Really smart programming...or really poor parenting?

So in a play (pray?) for better ratings this TV season, CBS is debuting an innovative (insanely risky?) new reality program. And, being that reality programming has been segmented seven ways to Sunday, they decide to focus on an untapped niche in kids.

After all, who doesn't love kids, right? The problem is that the parents of the kids might just love fame more than their kids.

The series is called "Kid Nation" (premiering Sept. 19th) and it brings 40 children (ages 8-15) together in a "ghost town" of Sante Fe, New Mexico for what is billed as a "social experiment." The kids have to build a society in 40 days without adult supervision.

Yep, the parents left their kids in the (cough) trustworthy hands of a television network for 40 days.

According to E News: "But the show has become mired in controversy after a mother of one participant took issue with the production. The woman said her 12-year-old daughter's face was sprayed with kitchen grease while cooking and she suffered minor health problems. The mother alerted authorities about supposedly lax safety conditions at the privately owned Bonanza Creek Movie Ranch, where the series was shot in April.

In a letter to the attorney general, the aforementioned mother, identified by the Associated Press as Janice Miles of Fayetteville, Georgia, wrote that her daughter, Divad, was not properly supervised by the show's handlers. The child allegedly suffered sunburn on her face and hands and developed a rash that left her with several scars. Miles also noted that four other kids accidentally drank bleach, necessitating immediate medical attention."

Oh, and now New Mexico state isn't quite sure if this "camp" might just qualify as violating child labor laws. Um, oops.

See, CBS is a company and its responsibility is to be profitable. But the parents' responsibility is to be, well, responsible. So I can see letting kids go to a real camp with real supervision, but to ship them off to Hollywood--even a "mock Hollywood" in some ghost town--without the watchful eyes of parents? Hey, I may not be a parent but I did read Lord of the Flies.

Alas, CBS is so confident Kid Nation will be a success it has greenlit casting for a second season so maybe I'm just too overprotective to be a parent...or perhaps the producers shouldn't allow the kids to handle bleach this go 'round. I understand from CNN that the parents had to sign tomes of legal documents that basically protected the network even in the case of fatalities.

And to think the American public is worried about the parenting sense of Britney Spears.

Here's the trailer for the show (RSS readers go here). And here again is the article.

Comments

[David Reich]

One of my clients, who is a media buyer, says that whole child labor issue was manufactured to get attention for the show. All the parents signed waivers, and the kids are being paid just as they'd be paid if they were kid actors in a film or TV show or ad. The kids are hardly by themselves, by the way. There's crew, etc. with them every step of the way, just like with shows like "Survivor."

Will the show succeed or will it be a bad show? Although those two can be mutually exclusive, who knows?

[Tracy Austin]

I am the mother of two children who are 5 and almost 2. When I read C.K.s post, I was uncertain that this show was a good idea.

Then I watched the trailer, and the kids sorting things out and I started to see how eye-opening this series will be for parents and society in general, who think of children as immature and incompetent adults-in-training.

Children are people right now. And when the situation demands, can show great strength and courage to work through tough problems and do the right things, as the trailer shows.

That said, I cannot imagine sending my children off to participate in this particular reality show. They are, of course, too young at present. But I wonder if when they are older, if one of them asked me to do something like this, what would I say?

I hate hypothetical questions...lol!

Be well,

Tracy

[CK]

@David: May well be a publicity stunt. Interesting. Supposedly the kids get 5k each unless they win a gold star (in which case they get 20k).

Now I don't have kids, but if I did, I can see sending them to camp (a real one) for a week. But to a show with TV cameras for over a month? My biggest concern wouldn't be overlooking safety items like the bleach/etc., it would be
how the reality shows can portray 'em and how that could affect them once it airs. Again, I just can't see handing a kid over for 40 days.

Oh, I should say that my sister and I were (briefly!) on an espisode of "Zoom" when I was like 4. Took about 3 hours and my Dad was there the whole time along with all the other parents.

@Tracy: Thanks for voicing-in ;-). I understand why the kids were separated from parents and how they're showing the kids taking responsibility and learning for themsevles. But, hypothetically, I still wouldn't give permission for my kid to be without my watchful eye on a network show for 40 days. I don't trust TV to be looking out for the best interests of children--they're focused on ratings and while I'm sure they're staffed with people who are watching the situation, they're still focused on making a series. Not with my (hypothetical) kid ;-).

[jon burg]

The whole premise of the show is ridiculous. A 12 year old isn't mature enough to sign a legal release and a parent who is willing to sign a release for a true "reality" show shouldn't be judged sane enough to commit their child to participation in this project. What ever happened to kids being kids? I understand that under certain conditions there is nothing inherantly dangerous (physically or psychologically) for young actors, however, many of these safeguards or precautions can possibly be exercised in the "lab" of reality TV. Performing even a pseudo
Lord of the Flies type experiment on children or tweens is reprehensible, doing so for entertainment/profit is madness.

Naturally CBS did not intend for any harm to come to these kids, but honestly, isn't children's reality TV going a little TOO far to make a buck?