Saturday-contributor Morbo is off on a top-secret mission again this weekend, but should return next week. While he’s away, I thought I’d mention a story that I know he’d like. It’s about a reality show revolving around child labor, which, oddly enough, has sparked a controversy.
The ads promoting “Kid Nation,” a new reality show coming to CBS next month, extol the incredible experience of a group of 40 children, ages 8 to 15, who built a sort of idealistic society in a New Mexico ghost town, free of adults. 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.
Apparently, the mother of the 11-year-old girl who was burned with hot grease while cooking filed a complaint, and the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department said the show “almost assuredly violated state laws requiring facilities that house children be reviewed and licensed.” What’s more, the agency said CBS had never contacted officials about the “project.”
I’m not a parent, but I’m not sure why so many of these kids’ families are upset now. What did they expect?
Look, I understand CBS’s motivation — they want another cheap-to-produce reality-show hit. If the NYT article is any indication, the network is optimistic that “Kid Nation” will draw huge ratings. I won’t be tuning in, but I don’t doubt that millions will.
But it seems odd to me that parents would complain now. CBS took 40 young children out of their homes and into the New Mexico desert for nearly six weeks during the middle of the school year. Those kids’ parents signed off on the deal, knowing exactly what the show was about. Sure, they didn’t expect children to be accidentally drinking bleach, but guess what? Forty unsupervised kids between the ages 8 and 15 living in unpleasant conditions for a month and a half are going to run into trouble. Indeed, CBS was counting on it.
The show’s producers should expect to get sued, the parents should’ve expected the kids to have problems, and CBS should expect to receive a few letters from viewers about the inherent flaws in lowest-common-denominator television.