Reality Rumors

A U.S. psychologist says the new reality show “Kid Nation” could end up like “Lord of the Flies” if the adult film crew wasn’t around.

The CBS reality series challenges a group of 8- to 15-year-old children to build an adult-free society in a deserted New Mexico town in 40 days.

Critics have chided producers for subjecting kids to long hours and hazardous conditions, both claims the network has vehemently denied.

Dr. Gregg Steinberg said the show asks the same basic questions as the novel, “Lord of the Flies,” with one major difference: The show has adults overseeing the action.

If the adults disappeared and the reality show experiment continued, the results could be as stark and violent as the conclusion of William Golding’s book.

“Children do not have the cognitive abilities to grasp discipline, hard work, and integrity,” Steinberg said in a statement. “Without parents to guide them down the right path, we would see tragic consequences with bullying turning into more savagery and lack of discipline turning into to utter chaos.”

A frequent contributor to television news programs, Steinberg is also an associate professor of sports psychology at Austin Peay State University.

“Kid Nation,” the CBS reality show that fanned concerns about child endangerment and exploitation, subjected its young stars to nothing more dramatic than homesickness and a pulled muscle in its debut episode.

Whether viewers were entertained by Wednesday’s hour _ in which the most thrilling line was “We got the Port-A-Potties. Yeah!” _ remains to be seen.

Filmed over 40 days during April and May in a movie-set ghost town in the high desert just south of Santa Fe, N.M., “Kid Nation” gathered 40 children ages 8 to 15 and gave them the task of organizing and running their own lives.

From the start, the kids are put through the physical and emotional wringer. They’re told to drag supply wagons through the desert, while the youngest ones confront fears of being isolated and away from their families.

“I think I’m gonna die out here ‘cuz there’s nothing,” one 8-year-old frets as “Kid Nation” gets the party started.

“There’s no President Bush. There’s nothing,” observes another dispirited youngster.

Kids say the darndest things. Oh, wait, that show aired with Bill Cosby nearly a decade ago, based on a 1950s Art Linkletter idea; consider this the modern version, with reality-show trappings galore to make it exciting for today’s presumably jaded young set and, CBS hopes, their parents.

CBS kept the finished product under wraps and away from critics, allowing media speculation and criticism to help promote the show.

There were allegations that the production may have skirted New Mexico’s child-protection laws and that youngsters faced unsafe conditions, which CBS and the show’s producer denied.

No injuries other than the muscle pull were shown Wednesday. But one mother has complained to authorities that her daughter was splattered with cooking grease and that four other children accidentally drank bleach during production.

The show confirmed that the incidents occurred but said first aid was immediately provided. Parents and children made available by CBS praised the production as a safe, well-supervised learning experience.

As the “Kid Nation” kids begin to organize in the premiere episode, guided by the alternately comforting and menacing host Jonathan Karsh (he warns them of “rough” times ahead), rewards emerge in forms any red-blooded American child would treasure: candy, soda pop and the possibility of a TV set.

When the pint-sized four-member town council wisely picks outhouses over the television set, supplementing the one toilet that had been serving the town, the rest of the group breathes a collective sigh of relief.

Besides goodies they can buy with their earnings from chores, the kids compete for a weekly solid-gold star, worth $20,000, that goes to the most deserving child. At least there’s the prospect of college funds getting a boost.

Time will tell if the show gives CBS’ Wednesday night ratings an ongoing boost.

LYNN ELBER
AP News

Tom Foreman, the executive producer of the new U.S. reality TV show, “Kid Nation,” says viewers will decide when a show goes too far.

The series, which is slated to debut on CBS Wednesday, challenges dozens of 8- to 15-year-old children to build an adult-free society in a deserted New Mexico town over the course of 40 days.

Critics have blasted the producers for subjecting kids to long hours and hazardous conditions, both claims the network has vehemently denied.

Asked what is “too far” when it comes to reality television, Foreman told Forbes: “The viewers will be the ones who set it.

“It is a ratings-driven business,” he added. “If you don’t like something, if you think it’s gone too far, if it’s not the kind of programming you want to watch, then don’t, and that programming quickly disappears.”

Foreman said he thinks the show will be compelling viewing because children have different motives than adult competitors.

