take 40 children...

take 40 children, some only 8 years old, and dump them in a deserted new mexico town for forty days. leave them to fend for themselves with no involvement and film them for 'entertainment' purposes.

yep - this is format of the new reality tv program called 'kid nation' on the cbs network.

The youngsters are meant to create a functioning society with a system of laws, commerce and even a class system.

(how they can achieve this when most adults still struggle with the concept is a mystery)

the parents have all signed contracts totaling 22 pages which pretty much absolve cbs of any responsibility should anything go wrong.

how low will tv companies stoop for cheap thrills in the name of ratings? where do you draw the line and say they really shouldn't be doing that?

link to story

[edit on 19-9-2007 by justyc]

Sounds like a 'reality show' version of Lord Of The Flies.
It amazes me how anything can be made into public entertainment. In my opinion, this is a premise which should never have been even considered, let alone aired.

The real question is will they be setting up resource shortages. If they start having 5 meals of good food, 10 decent food, and 25 of crap food will they be trying to get the kids to fight over it.

We will get to see what will happen to kids programmed by commercialism since they were able to watch TV. Will they fight for the best name brand sneaker as the media has taught them to?

I bet they really picked a handfull of bratty kids also.

Should do real version of Battle Royale instead...

I'm dissapointed.

Motion picture (both TV and film) have been steadily progressing further and further beyond the norms ever since they were invented. Before Hitchcock, films were prohibited from being released if they so much as showed a toilet, literally.

Remember when Big Brother was such a massive thing? How there were massive debates about privacy and decency? Well, BB is common now, so common that people are bored of it, and TV stations are pushing limits further out.
There will literally be no end, no point at which people stop and go, 'Woah, that's enough,' because we are introduced to it gradually. Dystopian sci-fi usually tells of television programs where people are killed on air and such. No doubt this will one day be the case, and there will be protests, perhaps only slightly more than there will be for this new reality show, but not too much more, as people will have been conditioned into not being effected.

Could you imagine a show like this being accepted before Survivor/Big Brother was ever aired?
And need I remind you that live shows of people getting mauled by animals and being forced to fight to the death have already happened.

There was a slightly similar show in the UK a couple of years back. They put about 20 boys the same age (10-12) into a house and filmed the results. There was a panic button of sorts for when it got our of hand. It wasn't long before it became like Lord of the Flies. They split into gangs, fought constantly, and competely wrecked the house to the embarassment of their parents.

Makes you wonder what type of parent would sign there child up for this just for this.

Parents signed a 22-page contract, virtually absolving producers from any responsibility for the children's well-being.

What kind of parents would let their kids take part in this, with no one responsible for them? What if one of accidents they had was serious and life threatening?

What did these parents get in return I wonder?

This is yet another reason i dont watch TV.

There was a time, back in the hopelessly conservative past, when it was believe that children actually needed parents, or at least a parent, to develop socially into responsible adults.

Of course, producing responsible adults is no longer a goal our society cherishes. There's no money to be made from it.

Now, the idea that children might want or need adult supervision and teaching is seen as superstition.


Isn't this at least some form of abuse/abandonment? Or doesn't that count if the parents are making serious bank?

If I lock the kids in the trailer while I go to work, that is child abuse. If I lock them in with a set of cameras in the home, it's a TV series.

Funny how the white people who go apepoo over little Thai girls being sold by their families into prostition will not have anything to say about Americans prostituting their own familes for 20,000 usd.




Ever get the feeling we're living in the dark ages?

"Running Man" is only a few t.v. seasons away.

People are totally de-sensitized to the suffering, shame, embarrassment and exploitation of others. Violent movies and video games as well as reality t.v. and MTV have conditioned our youth to set aside their compassion, empathy, common sense and decency. The problem will only get worse as each generation comes of age and lacks even more basic human compassion than the previous one.

reply to post by kosmicjack


There is more to life then what the TV says.

Most census for news stations 80% of the people believe that the news is lying to them.especially in regards to goverment.

so clearly blind thinking isnt the norm people are just sick of things and relise america is going to snap like a twig someday.


Lol mtv plays music at 2 am for 30 mins so its still music and they have 90 cd commercials.

Ah MTV the dude on mars with a MTV flag how apriopiate.

The same symbol they used long ago



[edit on 19-9-2007 by infamouskiller]

The original Star Trek TV series has an episode where the crew finds a society that still has Roman-like gladiators and competitions but is technologically equivalent to the 1960's. Therefore, they televise the fights to the death and the executions live on TV and it's a rating bonanza. They even throw in a splash of morality and religion when it's discovered that one of the gladiators no longer wishes to fight as he is now a sun worshipper. Of course, the catch is that the phrase was misinterpreted and the communications officer explains that, after monitoring transmissions, she has come to discover that they do not worship the sun up in the sky but the Son of God. The show ends on the note that things should change radically for that society now as religion has been introduced.

It's sad to think that such an episode resonates so strongly of our present times but, then again, that was the appeal of Gene Roddenberry's creation, a footnote on past, present, and future times. Will we ever learn?

Yes, I heard about this show, and found it to be in poor taste. I too wondered what many have- what parent would let their kid go on the show in the first place?? I am not a fan of reality TV- I do not understand the concept of watching other people's lives go by. And the parts of the nanny shows I have seen literally make my biological clock stop.

It is my hope that this will get bad ratings, but given the public's love of reality TV I fear it won't.

to combine the thread topic and a favorite star trek episode of mine I only can say.

Grumps Grumps Grumps Grumps....

On the subject of MTV, the guy who said that it was bad I give you a star. Look at punked, make someone feel terrible, then laugh at them.

That show where the kid is constiently beating up on his parents and disrespecting anyone then laughing about it.

I only seen this stuff surfing but they also have lots of consumerism training. It is what you own that matters.

I fear this new show will have hand picked kids to once again show ownership and meaness for self interest is what matters.

instead of this exploitative trash, what would be a really interesting reality tv program would be to take several families from very different countries eg america, iran, israel, africa, europe, india and china and put them all together in a house for a month or two. i think it would make a fascinating experiment.

anyone know any reality tv producers to pitch the idea to?

I am thinking of a show where we lock 40 TV executives in a house with cameras all over it. We leave them in there for a year. They have no TV, and thus are forced to interact and build alliances. The one voted most popular by the other executives at the end of the year gets the prize.

We don't ever tell them that none of the cameras are plugged in.



We also don't give them any calendars; nor dow we tell them when the year is up.

I actually enjoyed the show. It's interesting to me and I would be one of the parents that sent my child there. I would love to see how they react to certain situation and see if they take a leader or follower role.

Also, i don't really see that much difference in this and sending your kids to camp. From what I have seen, there are docs, counselors etc all around not to mention the camera people.

Most reality shows are staged to a certain extent anyway. I'm sure most of these kids are wanna be actors.

reply to post by stellawayten


STELLA! Okay...somebody had to say it.

Are you kidding me? Why don't you just feed them to sharks or let them play with matches and sharp knives?

I do... thats how they learn how to use them.

All joking aside... i really don't see anything wrong with it. Like I said, it's a lot like sending them to camp. Besides... they can leave whenever they want.

Actually, no. I think the parents had to sign a release giving the show custody or guardianship for the duration. The show assumed full authority over the kids medical needs as well. There was even a clause releasing the show from any liability for pregnancy or psychological trauma. Some camp.