Kid Nation

Ok, so after all the talk of Kid Nation, I had to watch it for myself. And while I haven't decided it once was enough (or if it will even make it long enough to show all the episodes on tv), I definitely have some thoughts on the show.

First, who are the producers at CBS that thought that this was a good idea? Can you imagine the pitch meeting on this one? "We're going to put 40 kids in a ghost town, then put them into a class system, then see what happens. Oh yeah, we're going to have some Survivor-type challenges, not let them talk to their parents, and give out big gold stars." Wow.

But even more disturbing than the pitch meeting are the parents who signed their kids up for this nonsense. At least with the producers, you know that their goal is to make a television show that will make money. (and I don't think they did that, considering how few commercials were on last night's show) But the parents? Shouldn't their goal be to protect their children? Even in the best situation (which this show clearly is not), they are sending their children off to be unsupervised for 40 days. But they are also sending their children off to live in unsanitary and potentially unsafe conditions (for example, for at least the first few days, there was one outhouse for 40 children). Most of the kids are clearly spoiled brats (just look at their reaction to the possibility of having a television), and are clearly unequipped for the challenges ahead. And little kids, like poor Jimmy, who are far too young for this are encouraged to "stick it out" rather than go home. These people should be ashamed of themselves.

That all being said, I can see where it is interesting television. I don't want to talk a lot about the kids themselves, mostly because I don't think it's right to criticize children. Of course, who knows what will come...