With the third episode coming tonight, the young citizens of "Kid Nation" are settling in, killing chickens like pros and having a good ol' time yelling at each other in the desert. (Where exactly? We managed to track down Bonanza City.) And, as if we'd expect anything different, the early success of the show has producers ready to expand the series.
But there's that little hang-up about the child labor laws in New Mexico. As in, is it legal to have these kids on set all day? Rather than figure it out, says TMZ.com, the minds behind Kid Nation are scouting international locations for their next production. CBS says they haven't made any final decisions yet, but wouldn't it be great to see the kids on a sunny tropical island instead of a dusty old ranch?
We may get the chance: CBS is already taking applications for season 2. If you're ready to sell out your kid, your sibling or that brat down the block, make sure they have a good answer for question 37: "List 3 items you would take with you to a deserted island."
When we were in eighth grade, we were forced to read William Golding's classic novel Lord of the Flies, in which a society of marooned boys falls spectacularly apart because being cruel is more fun than being nice. Apparently the honchos over at CBS never read it, because their latest reality TV offering, "Kid Nation," attempts to replicate that experiment tonight at 8 pm, only with monetary rewards for not killing each other.
CBS brought 40 kids to a movie-set ranch in New Mexico and had them choose leaders, divide up chores and basically take over as they saw fit for 40 days during the school year. The location is important, because until July 1st the state had some of the laxest child-labor laws in the nation (a loophole since closed). No teachers, no parents, just EMTs--who were called on at least four separate occasions, although no one was killed.
The result? Well, watch the preview video. There will probably be even more crying on this show than in most reality TV, except maybe "America's Next Top Model." On the other hand, the children who have been allowed to talk to the press said they would happily do it over again, so maybe they enjoyed that, just like Ralph liked talking to the dead pig's head. (Spoiler?)
There's no crying in premiere season! Check out our TV Premiere Map to see where else fictional tears might be shed.
While lawyers for the stars and production company behind CBS's Kid Nation wait with lawsuit-filing breath for the public's reaction to the September 19th debut of the show, New Mexico Tourism is already looking at this as a win-win.
Kid Nation was filmed at the dusty old Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe New Mexico. The ranch was briefly made famous back in 1980 when "Legend of the Lone Ranger" shot there. The terrain is full of hills, prairies, ponds, culverts, corrals, and a wide variety of props that can be rented. Off and on over the years, there have been various movies, videos, commercials, and catalog shoots at the ranch, but nothing like the buzz Kid Nation is creating.
New Mexico tourism is hoping their recent reality TV experience, and the subsequent media attention, may draw in a new lot of curious location scouts from Hollywood.
Film Office's director, Lisa Strout talking to the LA Times about the situation:
''This was our first experience with reality TV,'' said Strout, who said it was ''questionable'' whether the production complied with applicable state laws. ''There's not any precedent to rely on. ... It's a breed unto itself that the whole industry is really looking at.''
Kid Nation may have become the subject of several official investigations, but, hey, maybe New Mexico will get a bit of a film location boost -- and filming locations beget tourism boosts, right?
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