“They tell us what they think, they tell each other what they think, and they are not looking at this as a way to land an acting gig. … They really went out there to try to build a world.”

CBS is standing behind its “Kid Nation” reality TV show about kids plunked in a New Mexico ghost town despite criticism of how the kids were treated.

But CBS is concerned enough about keeping its advertisers that it has begun providing them with some answers by providing screenings of the first episode, The New York Times reported Monday.

The show takes 40 children, ages 8 to 15, and places them in a “ghost town” in New Mexico to see if they can develop a working society without adult help. After production ended, one parent complained about her child being injured and about the set’s working conditions. The New Mexico attorney general’s office is investigating, and Hollywood unions have questioned whether the production skirted child labor laws.

“Everybody’s questions about the show will be answered when it airs,” said Tom Forman, “Kid Nation” executive producer.

But uncertainties swirling around “Kid Nation” may make it difficult for the series to find a home for a second season, for which casting has begun, because of child labor laws in other states, another executive said.

Child welfare and labor law issues surrounding CBS’ “Kid Nation” are adding to the concerns Hollywood unions say they have with reality shows.

Several unions, including the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, have called for investigations into whether children were mistreated on the set of the show, in which dozens of children are left to organize and regulate their own society free of adult supervision.

The mother of a 12-year-old girl whose face was burned while she was cooking has complained of “abuse and neglect.” New Mexico Attorney General Gary King said he will investigate whether producers lawfully kept state inspectors, who wanted to review work permits for the children, from the site.

CBS lawyers maintain work permits were unnecessary because the children were “participating,” not working, during filming, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Pamm Fair, SAG’s deputy national executive director, said the guild examined the contract the parents signed “and it’s been a long time since we’ve seen such egregious provisions for any performer, let alone children.”

The CBS Corp. board of directors has not met on the issue, but board member Linda Griego said members are making inquiries to make sure laws were followed.

Children cast for CBS’ “Kid Nation,” filmed in New Mexico, were to be available 24/7 or face expulsion, the contract signed by parents and children showed.

The contract also stipulated that while children could be paid, payments were under the direction of the producers, whose interpretation of the agreement did not constitute employment and were not subject to labor laws, according to the contract obtained by The New York Times.

In“Kid Nation,” scheduled to premiere Sept. 19, 40 children ages 8 to 15 were left in a New Mexico “ghost town” near Santa Fe for 40 days, during which they had little to no contact with their parents. New Mexico state authorities have criticized the program, saying they were not notified in advance of the conditions, which they said appeared to violate state laws.

A parent of at least one participant complained to New Mexico authorities (reported here) that the conditions were abusive and that several children were harmed during the production.

Responding to inquiries about the agreement, CBS said in a statement the series “was filmed responsibly and within all applicable laws in the state of New Mexico at the time of the production.”

Controversy is brewing over an upcoming CBS reality show that drops 40 children in a New Mexico desert for 40 days and challenges them to build a society.

Critics claim the producers of “Kid Nation” skirted child labor laws and endangered the contestants — ages 8-to-15 — during the show’s taping.

CBS issued a statement to The Los Angeles Times in response to action “taken by one parent in distorting the true picture of the ‘Kid Nation’ experience.”

A Georgia woman has complained her 12-year-old daughter was burned on the face while cooking on the show.

But the creator of the series, Tom Forman, and a CBS lawyer defended the production.

“These kids were in good hands and under good care with procedures and safety structures that arguably rival or surpass any school or camp in the country,” the CBS statement read.

New Mexico state officials also claim the show was required to apply for work permits for the children or special waivers that exempted them.

However, CBS and Forman contend they did not because the children were not employees, even though they received $5,000 stipends and competed for $20,000 gold stars in each episode.

CBS has announced the identities of the 40 young pioneers participating in Kid Nation, a new reality series that will chronicle their attempts to “establish a fully-functioning community” in an “uninhabited ghost town” over the course of 40 days.

Kid Nation was filmed earlier this year in the remains of Bonanza City, NM. After arriving in the town, the children spent 40 days attempting to cook their own meals; clean their own outhouses; carry their own water; and even oversee their own businesses in an effort to establish their own “sustainable society.”

