Kid Nation: I'm Trying to Be a Leader Here (series premiere)

(S01E01) After all of the controversy, CBS aired its premiere episode of Kid Nation tonight. Much ado about nothing, I say! Not that the show is nothing. I found it interesting and refreshing from so many of the other shows on the air these days. Well, at least the shows in the reality genre.

After all the brouhahas about child labor, child abuse, crying children ... well, to me, this didn't quite live up to all the controversy surrounding it. Instead I found it to be the kind of show both children and adults can watch together. Although it's touted as "40 children, 40 days, no adults" -- the kids themselves say there were more adults than children on site. Perhaps that doesn't speak much for the "reality" aspect, but the safety issues seem well-covered.

Jonathan Karsh, the adult host of the show, is probably the only adult we'll see during the series. However, they seem to have a full staff of medics, psychologists, production folks, and more working in the background. So, it's not like the kids were tossed in the desert to die or anything. Jonathan came across a bit Jeff Probst-ish to me. Right now I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

After most of the kids arrived in the middle of Nowhere, New Mexico, in a school bus, Jonathan introduced four children as council leaders. Those leaders got to arrive there in a nifty helicopter. Now, I'd want to go by helicopter and be special, too! The chosen leaders didn't represent either end of the age scale of the kids on the show. That range is from 8 to 15 years old. Instead, they were a bit of a happy medium -- two boys and two girls ages 10 to 12. Age ain't nuthin' but a number anyway, right? I don't think a few of the older kids were too thrilled about the choices.

Jonathan took the council leaders aside and told them about a special book in the town which would help them lead more effectively. He also told them that at the end of each tribal council ... er, town meeting ... they would be responsible for choosing which child receives a gold star worth $20,000. The award should go to the child who worked the hardest.

The hard work began as the children had to haul their wagons and supplies a few miles to Bonanza City, the town where they're to build a new and better society. Right off the bat one of the older kids, Greg (15) accused Mike (11), one of the council members, of not working and just supervising. Another child fell with a muscle cramp, and all struggled their way along. The muscle cramp kid was helped by the others and rode the rest of the way to town. All in all, great work, but they had little choice -- they had to get to their town.

Once in town, things predictably turned into chaos. The leadership didn't really take control, none of the children realized that roughing it meant uncomfortable lodgings or that pasta needs to be added to boiling water, not cold water. One girl, Sophia, threw out the pasta which the others had loaded in a pot of room temperature water. She started taking over kitchen tasks and the kids got fed. Not happily fed, but fed nonetheless.


I thought that one of the council leaders, Laurel (12), seemed beyond her years in her leadership and compassion for others. In the image above, she's consoling young Jimmy as homesickness hits him hard. After all, he's one of the youngest children there, so it's not all that surprising. I think I cried like that my first time at summer camp.

Jimmy was far from the only homesick camper on this trip. One of the council leaders, Taylor (10) had a rough few days and was also considering going home. You see, the kids don't get voted off of this show. But, if they want to leave, all they need do is say so at the town meetings which are held every three days.

Another council leader had his own issues outside of being homesick. "I'm trying to be a leader here," cried Mike (11). Heck, Mike, most bosses have had the same problem -- no respect, problems handling being the authority. Work on it, kid!

The second day was an improvement over the chaos. The council kids found the book which actually contained "ideas" on how to run the town. No adult involvement, eh? The book directed them to create four districts -- blue, yellow, red, and green. Each council leader chose their own district members trying to match up friends and keep enemies apart. (Yes, already there had been a few clashes.) As a result, the teams were lopsided age-wise. Most of the older kids were on the blue team, the youngest on the yellow.



I'm not sure what a good idea it was to keep two of the older boys together -- Blaine and Greg. While Greg showed compassion at times, put them together and they get a bit wild. Sure enough, they ran around town creating "blue" graffiti in honor of their team. The younger kids made sarcastic remarks about their maturity.

Then, in this world with no adult involvement, Jonathan introduced a job board. The town would have stores, but the kids need to earn their money. Like the teams, the labor division was in four groups. Laborers earn ten cents a day, cooks earn a quarter, merchants earn fifty cents, and the upper class (who doesn't have to work) get paid a dollar a day.

How would the jobs be decided? A fistfight? Nope! It was a challenge or, in keeping with the pioneer theme of the show, it was a showdown. Back to back they faced each other. Er, no. Each team had to haul a wooden pump apparatus around to pipes. When they found one with their color, they had to fill up bottles. First team done with the bottles and hauling their pump across the finish line becomes upper class and so on down the line. Jonathan promised a special prize for the whole town if they finished the showdown in under an hour.


Mike got to prove his mettle as a leader of the red team as he almost singlehandedly brought them to the finish line in first place. The older group, the blue team, came in second. The youngest group, yellow, arrived third and the final place -- the laborers -- went to the green team led by Laurel.

Since the teams finished within the hour, they had their choice of prizes. They could have seven outhouses or a television. Now, there are forty kids and only one nasty outhouse, so you know that common sense would dictate the outhouses. But some kids were all excited about the television. But others thought if they had television, kids would goof off and not do their work. It's a kerfuffle! Maybe not. It only took the council members a few minutes to go for the outhouses and the other kids seemed happy with the choice.

When it came time for the town council, Sophia, who didn't know it but was the favorite for receiving the gold star, almost blew her chances as she accused the council members of not doing their jobs. After all, Sophia is the kitchen queen and she didn't think Taylor's team cleaned up well. Gosh darn it, that's a big part of the job!

But before the town meeting announced the gold star, Jonathan asked if anyone wanted to go home. Taylor decided she would stay and things had improved. But it was all too much for young Jimmy. Although all of the other kids were supportive, he asked to go home. He didn't cry although he looked like he wanted to ... he went home without anyone disrespecting his opinion. I thought it was handled very well.

When the gold star trophy was announced, Sophia looked like she could have crawled under her chair. But the town council stayed with their decision that she was the hardest worker. She apologized to them for being bossy and said she would be more understanding. She was in disbelief when Jonathan told her it was worth $20,000. I couldn't help but be thrilled for her as I watched her excitement.

The gold star given away each week might provide incentive for Greg to clean up his act. I know he can be good with the others, but he has to fight the feeling that he can bully others or doesn't need to listen to the council members just because they're younger.

There's no way I'll be able to memorize all of these kids, no way. But the council members and a few others were spotlighted through the show. I'm very impressed by 14-year-old Michael. He was their second choice for the star this week. Laurel and Taylor seem to adapt well, each in their own ways. The kid Jared is a walking one-liner comedy show.

I enjoyed this show and will be watching and writing about it next week. How about you?