with strangers? Have none of them considered the repurcussions, should they actually have to be there for the year? Geez, at this rate, they will have coupled in every way possible within the first month! Not getting milked on time might become the least of Bessie's problems. (joking---don't kill me)

I wondered the same thing.  How long was Bri there before she just had to get a boyfriend...24 hours?  For the younger 20 something set, I think it is the influence of all of the "reality" shows (especially Big Brother) and the trend really started with MTV's Real World.  Granted, the Real World folks did not have the tools for instant feed-back that are available now (Twitter, Instagram....), but they got a kick out of the "minor celebrity" status that they obtained while being on the show.  Now with social media it has exploded into "I can become a hashtag overnight...I just need to be outrageous and the news will spread like wildfire."  For someone like Bri, I imagine she sees BB and acts like those that she has "admired" on that show.  I just feel for families, friends, etc on the outside who are hurt by their behaviour.  Imagine being Bri's dad?

[dogfish]

I'd go a step farther and say that this is exactly what production wanted: the alcohol fueled debacle on the first episode was the first clue, failure to feel any urgency about anything including food is the second clue and the completely screwed up, clueless, ridiculous people (or actors playing a part) they cast is the third clue.

*Ding, ding, ding*...we have a winner!  I think you are absolutely correct.  They wanted to see how big a mess they could create...after all, Production provided alcohol!

They realize that there is no way that this cast could form a Utopian society or even agree on what to plant in a garden.  But they also know that people watch train wrecks...lots of people.

Edited September 16, 2014 by dogfish

[In Pog Form]

As for selling the cows:

@ladybug245 I don't plan on letting them sell the cows anytime soon...

So... forced bovine ownership, despite it being against the vet's recommendation? This Kroll guy seems like a nasty piece of work. But he is a reality TV producer working for Fox, so I guess being a reprehensible person is a minimum job requirement.

Later, she shares with several people that she thinks there's something hinky with the grocery order.

She's ignored and leaves. When she's gone, the others make fun of her. Aaron's talk about her being bipolar or something has taken root.

This seems to be rapidly evolving from entertaining trainwreck/hatewatch to just plain unpleasant. Someone tries to tell them something important about their resources, and their response is just to make fun of her?

You are right about apathy ruling. The fact that people can just easily get away with completely obvious plans to steal and deceive is just mind-boggling. You'd think the one thing they would do, even if they are lazy and don't want to work, is keep track of expenditure and receipts. After all, that money is the only thing that lets them live the lazy life.

How does purchasing work, anyway? From your descriptions, it seems that whoever has the phone can just call up and order anything they want. From the standpoint of governance, it seems the first thing they need is a treasurer/accountant. Of course, the treasurer would probably just use the position to embezzle money. And even if the treasurer was ethical, anybody could simply bypass any financial procedures by just picking up the phone and buying what they want.

I'm starting to worry that my own sanity is going to suffer from further exposure to this show. As hincandenza ponders... is this actually how most people are if left to their own devices?

[Whimsy]

I came in late so I missed most of it.  Then Chris started talking about himself and I had to hit the mute button for a while.  But if you want to know, Chris says that from the moment he was born he had a light in his eyes and a aura about him that made everyone who saw him realize he was special.  He grew faster than other kids, could learn things at a very early age, his teachers were in awe of him, he was a musical prodigy, and MUTE.

 

Very interesting summary of the day, as usual.  I just wanted to say that the quoted cracked me up.  Chris sounds VERY full of himself.  I would've muted that shit too.

 

These people are getting me irrationally angry.  I can't even understand why they are so intent on sabotaging each other.  Is this what they think utopia is?  Why are they so focused on only their own benefits?  They are SO selfish!!!

 

I am also angry that the production team won't allow them to sell the cows or even do an even swap for goats (whatever the cow is worth monetarily, swap out that many goats so they can't use the money for something else).  These morons obviously can't take care of a cow!  Go with what is safer for the animals.

 

But, despite that, I'm still entertained enough to continue to read these recaps, so thanks for that. 

