According to the promos, CBS's upcoming Kid Nation is the most inspiring reality show ever to draw comparisons to Lord Of The Flies. But, surprisingly, you can't just rent a bunch of kids and leave them in a New Mexico desert with some cameramen for 40 days anymore without everyone yelling, "Child abuse!"
From the NY Times:
For 40 days the children cooked their own meals, cleaned their own outhouses, formed a government and ran their own businesses, all without adult intervention or participation.
To at least one parent of a participant, who wrote a letter of complaint to New Mexico state officials after the show had completed production, the experience bordered on abuse and neglect. Several children required medical attention after drinking bleach that had been left in an unmarked soda bottle, according to both the parent and CBS. One 11-year-old girl burned her face with splattered grease while cooking.
The children were made to haul wagons loaded with supplies for more than a mile through the New Mexico countryside, and they worked long hours – "from the crack of dawn when the rooster started crowing" until at least 9:30 p.m., according to Taylor, a 10-year-old from Sylvester, Ga., who was made available by CBS to respond to questions about conditions on the set.
Leaving bleach around in coke bottles, unsupervised cooking, and hauling wagons are one thing. But brainwashing kids to use canned farm-speak about roosters crowing is quite another. That is definitely child abuse.