Let's Give Kid Nation a Chance

If you've watched much of The Simpsons, you're probably familiar with the character of Maude Flanders and her anguished cry of "What about the children? Won't anybody think of the children?"

She's meant to be a joke, but every time something slightly scandalous occurs on network TV, we turn into a nation of Maude Flanderses. That's what's happening right now over the new reality show Kid Nation, and it's heartening to see CBS keeping its head and waiting for the hysteria to die down.

Yes, the show's producers should've been more careful about complying with relevant child-labor laws. Yes, it sounds awfully bad to hear that kids accidentally swallowed bleach during production. Yes, the world hardly needs another reality series.

But watch the promo reel below. I did, and I was struck by how much it reminded me of the summer camp where I used to work as a teenager. Just like on Kid Nation, the campers there ranged in age from about 8 to 14. They all had jobs they were expected to do every day. Someone was always breaking an arm or coming down with pinkeye. No one ever got a decent night of sleep. And every summer, when the buses came to take them home, the kids cried bitterly.

I can understand how the uproar over Janet Jackson's nipple slip got so out of hand. No one wants to defend Janet Jackson's nipple. This is different. If CBS were making a children's version of The Bachelor, I'd oppose it. (Hell, I oppose the grown-up version.) But Kid Nation, from the little I've seen, looks to be one of the most wholesome pieces of programming to land on the airwaves in a long time -- the kind of show the people who liked to get worked up about the sex on Friends were always wondering why the networks didn't make. Now it's here. Let's be adults and give it a chance.