kidnation

• Barry Manilow regrets causing all this fuss about refusing to appear on The View.
  
• Kid Nation premieres tonight.
  
• BFF! Despite turning down an invite to appear on her show, Rosie O'Donnell said Oprah is a "force of nature."
  

• At 8, CBS has the series premiere of Kid Nation.
• FOX has the series premiere of Back To You at 8, followed by the season premiere of 'Til Death and the series premiere of Kitchen Nightmares.
• NBC has a new Deal or No Deal at 8, then a new Last Comic Standing.
• The CW has the season premiere of America's Next Top Model at 8, then the series premiere of Gossip Girl.
• History Channel has a new Modern Marvels at 8, followed by a new Lost Worlds.
• At 9, ABC has the Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice special Come Rain or Come Shine.
• PBS has a new American Masters at 9.
• TBS is running four new episodes of House of Payne starting at 9.
• At 9:30, HGTV has a new Design on a Dime.
• At 10, Bravo has a new Top Chef.
• HBO has a new Inside The NFL at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

As if allegations of abuse and breaking child labor laws wasn't enough, now producers of CBS's new reality show Kid Nation are facing another charge: faking some of the show.

Parents of some of the kids involved with the show have secretly told the BizParentz Foundation and A Minor Consideration (the organization run by former Donna Reed Show star Paul Petersen) that their kids were not only asked to repeat and re-film some scenes of the show, they were actually fed dialogue to say during certain scenes. The parents say that crew members have confirmed the coaching.

Of course, this isn't a new charge. TV shows like Survivor and some of the dating shows have been accused of this in the past as well. I think this will only be surprising to people who actually think that reality TV is actually "real."

[via TV Tattle]

• Where were bad girls Britney, Paris and Lindsay at the Teen Choice Awards?
  
• Worst idea ever? Kid Nation now has union problems, on top of all their other issues.
  

• So Rick Springfield's character was supposed to perform on General Hospital but got injured, so his identical twin sang instead? Huh?
• TV Newser has five questions for CNN's John Roberts. On a related note, here's video of Roberts in the 80s as MacGyver-ish VJ, interviewing Stan Ridgway.
• Yes, this really is Spike from Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
• New Mexico is investigating Kid Nation, but CBS says it didn't break any laws.
• Did an HBO show convince a football star to sign his contract?
• Tim Goodman wonders, what are the best TV shows about school?
• On the CSI shows, sex = death.

• Eww! But for a goof cause: Stephen Colbert's cast goes on Ebay tonight.
  
• The contract that parents signed to allow their kids to participate in Kid Nation covers just about everything.
  
• Is Wayne Newton joining Dancing with the Stars?

The other day we told you about one of the parents of a Kid Nation kid filing a complaint with New Mexico officials, alleging child abuse and unsafe conditions during filming. But just what kind of contract did these parents sign to get their kids on the show? The Smoking Gun has the answer.

As TSG summarizes: "parents of minors in Kid Nation, the controversial new CBS reality show, signed away their rights to sue the network and the show's producers if their child died, was severely injured, or contracted a sexually transmitted disease."

(Sexually transmitted disease?! I guess they were covering every possibility, eh?)

• Kid Nation, the reality show that sets kids loose in an abandoned New Mexico town, is (of course) creating some controversy,
  
• The Emmy nominations are in!