So now CBS has done a reality show with children in some God forsaken ghost town in New Mexico where they work like goats and slaves and these 8-15 year olds have had to be treated for 'accidentally' drinking bleach and grease burns, and where were the adults that were supposedly 'always there' when that was going on? In addition, the parents of these kids signed away their rights to sue in the events that their 8-15 year olds got pregnant, STDs, hurt, sick, or died, and for what? $15,000 and 15 minutes of 'fame'. The parents need their heads examined, the people who made the show need to be fined every cent they make, and who is NOT going to be watching this Wednesday nights at 7? I know I'm not.

Well, cadet, I admire your restraint! I am just too nosey to let it go. I may only watch once, but at least once.
That is what the sponsors, producers, and everyone else is counting on, of course. I'm also not sure how much of the hype I believe. Drinking bleach?

We'll see...

Having read many of the articles about the show, I think perhaps too much of big deal has been made of the 'controversies' involved.
I don't think it was nearly as dangerous as some have been making it out to be--apparently there was a complete medical and counseling staff on hand at all times, and it's not like they were ever really alone. I mean, it's a tv show, someone had to be there to film the darn thing.
And as far as contracts are concerned, they're only 'legal' if they're legal. In other words, they have to abide by the laws of the state to be binding, and the right to sue is not often one of those things that people can actually sign away. I don't know the laws in New Mexico, though, so I can't speak to that specifically with any authority. The network's juggling of the child labor laws was rather creative, though.
Anyway, I'll probably check it out at least once, it may even turn out to be rather boring or something (did anyone catch the much-hyped Pirate Master? Ho-hum...).

I'm going to try and watch it, although it's being aired the same time as the new Gordon Ramsey show... (I hate when they do that!!!)

I've been interested in a topic like this ever since my poli sci class studied "Lord of the Flies."

And I've read a lot of articles on this series as well and it seems as though what Taesma said is correct - there were apparently mental health professionals and full medical staff watching the whole thing on site. I think the whole STD thing was written by some writer as a 'what if?' type thing, which would have to mean that one of the kids would have to have one and such... None of the articles have actually shown one of the contracts mentioned nor the agreements of the supervision and one article I read said that CBS was touting the whole 'no supervision' thing, but it was more hype than anything else.

As for why New Mexico, one article said that state was chosen because at the time of filming, it had less strict child labour laws than other states, although the show was filmed only a couple months before a new law was to take effect. Also, the show took advantage and billed itself as a 'summer camp' which happened to be filmed.

I personally think the idea is very interesting. If I was in that age group I would have wanted to go on it! ha ha...What kid doesn't want to run their own town without any parents around? It's every kids dream!

Like some of you have said they were never alone, they had the whole camera crew and people watching over them so I don't really see the problem.

Im definitely gonna watch. Look at all the press its already gotten and it hasnt even started yet! i dont understand how you could not watch. theres is gonna be so much discussion after the premiere and i at least wanna be able to get involved!!

Personally I feel nothing good can come from this show.
Only reason I would watch it would be to refute silly arguements people will make about the show, and have the actual facts to back it up.

No group of kids that age that I know would be able to properly do any jobs which will be needed.

Kids are picky eaters in general, and someone without much expierience would never be able to make food that they would like.

Kids don't listen to adults most of the time, and they will listen to one that is a sherriff.

and lastly if this thing does somehow become a success and the kids make it work. Any kid watching the show will believe they know better then adults, even more then they allready do.

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No group of kids that age that I know would be able to properly do any jobs which will be needed.

Kids are picky eaters in general, and someone without much expierience would never be able to make food that they would like.

Kids don't listen to adults most of the time, and they will listen to one that is a sherriff.

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Those are some mighty big generalizations you're making there.

I think kids are a lot more capable than many adults give them credit for. Especially since having a couple of my own. They are still very young, but they constantly amaze me with their capabilities and insights.

As far as the eating goes--yes, many kids are picky but when they are really hungry, they'll eat. They won't let themselves starve.

I think it's a really interesting experiment and as long as they're properly supervised, I think it'll be fun to watch.

Of course, it could all be just another tempest in a teapot and we've already seen all the best stuff in the commercials. Certainly wouldn't be the first time that's happened.

You'd be surprised, I was such a picky eater as a kid that I WOULD have rather gone hungry than ate something I hated.

Heck no. What were they thinking when they came up with this? Haven't they read Lord of the Flies?

Now I do believe that kids will be capable of doing the jobs that are needed to some degree. They will have to do these jobs day in day out for as long as they are in this town. That I think will be the part where kids will not be able to handle. It’s one thing to do a job, takes a lot more to do the same job day after day.

If the food doesn’t taste right, will the other kids be critical, will the person who cooked it be able to handle criticism.

One of the things I have heard about this show is there is constant crying during it, which is to be expected, but is certainly not something I would consider fun.

And from an experimental point of view I think it’s a good idea, but not to be shown on Television. Any chance at truly learning anything from this experiment will be skewed because ratings will be the major concern not science.

I am looking forward to this show. This will be the highlight of the primetime season. I don't want to pass opinion until I see the show a couple of times. I think this is going to be a hit.