[ElleryAnne]

If they have access to a computer, are they also able to see what people are saying about them?  Or was there a rule about what sites they could visit?   Do Bri or Aaron or any of them have any idea just how bad they look to the rest of the world?

[DeLurker]

I think Bri and Aaron would assume that we're all just a bunch of haters, jealous because they are so (fill in delusional blank). 
 
I'm sure there's a proper term for it, but unhinged people often think they aren't the ones with the problem and that it is everyone else who does.  They just happen to be enlightened truthsayer burdened with the weight of seeing the world and people as they truly are.

[In Pog Form]

I think Bri and Aaron would assume that we're all just a bunch of haters, jealous because they are so (fill in delusional blank).

"Delusional blank" is an apt description for these people.

[kib]

That website constructed by the Utopians sounds like a swell idea... No chance of anything going wrong as far as being a hacking target huh?. I'm sure it will be reveled that Red wrote code along side Bill Gates back in the day. 

[Zahdii]

If they have access to a computer, are they also able to see what people are saying about them?  Or was there a rule about what sites they could visit?   Do Bri or Aaron or any of them have any idea just how bad they look to the rest of the world?

 

They don't have access to a computer yet, because it hasn't arrived yet.  When it does arrive, I suspect Production will go over it and install software to keep the Utopians from going anywhere Production doesn't want them to go.  The website they're going to set up will probably also be monitored closely.

 

No one just walks up to the gate and is allowed in.  All visitors are vetted by Production first, they are told what they can talk about and what they can't.  The paying customers are told not to accept food from the Utopians.  We've got that bit of information from the snippets of comments visitors have made when visiting.  The vets were allowed to eat dinner with the group because they weren't paying customers, and they spent more time talking than eating.

 

There's a woman on Jokers who's going there this week, and she's already said she'd prohibited from saying where Utopia is located, although that information is readily available on line.  She said she was told to bring no gifts, not even a stick of gum if she plans to give it to a Utopian.  Judging from the way previous visitors have acted, anyone entering is instructed to not give out any information that the Utopians couldn't find out for themselves by talking to each other.

 

Production is another matter, there are veiled comments from the Utopians that indicate they've been told to do something or say something.  It might not approach Big Brother levels of interference yet, but I've got to wonder...

[dogfish]

I agree.  And I don't understand why, if the vets have been watching every day, they didn't intervene sooner.  If ordinary viewers realized something bad was happening concerning the lack of care for the animals, then the vets - who are professionals being paid by the show to keep an eye on the situation - should have noticed at least as soon as viewers.  Even sooner, I'd think, because they should know what to watch for.  Yet things got as far as they did.  I don't understand it.  

They may have been concerned and tried to intervene but were told by Production to "give em a few days...see if they figure it out for themselves."  I'm sure the folks backing a production this large are not really concerned if a chicken or two dies.

[dogfish]

I know she's 20, but 20 isn't 5.

Unfortunately these days it kinda is.

[Sunarku]

At this point it seems that there are only one or two people who are altruistic in the slightest (Hex and maybe Nikki?) and only a few more who are community-minded (Josh, Rob, sometimes Mike, sometimes Red, maybe Taylor?).  I'm sure that the casting meant to ensure maximum drama, but I wonder if even production is surprised at how quickly this is devolving into a Lord of the Flies scenario.

[dogfish]

Yeah, completely agree that it is way too late for that. One of the stupidest things anyone who wants to run for public office can do is to be on a reality show of this type, let alone have sex with someone you barely know on camera for millions to see. I would think most people really wouldn't want a reality TV "porn star" as their DA.

 

Mike is an attorney in Manhattan, so I'm pretty certain he makes more than $52k per year so that makes me think he's a bit of a famewhore and wanted exposure more than anything else. Unfortunately he is not getting the type of exposure he wants and he can pretty much kiss his chance at being DA goodbye. It may even affect him getting a job at many other law firms (or keeping his current one assuming they hold his job for him for a year, which legally they aren't under any obligation to do).

