Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Kid Nation quick hit

I just finished watching the premiere of the controversial new CBS show Kid Nation, and you know, it's not really so horrible. I was under the impression that they were just dumping these 40 kids in the middle of the desert for 40 days and that was all, but it's actually pretty much just a Survivor for kids. There's a host who has obviously modeled himself after Jeff Probst, the kids are divided into 4 "districts" (think tribes), and it looks like there will be challenges and a council meeting each episode.

Yes, they're pretty much left to their own devices, but the challenge in the premiere helped them set up their jobs, and I imagine that future challenges will help them along in other arena too. In each town council meeting, the kids are given the choice to leave voluntarily, and instead of voting someone out, the town council gives out "gold stars," which are actually blocks of gold worth $20,000. (You know there's gotta be a scholarship angle thing on a reality show for kids.)

So while I'm still not entirely sure how kids as young as 8 years old got signed up for this show, I kind of don't think it's really as atrocious as all the controversy might have indicated. I mean, it's a reality show, there are tons of crew and cameras and I'm sure medical personnel that step in when needed, just like Survivor. I do wonder though, if CBS is going to have a really tough time when it comes to casting a second season...

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