Who is NOT going to watch? That'd be me. I have no idea what network is offering this. I've seen previews, but haven't been paying that much attention. If I DO catch an episode, it'll be because nothing else is on and I've nothing else to do.

Im with trevor, im gonna wait until i see it to judge. im just really curious to see how it is and the kids seem really smart so ill definitely be watching the premiere wednesday

Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares. I believe both versions have the same name, if I'm not mistaken.

Personally, we don't have a dvr because we simply can't afford it. Not so much the device, but we'd need a higher tier of cable and have the dvr fees too. I can give my kids 3 or 4 dinners for what it'd cost.
We had a vcr on another tv, but that broke and we're waitning for a friend who has an extra to pass it along.
Hopefully, one of them will be available online. That's how I usually catch the shows I can't watch in real time. Plus I can watch when the kids are sleeping and actually get to see the whole thing.

Well ... it should come as NO surprise that I plan to check out the show (I actually try to sell myself as an anti-"reality" genre TV audience type, but I think this is all PR and amounts to a completely obvious lie *sigh*). I don't like ALL of them, though (I only watched one season of "Amazing Race" and have now given up on "Survivor" [there's only so many ways to hijack a plane ticket or scavenge for unappetizing marine life, I reckon] so the 'thrill', so to speak, is gone the more of those shows they come up with and/or recycle).
Being a mighty fan of the book "Lord of the Flies", though, I think this spin on a show could be very interesting. I think children are (once pulled out of their comfy environs, whatever they happen to be) a VERY solid lot of little humans and the interplay (without all the adult way of interplaying as a factor) could be slightly fascinating. It certainly will be packaged to entertain, of that I'm certain (and I'm equally sure no youngsters will end up at risk as it goes - unless network TV has some loophole that allows them to endanger/abuse minors publicly), but I'd bet that there might be some interesting insight shared as to how needful, unbearable and demanding children aren't, when it gets right down to it.
It's got to be more interesting than that ghastly "Pirate" [Survivor-ish] thing was. And I think I'd rather watch an actual kid have a well-deserved fit about bugs or being a bit deprived of a luxury than to see some 25-year old wannabe designer/decorator/chef have one because their sewing machine runs funny. Or the carpet's the wrong shade of purple. Or that someone slipped some salt into the cake batter instead of sugar ...
I think it could be pretty interesting to watch the tykes have at it. But I'm equally prepared to hate the temptation of producers to exploit the thing, too. I'm on the hopeful side of the fence, I guess.

Well, when you put it like that, Gats, I just may watch it. I did see that it is on tonight on CBS and since I have no other plans.... I saw on the news awhile ago they were talking about this show and were interviewing parents and children that had seen it at the premiere. One mother said it was very good and she loved it. One child at the premiere interviewed said adults had ruined this world and it was time for the children to take over and run it right, (or something like that). So, yeah, it's going to be interesting, especially to see how the viewing children perceive it.

I am watching the show now, as I type, and so far I see nothing wrong with the show. I'm sure that outside of camera shot, there are adults, medical help and maybe even parents there to help. Anyway, there is nothing going on, in my opinion, that is going to hurt these kids. As a matter of fact, an 8 year old just went home because he is missing his Mom. If anything, I think they will go away from this learning alot. Just my opinion.
Take Care

Oh, I agree with you 100%, GrandmaHippie . I really really enjoyed the show - actually, it left me feeling all "hopeful", or something. The way it looks, so far, is that these youngsters are going to have a thing or three to learn (who doesn't, though?). BUT, as they learn it, I feel pretty certain they're going to teach we (so-called) adults plenty along the way.
Clearly, I was mighty impressed with the first episode!

OK, so I watched it and I have to eat crow and say that I really enjoyed it. And since it's on CBS, which is the network I mostly watch, I'll probably catch more episodes. What I really found thrilling is, even though I haven't been keeping up with all the hype on the show, I recognized where they are just by looking at the background scenery. I looked it up and sure enough, they are within 5 miles from where I used to live.

I absolutely loved the show! The kids are smart, fun, and really want to make their town work.
I was a little worried at first, when the older boys were tagging the buildings...But that does not seem to be an issue.
The Gold Star was a piece of genius! I think that alone will keep everyone on the right path! I can't wait till next week!

Just another observation about last night I feel compelled to share . How cool/smart was it that those "unruly" youngsters picked the outhouses over the TV? I thought it was so sensible how they weighed the decision and came to their conclusion (whatever the "real" motive might have been to go for that TV, too, they sure made some 'good' arguments to have it ~ much like an adult used-car salesman makes a pretty decent pitch why you definitely need the vehicle he's selling) ~ the parallels between an 10-year old "nation" and a society run by 40-year olds are not hard to spot, are they?

And that one little dude mentioning that "waiting in line for hours to go to the bathroom can't be good for your 'colon' [?]" just killed me ! Who'd have thought? Pre-teens considering that they even HAVE colons!?

I watched the second episode of "Kid Nation" on Wednesday. I think it was even better than the first! No one opted to go home, this week, and the kid (Michael) that I thought should have gotten the Gold Star last week, did get it last night! The older boy, Greg may be a problem, since he is upset because he didn't get it...
We'll see!