Kid Nation

This was one of the my favorite reality shows. Unlike many other ones they use children, and sets them in real life situations that adults are in. They work like adults, they are divided like adults and are forced to make decisions like adults. The children have changed from whining kids in the start to a united group to fight for themselves.

This show really pushes out the true face of some children; their selfishness, greed, and the bad side. But to work as a group, these things cannot happen, so other kids help and advise them to change and improve, which of course is they did at the end.

Really advise watching at least one episodes, and probably really entertaining especially to kids.

In a nutshell... watch it at least once and then make up your mind. Either you like it, hate it, find it somewhat endearing and inspiring or truly feel it is exploitative. But don't prejudge this based on what you've read in newspaper articles or on the Internet. That to me is just a sad commentary on what our country has turned into (protest and censor something without even knowing what it is about.) I personally find it entertaining and am happy to see kids that age be able to work together and handle life much better than many adults. And for people who feel parents should be concerned about leaving their kids out in the middle of nowhere with no adults around. Come on. There are more crew and production people on the premises than the 38 or 39 kids. These kids ARE supervised.

But the bottom line is... there are many other shows on Wednesday night at the same time as KID NATION. If this isn't your cup of tea, don't watch it.

This show directly taps into the pioneer folklore of American cultural story: Despite hardship, and the looming danger of chaos, if we all stick together, we'll make it. Now, there's a lot to say for a never-say-die attitude. At the same time, I wonder if this show strengthens Americans in the believe, that their we-are-better-than-thee approach in the world is justified, that they are the "Chosen People" and thus are more entitled than other nations.

All that aside, this show is pretty good. It is clearly shown that even though we might think of children as angels, they are not. They have the same capacity for cruelty and stupidity as adults. Taylor is the perfect example of a spoiled beauty queen. In the first episode she says: "I'm a beauty-queen and I don't do dishes" and she acts accordingly. She sleeps in very late and doesn't do her job as Yellow Leader to make breakfast, except on the first day. Taylor has discovered the George Bush defense: When something happens bush doesn't like, when he gets criticized he denies it and says: "So? What are you gonna do about it? And "I don't give a rats ass", as well as "It wasn't me!" in all their various diplomatic variations.

This is very similar to Taylor's highly annoying "Deal with it!" The amazing thing is, they BOTH GET AWAY WITH IT! Just like that evil Big Brother guy. At the moment of writing, after episode 3, Taylor's got openly and publicly criticized at the town hall meeting. Typically, she got out of it, like a regular politician, by making an empty promise and ... crying! Edit: Just like a true politician (Bush, anyone?) she has done NOTHING to keep her promise, by the end of episode 4! Edit: it's now episode 9, and she STILL hasn't worked an ounce! What's more, she's proud of that fact! Greg is also worth mentioning. Since he demonstrated so far, the worst reaction to his adversity of not winning the gold star, by acting out and bullying, he fails to see a very basic thing about living with other people: you have to be, up to a degree, likable as well as work hard. Most adults could have told him that the best reaction to losing the gold star would have been to work just as hard and be gracious in defeat. But at fifteen, he's (understandbly) unable to see that. He's for a large part justified in his feeling of being treated unfairly. It's just not good politics to start bullying like he did.

Mike, seems hell bent NOT to give Greg a Gold Star. That is petty and low. He thereby has reduced Greg to a 2nd class citizen: "No matter how hard you work, we're gonna give the reward to a little girl anyway!" (whose parents were so irresponsible to let her go away on her birthday, at that!) What's been made clear by the showdowns is that the Green Team must be the worst organizers. Bigger kids should be better at everything: they're smarter, tougher and more experienced. Yet, the Yellow team (on average the youngest kids) doesn't always lose. Kudos to the creators of the showdowns that they reward organisation, as well as strength speed and tenacity.

The so-called controversy around "child-labor" is indicative of another feature of America, the overly bureaucratic and rule-obsessed side. I guess the pioneer-myth-side is preferable.

it was sad how many negative comments were flying around the media before Kid Nation was even aired!! we were wondering what it was going to be like, but decided to Tivo anyway. the crew was SO creative with the challenges and rewards etc etc. it was a joy to see the kids mature and grow---so many arrived spoiled and unwilling to jump in there, but they really changed over the weeks and we fell in love with each of them!!! they dealt with human conflict often better than adults, and in the end knew it was much more than an opportunity to be on a TV show..... it was an amazing opportunity to pull together and form a family/community, and make life-long friends!!!! we look forward to the Bonanza Annual Reunion, and know how this experience changed their lives---what will they become as adults? how will they influence our world? GOOD JOB KIDS!!! GOOD JOB PRODUCERS AND CREW!!!!!!!! PS...great to see old Daisytown transformed!!!

This is my favorite show of the 2007 season. I agree with the other comments about the "child labor" commentary - in America you can always find a university professor/media gadfly/reporter desperate for something to talk about somewhere willing to voice clucking concern.

Some people reflexively see anything not involving indulgent, extensive and repeated -heart-ing of kids is torture and abuse. And we must be suspicious of the artifices and manipulation of reality television. I don't care for all the Burnett-style time-lapse shots and really dislike the way tyhe general store has started to play up the play-drinking aspects. These kids watch TV too, and when you give them shot glasses for root beer and water you're encouraging them to act out.

But for me the watchable part of this show, the thing I tune in for every week, is the way these kids found so many ways to cope, to live together and deal with the situations that came up without all the lies and self-aggrandizement and duplicity most adults engage in.

They're so wonderfully honest, and sometimes they like each other and sometimes they hate each other but they crash into things, look around, dust themselves off and move right along. They are all right, and they find their way, and their strength and resilience makes me feel better about the future of the world for an hour on a Wednesday night.

All of the episodes have been fascinating to watch - during the election show when Mike realized that every single kid on his team had voted against him, he visibly sank. Then he picked himself up and took his place among those who had voted him out. You know that will be an event that will always be part of his life, and maybe it will make him a better person and maybe it will undermine him, and instead of "ooh, isn't it cool?" I wanted to show this to my nephews and say this kid is demonstrating what you should do in the world when it hands you failure - you sink for a moment, and then you pick yourself up and deal with what's left.

I highly recommend this show, at least so far.