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Kid Nation Reality Show on CBS

By thescian on August 26, 2007.

CBS likes Lord of the Flies. What better way to show the appreciation than to use it for a reality show[NYT]. What did you say? Kids are not adults? Come on, don't be so naive. Kids acting like adults makes for a more entertaning show. No?

"Kid Nation," which is scheduled to have its premiere on Sept. 19, is a reality show that takes 40 children ages 8 to 15 to a New Mexico desert ghost town south of Santa Fe for 40 days and challenges them to build an adult-free society. Several children were injured during the production; four children drank bleach from an unmarked soda bottle and another was burned on her face with hot grease while cooking in an unsupervised kitchen.

The children on the show were required to be available to the producers 24 hours a day and often worked for 14 hours or longer each day. They were each guaranteed payment of $5,000 for their participation and the opportunity to earn $20,000 more. CBS maintained that the children were not employed and therefore not subject to New Mexico child-labor laws.

What, just bleach drinking?! Where's my favorite part where kids kill each other like savages, and a pig's flies-infested head on a stick watches a beautiful sunset? I've been sitting in front of the TV all day getting ready for the show: haven't allowed my IQ to go beyond 10, the tin cap is firmly perched on my tiny head and I have set fire to my cat's tail. Entertain me, CBS! Please!

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Hm, 14 hours a day? available 24 hours a day? I think that violates both child labor laws and child privacy laws. But perhaps it will destroy our delusions about the inherent kindness of children.