Fall TV "Kid Nation"

It was with trepidation and hesitation that I watched the premiere of "Kid Nation", CBS's new reality show that has been no stranger to controversy. The premise: 40 children ranging in age from 8 to 14, are dropped in a ghost town in the middle of New Mexico, to create their own town, called "Bonanza City", with minimal supplies, and no adults-- no parents, no teachers, no clergy. Four of these children have been appointed as "town council", or leaders. Sounds like every child's dream, but not quite. Kids cry, they wrinkle noses and exclaim "gross" at some culinary mistakes, the stink of one outhouse used by all of them, and dusty mattresses on even dustier floors that make sleep hard to come by on the first night. But they survive.

It brought to mind a novel, which was required reading in middle school. "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding, was a novel about a group of boys who were stranded on a remote island, also without adults. I was haunted for years by the story of these boys being reduced to savages, even killing and eating one of their own. But "Kid Nation" has females, which "Lord of the Flies does not. I think this is an important difference. Oh, and Bonanza City does have a food supply, as well as. egg-laying hens, and goats. So I was pretty comforted early on, that we wouldn't see cannibalism. WHEW!!!!!

I also thought of the ABC series "Lost", where adults are stranded on an island after a plane crash. But those adults all have complicated pasts, which haunt them and imprint certain behavior patterns. Conflicts erupt between human beings old enough to have sordid histories. The beautiful thing about "Kid Nation" is in the word "kids". I'm not saying these kids are blank slates, but just a lot cleaner.

One thing is certain: we need both sexes. Even as young as 8, and certainly past puberty, gender roles are already imprinted. And post-pubescent boys already have enough testosterone in their systems to make them men. The meeting of testosterone and estrogen will be fascinating. As a former teacher in a middle-senior high school, I know the effect of "raging hormones" on teens. Boy, do I know!!

In the first episode, we saw nurturing behavior from one of the girls toward Jimmy, who was suffering from homesickness. She said she understood that there were no moms and dads, and offered to be a surrogate mommy. But surrogacy didn't quite cut it; at the town hall meeting, Jimmy opted to go home.

Sophia is the rebel. She challenged the town council. In an adult world, she would be viewed with caution and the authorities would feel threatened. All defenses would be mobilized to keep Sophia down, and stop her from taking over. Instead, the council awarded her the gold star, worth $20,000. They might regret this; in coming attractions, we learn that she will be problematic in the next episode.

It will be compelling to see how this plays out. I am especially interested to find out if there are noticeable differences between the pre-teens and the teenagers, and how hormones drive these kids' decisions, a real experiment in biology vs. environment. By the way, I don't even want to think of the girls dealing with their menstrual periods in this world of outhouses and no running water --- yich and very gross. I am already anticipating a lot of sexual tension, and even sex. Remember - no parents. Hmmmm.

I think "Kid Nation" will be as much a lesson for the viewer as for the young participants. "Kid Nation" can answer the question of what could happen if kids ruled the world. The kids' first real challenge was a back-breaking task to earn each "district" money for candy, a metaphor for their adult lives. After all, we form companies, governments and teams, and elect leaders to get our own piece of the "candy jar". This will be more than a child's version of "Survivor", a young person's "Lost", or a coed "Lord of the Flies". Despite the negative hype, I'll be watching.