I'm sure the folks at Bickle & Brewer are thrilled with their Associate's antics.  Running for DA - is he delusional!?

Edited September 16, 2014 by dogfish

[dogfish]

So these guys are well paid to be on tv and pretend to be poor, nay, pretend to pretend they're poor (because even within the fake reality of the show, they're plowing through their fake budget like drunken sailors), so all this ... qualifies them for public assistance?   Is that real public assistance or pretend public assistance? 

They get $1000/week less taxes...not exactly "well paid", but not a qualifier for public assistance either.

[Wildgypsie]

We are not going to watch the show no more. Tired of the stupidity, the deceit , the bickering and selfishness of these ppl. And then watching these poor animals suffer, and to top it off production won't let the cows go somewhere where they will be taken care of. Sad to say I've lost respect for Fox, they have no compassion for those poor animals.

[RedheadZombie]

How long was Bri there before she just had to get a boyfriend...24 hours?

 

 

Bri and Chris had sex on the first or second night, I think.  Apparently, Chris complained that he'd never gone that long without sex.

 

Amanda says the cows give them milk, cream, butter, and cheese.

 

 

In theory, but nothing these dummies have done gives me faith that they will learn how to make milk products.  Does Amanda think the knowledge will just come to them?

[kikismom]

 

 

   Chris says that from the moment he was born he had a light in his eyes and a aura about him that made everyone who saw him realize he was special.

 

 

  Chris says that from the moment he was born he had a light in his eyes and a aura about him that made everyone who saw him realize the obstetrician had accidentally tied the baby's umbilical cord with his phone charger and Chris would be special, and ride the short bus.

Edited September 17, 2014 by kikismom

[backformore]

They get $1000/week less taxes...not exactly "well paid", but not a qualifier for public assistance either.

Actually, 52 grand a year is pretty good, especially considering that they have no expenses coming out of that.  They have a place to live and food without dipping into their salaries, also no transportation costs, entertainment expenses, etc.   Unless their families are collecting and spending the money, they are getting it all at the end of the year, which is a good amount of money to have at once. 

[reggiejax]

I'm sure it will be reveled that Red wrote code along side Bill Gates back in the day.

 

 

I have this strange hope that Red will turn out to be the scion (and black sheep) of a wealthy and prominent family. The whole toothless hillbilly thing is just a ploy to get on reality TV and a way to justify his overall failure in life. I imagine he lost his teeth to a very bad meth addiction, and the hillbilly thing is just his way of saying his family cut him off. 

 

But I also like the idea that he did something worthwhile once (like working for Microsoft back in the day, as suggested here) but fell on real hard times due to his own personality flaws and no doubt some combo of drug addiction and mental illness. Or maybe he is like the guy from Shine and he was once a brilliant pianist but his life took a real bad turn. But now he has come back and it is only a matter of time before his genius shines through. 

 

I admit, that last possibility is a real long shot. 

 

Bri:  I think she is a sociopath. Also insecure and immature. Perfect dictator material.

 

 

I don't think Bri is a sociopath, but I agree she is insecure and immature. What she really is is a college student who had a too high estimation of her skills and abilities, and when it was proved to be so, she fell back on lies, hostility and self pity. That pretty much makes her like most college students who get schooled on things they claim to know a lot about. But it doesn't make her in league with Pol Pot, Stalin or Idi Amin. Though I do believe Stalin was known to toss aside his responsibilities anytime a good looking guy showed up. 

 

Also, have I missed something? Are the Utopians each going to get 3 days to lead? I have read in these forums about how Bri will be a dictator and Hex will lead 3 days of anarchy. Is that the plan now to infuse a little life in this moribund show?

Edited September 16, 2014 by reggiejax

[Etta Place]

 

Quote

    Amanda says the cows give them milk, cream, butter, and cheese.

    

 

In theory, but nothing these dummies have done gives me faith that they will learn how to make milk products.  Does Amanda think the knowledge will just come to them?

