CBS 'Kid Nation'

'Kid Nation', CBS Network's new reality show that is due out this fall, does indeed show a new and fresh approach towards the reality show genre. After great hits with such shows as 'Survivor', 'Big Brother', and 'Pirate Master', the network has been riding the reality show gravy train and making other networks follow their lead by creating new reality shows of their own, such as 'Treasure Hunters', 'The Search For The Next Doll', 'America's Top Supermodel', 'The Bachelor', 'The Apprentice', and so on. Now, with 'Kid Nation' on the table as a new concept, there still leaves a few questions that are left to be answered, and from the promotional spots alone, I was becoming slightly alarmed as the possibility of a new controversy being established came to my mind.

There has been very little in the way of scandal in the realm of reality TV, but once it does hit, it can have extremely harrowing effects on the network and not to mention the media blitz that could ensue from the emergence of it. For instance, on the hit summer reality show 'Big Brother', a film was found of a contestant that had managed to escape the confines of the house and bring another girl from the outside world back, only to threaten her later with a butcher knife and threaten to cut her throat on camera, asking if the girl wanted to die. We also have ABC's 'Brat Camp', which met with a great deal of scrutiny from child advocates who had deemed the show as a means of exploiting troubled youth, as well as sending allogations of neglect and abuse that had come from the camp counselors themselves, who were making the children march through the eastern deserts of Oregon on foot for eight to ten miles a day to have them think about the mistakes that they have made in their lives, what they were, and whom they have hurt along the way. But, with the now coming of 'Kid Nation', will CBS have a possible lawsuit on their hands?

In all cases, when a person thinks that they want to try to appear on a reality show for their fifteen minutes of fame, they go to the network's site and either fill out the application online or print out the application and then mail it in. I had actually considered trying out for the show 'Survivor' several years ago, and after I had seen the length of the application that was required, I knew I was going to go blind from the paperwork, as the application was nearly sixteen pages long! Most of the questions were basic, such as general information, health, personality, and others. But, what really alarmed me was the disclaimer that was written at the bottom, which was translated basically that the networks did not want any responsibilty if you were hurt during the process of the game, and that the contestant will take the full responsibility of any medical costs if they arise. You also waive the right to sue the networks if something illegal happens to you on any of their shows or you feel that you were unfairly treated during the experience. Lastly, the networks have the rights to your name, face and anything else that is connected to you. In a nutshell, the networks own you once you sign on the dotted line! Once I saw that, I knew that reality shows were not for me, and I have not looked at an application since.

Sound good? Well, after I had read that so long ago,and after watching 'Kid Nation's promotions, I began to wonder if this was the trap that these children had fell into when they signed up for the show. There has been some insight about the series through other media means, as they have explained that the children are willing participants and there are no councils that will vote them out like they do in other shows, and the children have the ability to leave of their own free will if they so choose. But, even with that option being before them, would human nature not dictate that these children would want to stay just to say that they were on television?

After seeing the layout of this new 'utopian' society that these children are trying to construct, I could not help but feel a sense of sadness as the town was so run down. The buildings had looked to be in severe disrepair and it was located in the middle of the desert where they could suffer from heatstroke during the day and possibly get the flu by nightfall. They would have to do hard physical labor in order to survive, from repairing buildings to gathering eggs to plowing the fields at the crack of dawn. There are no living ammenities. No food, no doctor, no adults anywhere that can help them if one of them should get into trouble. So, this in my mind, was going to be what I termed as the 'children's Survivor', as they would have to learn to survive on their own and get along with everyone as best as they could without an adult to break things up if things got out of hand. So, after drinking all of this in, would that not be safe to say that this experiment is placing children in danger, as they would be on their own for the entirety of a season?

To further explain this issue, one of the promotional spots also showed the children of this lone town as they were trying to make a decision on whether to kill the chickens that they have been supplied for food (*eggs specifically) or to try to tough it out as the food supplies were getting low. These are adult decisions, and decisions that would seem very difficult for a child to make as these are choices that they have never had to make before. They had parents who gave them a home and bed to sleep in, food in their stomachs, and they never had to worry about where their next meal was coming from. Now, in this new enviornment, these kids are having to be the adults, very much like children before them had to do as they were growing up during the formulative stages of this nation. But, is making a reality show where children are supposed to learning history taking the reality TV world too far into the extreme where there could be consequences as well as more controversy?

The real truth is that reality shows are not without controversy, as we see racism, gender and sexual discrimination (* as well as romances and issues of the same kind), violence, and sometimes a little fun, and all of it is being done in the name of ratings and pop culture. Now that children are becoming involved in this ever-changing venture, is it truly possible that reality show creators have pushed the envelope too far? You decide.