Each Kid Nation episode will conclude with the children gathering for a Town Hall-style meeting that provided them the opportunity to debate and discuss the community’s issues in an adult-like manner. In addition, the kids will also have the task of deciding which of their peers deserves the $20,000 Gold Star, which is awarded at each meeting. Kid Nation won’t feature any eliminations and the childen were free to leave whenever they wanted to.

Kid Nation is scheduled to premiere on September 19 in its regular Wednesdays at 8PM ET/PT time period on CBS. The show will be hosted by Jonathan Karsh.

The 40 young pioneers participating in Kid Nation — as well as their CBS-supplied bios — are:

- Alex, a 9-year-old from Reno, NV

- Anjay, a 12-year-old from Pearland, TX

- Blaine, a 14-year-old from North Palm Beach, FL

- Brett, an 11-year-old from Edina, MN

- Campbell, a 10-year-old from Thomasville, GA

- Cody, a 9-year-old from Newport, OH

- Colton, an 11-year-old from Reno, NV

- Divad, an 11-year-old from Fayetteville, GA

- DK, a 14-year-old from Chicago, IL

- Emilie, a 9-year-old from Sparks, NV

- Eric, a 14-year-old from Morristown, NJ

- Gianna, a 10-year-old from Chicago, IL

- Greg, a 15-year-old from Reno, NV

- Guylan, an 11-year-old from Upton, MA

- Hunter, a 12-year-old from Martinez, GA

- Jared, an 11-year-old from Dunwoody, GA

- Jasmine, an 11-year-old from Atlanta, GA

- Jimmy, an 8-year-old from Salem, NH

- Kelsey, an 11-year-old from Furlong, PA

- Kennedy, a 12-year-old from Ashland, KY

- Laurel, a 12-year-old from Medford, MA

- Leila, a 9-year-old from Charlotte, NC

- Madison, an 11-year-old from El Paso, TX

- Maggie, a 14-year-old from Evansville, MN

- Mallory, an 8-year-old from Indianapolis, IN (Mallory is Olivia’s younger sister)

- Markelle, a 12-year-old from Marietta, GA

- Michael, a 14-year-old from Monroe, WA

- Migle, a 13-year-old from Downers Grove, IL

- Mike, an 11-year-old from Bellevue, WA

- Morgan, a 12-year-old from Indianapolis, IN

- Natasha, a 13-year-old from Miami, FL

- Nathan, an 11-year-old from Mount Prospect, IL

- Olivia, a 12-year-old from Indianapolis, IN (Olivia is Mallory’s older sister)

- Pharoh, a 12-year-old from Philadelphia, PA

- Randi, an 11-year-old from Sparks, NV

- Savannah, a 10-year-old from Partridge, KY

- Sophia, a 14-year-old from Winter Park, FL

- Sophie, a 10-year-old from Issaquah, WA

- Taylor, a 10-year-old from Sylvester, GA

- Zach, a 10-year-old from Miami Beach, FL

CBS has officially renewed The Amazing Race the four-time Emmy Award-winning show, which will not air until midseason. 

In addition CBS also announce the new series Kid Nation.

 KID NATION is a reality-based series in which 40 kids will have 40 days to build a new world - in a ghost town that died in the 19th Century. These kids, ages 8-15, will spend more than a month without their parents or modern comforts in Bonanza City, N.M., attempting to do what their forefathers could not - build a town that works. They will cook their own meals, clean their own outhouses, haul their own water and even run their own businesses - including the old town saloon (root beer only). They’ll also create a real government - four kid leaders who will guide the group through their adventure, pass laws and set bedtimes. Through it all, they’ll cope with regular childhood emotions and situations: homesickness, peer pressure and the urge to break every rule they’ve ever known. At the end of each episode, all 40 kids will gather at an old fashioned Town Hall meeting where they will debate the issues facing Bonanza City. They’ll show wisdom beyond their years and the unflinching candor that only kids can exhibit. There are no eliminations on KID NATION - you only go home if you want to. And in every Town Hall meeting, kids may raise their hands and leave. Will they stick it out? In the end, will these kids prove to adults everywhere (and their own parents!) that they have the vision to build a better world than the pioneers who came before them? And just as importantly, will they come together as a cohesive unit, or will they abandon all responsibility and succumb to the childhood temptations that lead to round-the-clock chaos? KID NATION is produced by Emmy Award winner Tom Forman (”Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”) for Tom Forman Prods. and Good TV, Inc.