Pace Paw Print

Issue date: 10/24/07 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: laist.com "Can kids take over the world?"

"40 kids, 40 days, no adults;" Kid Nation, one of the newest controversial additions to reality TV, premiered on Sept. 19th. The show's host, Jonathan Karsh, introduced the ghost town with a rattlesnake slithering down one of its streets. Bonanza City, New Mexico, a mining town that failed due to a "lack of leadership and lack of will" will be taken over by kids.

An out-of-place yellow school bus drives up and releases thirty-six excited, yet nervous kids who watch their bus drive away, leaving them in the middle of nowhere. Karsh attempts to ease their fears by assuring them they will find support in their fellow "pioneers."

A helicopter flies in, tossing dust all about, and drops off four more kids, the Town Council; Mike, 11, a boy scout; Taylor, 10, a pageant queen; Anjay, 12, a spelling-bee winner; and Laurel, 12, a student leader. Jonathan tells the other kids that these four represent them in age and geography, but that does not stop some from protesting against their appointment as leaders; however, as Karsh states, "nothing's permanent."

Karsh quickly meets alone with the Town Council and hands them a journal kept by the original Bonanza City pioneers. He tells them that each week a new task will be dealt upon them. Also, at a weekly Town Council meeting they will hand out a prize to one kid of their choice; a gold star, "worth its weight in gold:" $20,000. However, they are instructed to keep the star a secret until the first meeting.

The Town Council joins the pioneers for the first task. They must travel a few miles to Bonanza City and bring along their supplies, including the wagons, goats, chickens, and eggs. As they make their way across the desert, problems quickly arise. Eager for a break as he endures much of the hard labor, Greg, 15, the eldest kid, confronts Mike, who simply walks alongside the group encouraging the rest to keep moving. Greg tells Mike to take his place pulling a wagon, but takes his job back after Mike barely manages. Then, MK, 14, drops to the ground with a leg injury, a pulled muscle. Unable to walk further, Greg helps MK onto a wagon, which MK thought was "pretty cool," and Mike finally "steps up" to pull it.

Upon arriving at Bonanza City, the pioneers soon realize they do not know how to cook. Taylor and some other kids attempt to make Macaroni and Cheese, but it is dumped out due to the fact that it "wasn't cooking." Sophia, 14, takes over and provides edible food for all forty kids, a gold-star worthy effort.

Continued...

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