Why was Fox TV's supposedly cutting edge new type of reality TV show, "Utopia," no more, having lasted for a half-dozen episodes and barely two months on the air?

The Halloween episode was its last. The plug was pulled officially on Nov. 2.

Reportedly financed for $50 million, making it the costliest reality TV project ever, the show was intended to cross all media platforms, air three times weekly on Fox, continue for a year and change the shape of reality TV.

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It struggled immediately despite a giant marketing effort and never gained traction with viewers who considered it quite lame if social media comments, and tepid ratings, were any indicator.

The final nail in the utopian coffin was its last Friday night screening that drew only 1.5 million viewers, far from the expectations for the most expensive reality competition show in TV history.

Fifteen so-called "pioneers" were charged with making a secluded valley at Santa Clarita, near Los Angeles, a new society "from the ground up," Fox said.

The show was an unmitigated disaster from the start. Cast members initially were secreted away behind heavy security and limited in contact with the outside world. The show featured complex rules related to voting off cast members and adding new members. It also featured 140 cameras spread across the property and lots of development money sunk into a glaring failure.

"Utopia" was based on a Dutch reality series that was a success after it premiered in January. Fox Broadcasting Chairman Kevin Reilly greenlit and championed the U.S. version. However, he left the network in June.

The series was ramped up by then and ready to debut in September. Doubts already surfaced before its debut that it might not fly, but the executive put in charge following Reilly's exit, Simon Andrae, executive vice president of alternative programming, pushed ahead.

TagsUtopia, FOX, reality TV, Big Brother, Survivor