Maybe the lord has convicted her that the knowledge is already imbedded in them somehow. Or that Chris the boy wonder knows how.

[dogfish]

Actually, 52 grand a year is pretty good, especially considering that they have no expenses coming out of that.  They have a place to live and food without dipping into their salaries, also no transportation costs, entertainment expenses, etc.   Unless their families are collecting and spending the money, they are getting it all at the end of the year, which is a good amount of money to have at once. 

Granted, they have many of their expenses paid for...makes that $52K stretch a little further.

[Zahdii]

This seems to be rapidly evolving from entertaining trainwreck/hatewatch to just plain unpleasant. Someone tries to tell them something important about their resources, and their response is just to make fun of her?

 

...We're talking about Bella here, who is constantly claiming that they're all going to die from fluoride poisoning, has cured herself from (self diagnosed) cancer, and has gone on to cure other people from cancer by taking away their microwaves.  And she's been sending out signals to aliens via her circular gardens.  She's also just recently claimed that she can burst clouds by the power of her eyes, you just have to squint right.  She thinks Hex might also have that ability.  I'm sure Hex would be thrilled to hear that, because if you're strong enough at squinting at clouds, you can also start fires here on earth.

 

That said, Bella is pretty far out there, and someone who has a psychology degree might have a diagnosis for her, but she's never tried to harm or threatened anyone.  And although her ideas push the limits, sometimes she says something that should push the average person to take note.

She didn't say aliens told her something was wrong with the grocery order, that plants didn't clue her in, fluoride had nothing to do with it.  She did simple math and realized that something didn't add up.  It's difficult to separate the other stuff from the things that are more concrete everyday stuff.  I hope that if she is allowed to stay longer that at least some of the others can differentiate the 'out there' stuff from the common sense stuff.[/i][/i]

 

You are right about apathy ruling. The fact that people can just easily get away with completely obvious plans to steal and deceive is just mind-boggling. You'd think the one thing they would do, even if they are lazy and don't want to work, is keep track of expenditure and receipts. After all, that money is the only thing that lets them live the lazy life.You are right about apathy ruling. The fact that people can just easily get away with completely obvious plans to steal and deceive is just mind-boggling. You'd think the one thing they would do, even if they are lazy and don't want to work, is keep track of expenditure and receipts. After all, that money is the only thing that lets them live the lazy life.

 

Mike is in charge of keeping the books, and I think he knows what's going on, but he just doesn't care anymore.  I don't know why he's there anymore.  Does he consider this a vacation from the cutthroat life of a future DA of New York City?  Has he burned out on his career and this is silly playtime for him?  I think he's just drifting now.

 

How does purchasing work, anyway? From your descriptions, it seems that whoever has the phone can just call up and order anything they want. From the standpoint of governance, it seems the first thing they need is a treasurer/accountant. Of course, the treasurer would probably just use the position to embezzle money. And even if the treasurer was ethical, anybody could simply bypass any financial procedures by just picking up the phone and buying what they want.

 

For the first week, Mike tried to keep a lid on that, but when Red and Dave broke into the safe and stole money, and no one else really helped him stand up to them Mike just opted out.  He still keeps the books, but when something's wrong he ignores it or pooh pooh's it away.  Now I think he's just floating along, trying to get as much a** and as much fun as he can, and keeping his head down the rest of the time.  I think he'll only stand up and deliver if he has a strong leader to stand behind.

What the Utopians need to do is get some leadership and some structure.  Right now some of them seem to think they're playing Big Brother, some of them are trying to create their own version of Utopia, some of them are angling for camera time, and some of them are just going along to get along.

What they need to do is appoint someone to call in orders, but that person needs to be monitered by at least two other trusted individuals.  If an unauthorized order arrives it needs to be turned back.  If a person wants something they need to petition the people in charge for it.  If those people say no then have a group meeting to argue the case and then take a vote.

This show was modeled after the Utopia Netherlands.  They're in their second year and they had three times the startup money to work with.  Apparently the Utopia US producers thought that American audiences needed more conflict and hardship to hook the viewers.  Either way, the Netherlands Utopia experienced very similar problems at this point in their timeline.

