CBS Wednesday 8pm
debuts Wednesday, September 19, 8pm
concept
from

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 kids 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. 
stars Jonathan Karsh, host
producers Tom Forman
studio Tom Forman Productions and Good TV, Inc.
my take
Is any publicity, even bad, good publicity? Kid Nation better hope so after the alleged child labor law violations. It's Lord of the Flies presumably without murder. I actually like the idea: it falls under the "make something just like X, but different." It's going to get sampled a lot in the first weeks simply due to curiosity. I don't see this getting cancelled (partly since it's presumably a short-run series), but I don't see it coming back. Voyeurism at its non-sexual finest.
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