Kid Nation: To Watch or not to Watch

For a show that is supposed to be about kids on their own, they seem to have a lot of guidance from producers. The main dilemma of last night, was whether the kids should kill a chicken to eat, which only came up because they were told to think about it. The argued about it slightly, but decided to kill the chickens rather easily. Even the kids who were upset about it didn’t raise as much trouble as the editing tried to make it seem. One girl talked the whole episode about wanting to leave because the animals were getting hurt and it made her sad, only to reveal at the end she was staying without much debate.

I do feel bad for the green team; to not only lose twice in a row, but to lose the reward for the town. Interestingly enough, the other kids seemed to handle the loss better than most adults do on these shows by expressing disappointment at not getting the reward, but still comforting the green team – and not interviewing later about being upset. Most people watch reality shows for the conflict – seeing everyone get along makes me impressed with the kids, but also slightly bored. The only real conflict in the town seems to be Taylor and her yellow team not performing in the kitchen. But after two episodes, I realized watching a group of kids bicker about who has to do dishes, is really not entertainment. It is the type of thing parents try to avoid. I don’t really know if this is a problem the show can overcome.