Edited September 16, 2014 by photo fox
edited to add quote tags

[hincandenza]

I'm not sure what was quote on that last post, Zahdii, but I'm intrigued that the original version hit similar problems of disorganization a few weeks in (I'd asked abiut that on the gendisc thread). Wondering how that turned around and worked out, and why they were able to do a second year.

Of course, if they'd given these guys 3x the start up capital, the only real winner would be Nabisco, maker of fine snack food products such as Oreos...

[henripootel]

Granted, they have many of their expenses paid for...makes that $52K stretch a little further.

 

That was my thought too.  Plus they're getting paid to do exactly what they want to do - make a splash on reality tv.  Not sure this'll lead to celebrity endorsements or a lavish life as a D-list celeb, but you never know.   Okay, not so much with lazy-Bri or nutjob-Bella - I think it's pretty clear this isn't gonna be their celebrity meal ticket.

[Zahdii]

In theory, but nothing these dummies have done gives me faith that they will learn how to make milk products.  Does Amanda think the knowledge will just come to them?

 

Actually, Dede is handling the milk.  She's pasteurizing it, and making the butter and cheese.  She's skilled at it, having done it for a few years before she ever joined Utopia.  Now that they have a fridge and freezer, they could even get ice cream.

[RedheadZombie]

Actually, Dede is handling the milk. She's pasteurizing it, and making the butter and cheese. She's skilled at it, having done it for a few years before she ever joined Utopia. Now that they have a fridge and freezer, they could even get ice cream.

That's good to hear. Couldn't they do the same with goat milk?

[kib]

I have this strange hope that Red will turn out to be the scion (and black sheep) of a wealthy and prominent family. The whole toothless hillbilly thing is just a ploy to get on reality TV and a way to justify his overall failure in life. I imagine he lost his teeth to a very bad meth addiction, and the hillbilly thing is just his way of saying his family cut him off. 

 

But I also like the idea that he did something worthwhile once (like working for Microsoft back in the day, as suggested here) but fell on real hard times due to his own personality flaws and no doubt some combo of drug addiction and mental illness. Or maybe he is like the guy from Shine and he was once a brilliant pianist but his life took a real bad turn. But now he has come back and it is only a matter of time before his genius shines through. 

 

I admit, that last possibility is a real long shot.

Admittedly I've not gone out of my way to do any data mining, but it would seem the producers have done a good job of burying Utopian back-stories or at least I've not seen much in the way of friends, families or acquaintances stepping up to offer character references. One would think the vast news gathering resources of the Cecilia Kentucky Times (or whatever it is) would have done an extensive feature on their favorite son.  Photo essays, side bars, pull-quotes, "This Day In History - Red Edition", ya know... the whole shebang.  For Chrissake, UK Basketball coach John Calipari doesn't appear on network television twice a week except in March.

 

[EDIT: My crack research staff informs me the name of the local fishwrap is The News-Enterprise. Further investigation shows a keyword search word "Utopia" of their archived stories offers the result "Did you mean funtopia?", something this program is decidedly not...]

Edited September 17, 2014 by kib

[ElleryAnne]

Apparently they had a visit scheduled for five or sixish anyway, but Bri felt a chicken was looking sickly and called them to come out faster for an 'emergency visit'

 

 

She's probably over-compensating for feeling like she was challenged/blamed for the other issues around the animal care.

[ElleryAnne]

Oh yeah, I understand that. :)  I think she was an idiot for calling them this time.  I just think she did it in an effort to protect herself and make herself look like she was on top of things.

[Rahul]

This pretty much assures that Bri will be the first one voted out, if the group possesses any collective sense. Good riddance!

 

And why haven't they established a protocol or policy for utilizing communal funds by now? Someone could blow the entire rest of their seed money if they wanted to spite the rest of them.

[henripootel]

And why haven't they established a protocol or policy for utilizing communal funds by now?

