I have an unabashed loved for reality tv. Let me count the ways: So You Think You Can Dance, Hell's Kitchen, Breaking Bonaduce and, the lowest-rent, trashiest reality show of all time: My Fair Brady. All of them are my favorites and reality shows and I go way back; I watched The Real World until it became annoying and blatantly typecast. But there is one reality show that I will not watch no matter how terrible or slim the cable-free tv pickings; I will do a craft project before I will watch Kid Nation.
Kid Nation is the biggest piece of shit ever churned out by the reality tv machine. 40 kids building a better world in 40 days? Get the fuck outta here. Unless these kids have had ABSOLUTELY NO HUMAN CONTACT, it's going to be Ralph (and Piggy) vs. Jack all over again.
Face it, our children are not without their own prejudices. I agree with Piaget, which is why I think Kid Nation is a such a crock of shit. There are children whose parents are racist or neo conservatives, or hippy-dippy, as my mother would say. There are parents who are borderline psychotic and there are parents who are just plain crazy. All of these parents have left indelible impressions on their children - " written" on them like a blank slate. There is no way to contain the madness that will occur when 40 individuals are thrown together. The only way CBS can control the outcome, and make it tv worthy ('cause you know this crap is going to be inspirational) is through constant tweaking and interference.
Seriously, if the KN kids make it through without terrorizing each other, then viewers can pretty much assume that CBS has constructed another one of its hit "reality" shows a la Survivor, with medics waiting in the wings and paradise just over the ridge. Only it will have been a team of child psychologists constantly coaching the children about making better choices and appreciating differences.
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