Controversy: Will you watch?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Read about this upcoming reality (?) show…Kid Nation?</p>

<p>What do you think?</p>

<p>"LOS ANGELES (Aug. 23) - Children who participated in “Kid Nation,” a CBS reality show that has come under fire over questions of whether it violated child safety and labor laws, were required to do whatever they were told by the show’s producers, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or risk expulsion from the show, according to a copy of the contract signed by the children and their parents. </p>

<p>The contract also specifies that while the children could be paid for their participation, those payments or the agreement to be fully under the producers’ direction did not constitute employment under the producers’ interpretation and therefore was not subject to any state or federal labor laws. </p>

<p>The agreement, which was provided to The New York Times by the New Mexico attorney general’s office under an open records act request, appears to anticipate the arguments that were later made by New Mexico state authorities that the show’s producers might have violated state labor laws and licensing requirements for child housing. </p>

<p>“Kid Nation,” which is scheduled to have its premiere on CBS on Sept. 19, took 40 children, ages 8 to 15, and placed them in a New Mexico desert “ghost town” near Santa Fe for 40 days, during which they had little to no contact with their parents. The program has been criticized by New Mexico state authorities who have said that they were not notified in advance of the conditions, which they said appeared to violate state laws."</p>

2

<p>Depends what else is on. Not if it competes with the “Hairdressers’ Bowl”.</p>

3

<p>Maybe TV should actually go back to hiring writers and produce actual shows. I know it’s cheaper to produce this sort of stuff, but wouldn’t it be nice to have people proud of their work again?</p>

4

<p>No!!! (10 char.)</p>

5

<p>yeah like what happend to Friends and Seinfeld?</p>

6

<p>Wouldn’t know - never watched 'em.</p>

7

<p>Seinfeld at least, morphed into Curb Your Enthusiasm. </p>

<p>Personally, I think America will be a better place if we do away with all reality television. Well, Project Runway excepted.</p>

8

<p>I want a tv where I can taste the food from the Food Channel, and let them cut and blowdry my hair while I’m watching. </p>

<p>None of this silly HDTV business.</p>

9

<p>It’s good to know there are still opportunities in America for both corporations and parents to exploit kids for financial gain.</p>

<p>And, no.</p>

10

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<p>Dont know what’s most disturbing here. The pageants thing, or the “willing to take that chance.” What chance is it that the parents felt she was taking, that was okay for her to be taking?</p>

11

<p>The parents even had to idemnify the producers if their children got an STD or became pregnant by anyone (not just the other minors).</p>

<p>I won’t watch this one. I like Survivor, the Amazing Race, Project Runway, but I’m very uncomfortable with putting children in that kind of spotlight. I don’t watch any of the personality driven shows that involves kids (Wife Swap, etc). I have seen how harsh the criticism of contestants can be and how much editing can affect perception. Adults can give informed consent to that, but I don’t think children can.</p>

12

<p>Thank you garland and conyat–precisely what I was aiming at.</p>

<p>I work in TV and I hope no one watches this abomination.</p>

13

<p>“I don’t watch any of the personality driven shows that involves kids (Wife Swap, etc). I have seen how harsh the criticism of contestants can be and how much editing can affect perception.”</p>

<p>I think in just three years, Wife Swap has done more to protect, defend, and extend the sanctity of marriage than Christian pro-family folks have in an entire generation. (That is an attempt at a state of fact, not of judgment.)</p>

14

<p>mini–why is it that I chuckle at everything you post?</p>

15

<p>Wow. I weep for the future. Where is their Ed Sullivan? Star Trek? Gunsmoke? </p>

<p>“Better to just turn the tube off and surf for porn on the internet,” sixteen year old friend of son. Now, banned from my home. :^)</p>

16

<p>Horrifying. The parents should be prosecuted.</p>

17

<p>Speaking of TV, has anyone else here participated in the reviewing of a TV show, and then had to answer about a hundred questions over the phone after the viewing?</p>

<p>Just did that Monday night. New show, very “desperate housewifey”. It was interesting- they wanted to know which story line should be continued, which actors were interesting/not (I guess they’ll give those the axe), what the title should be. I felt like GOD of the network TV watchers.</p>

18

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<p>Waht are you on about mini? Broadcast widely overseas, Wife Swap merely confirms that America is chock full of righteous twits who are staunchly earnest about their ‘virtues’. Talk about cultural cringe.</p>

19

<p>you can bet all those parents wanted to make their kids Stars,ick</p>

<p>Anyone remember that Stanford experiment with prison guards, prisoners, etc…those adults were traumatized, imagine what a bully could do in that “camp” with those kids</p>

<p>I will be calling CBS and telling them I won’t watch it</p>

20

<p>“Waht are you on about mini? Broadcast widely overseas, Wife Swap merely confirms that America is chock full of righteous twits who are staunchly earnest about their ‘virtues’. Talk about cultural cringe.”</p>

<p>Who would ever want to swap wives after watching that bunch of losers? (As they said in the '60s, “love the one you’re with.” ;))</p>