Along those lines, is anybody keeping an informal tally on how much these guys have spent?  I mean I realize this whole thing is bullshit anyway (for instance, they don't have to pay property taxes out of their 5000 startup money, do they) but it seems to me like they've blown a goodly chunk of their cash on things we've actually seen.  Did they pay for the non-emergency vets to show up?  Any guesses on their grocery bill to date?  On tonight's show they mentioned that they were down 2 gs already, but the show is days behind real life and doesn't show everything from the live feeds.  Any guesses on when the 5 bills will actually be exhausted?

 

Another question of course is what will they do when they've blown their allowance, have little hope for income, and want to keep eating steak and Cap'n Crunch.  Production can't lock the gate and make them starve, so what ways will production come up with for giving them more cash?  Or will they always be down to their last 1000 bucks, perpetually. 

[vhakra]

There's only so much of the feeds I can watch before my eyes start twitching. I just got done listening to the weed discussion and now we have the Kristen Aaron hammock discussion. Yeah yeah Aaron. Yeah yeah Aaron. You're awesome! You're a super chef! You're the Gordon Ramsay of Utopia!

I have yet to have seen Kristen shine with her money making experience. I secretly wish we could give electrical shocks via their microphones. I'd pay for that feature! Maybe we could stop people from being idiotic then.

I feel bad for poor Josh because they think once he's done building everything that's it. They don't think about maintaining their structures and such. 

[In Pog Form]

Production can't lock the gate and make them starve, so what ways will production come up with for giving them more cash?  Or will they always be down to their last 1000 bucks, perpetually.

I would almost guarantee that they'll get a "bail-out" once they run out of money. Production will probably try to hide it behind some other gameplay mechanism, but with the disaster we've seen so far, no way are they going to be without access to money or resources (or booze).

[doribird]

Thank you so much for those posting the recaps. I cannot get in Canada. These posts are more entertaining then the show! Probably would have lost interest if it weren't for you all!! Thank you so much!

[DeLurker]

    I know she's 20, but 20 isn't 5.

Unfortunately these days it kinda is.

So the average pooch on the street matures at a faster rate than these folk.

[hincandenza]

This pretty much assures that Bri will be the first one voted out, if the group possesses any collective sense. Good riddance!

 

And why haven't they established a protocol or policy for utilizing communal funds by now? Someone could blow the entire rest of their seed money if they wanted to spite the rest of them.

 

Ha ha h- wait, you do realize you're on the Utopia (US) forums, right? :)

[Mediocrates]

By 11:30, Exec Producer of Utopia tweeted the following:

Jon Kroll @hippykid 31s

@deedee42066 @ladybug245 Per the vets, the cows are fine. They can't sell the cows; they have to take care of them.

As for selling the cows:

@ladybug245 I don't plan on letting them sell the cows anytime soon...

I follow this producer, Jon Kroll, on Twitter and the day he tweeted this I responded trying to understand why they couldn't sell the cows (especially if they aren't being taken care of properly) and get goats. Especially considering all of the positive things the vets mentioned about goats vs cows for this particular group. One of my other arguments was that if this was truly their society to do with what they will then they should be able to decide they don't wants cows. Similar to their decision whether or not to eat the chickens or get a rooster to fertilize eggs to get more chickens, etc.

Basically his response back to me was:

@AshBrosseau @ladybug245 They can't sell the barn either. They don't own the cows or the barn. The need to make money not sell stuff we gave

So I'm can take this one of two ways; either they don't own the cows (and perhaps production doesn't own the cows either and are loaners from a local dairy farmer) or they just want to keep them around to force them to deal with a situation they can't handle so that they don't make "easy money" (plus it keeps up the drama between Bri and the rest of the cast).

I've gotten vibes from several of his tweets that this producer can be somewhat stand-offish with people who question things on the show.

[In Pog Form]

I've gotten vibes from several of his tweets that this producer can be somewhat stand-offish with people who question things on the show.

That's the understatement of the year! I'd put it more strongly - he seems to be outright hostile to viewers.