Kid Nation

Firstly- if you don't watch Kid Nation, or don't know what it is, you need to start watching CBS on Wednesdays at 8:00.  I'm not really a big fan of reality shows, and I really don't watch much tv at all these days, especially considering I don't currently have cable, but I will go out of my way (as I have the past two weeks) to watch this show.  I don't know what it is about the series, but it's incredibly interesting and addicting.  Maybe it's the inner political scientist in me that likes to see how kids try to deal with the problems of governing and dealing with other people.  Or maybe it's because I like to think that I wasn't such a brat when I was that age.

The show's premise: A bunch of kids, ranging in age from about 8 to 15, are thrown together in a deserted town.  They start with some necessities, like food, soap, etc, and have to rebuild this town.  They learn along the way about leading, working together, cooking, and managing everyday life.  The kids divided themselves into four districts (red, blue, green, and yellow), and each week they compete in some sort of challenge to determine the pecking order of the districts in the town.  That is, the team who finishes first becomes the upper class and receives the highest salaries, second becomes the merchant class, third the cooks, and fourth the laborers (who have to deal with garbage and clean toilets, for the least pay).  Each district has a council member, the leader of that district, who is sorta in charge.  And each week, the four council members discuss who is most deserving of the gold star, a two pound solid gold star worth $20,000.

I've grown to really like a few of the kids.  There are some natural leaders in the group (Sophia, Michael, Laurel), some immature kids who will hopefully learn a lot from participating in the show (Taylor!) and some kids you just can't help but love (Alex, wise beyond his years; DK, smart and a natural leader; Jared, hyper and a little strange).

Last night, as usual, there was plenty of conflict between Taylor and the rest of the town.  Last week, Taylor was voted out of her position on the town council because she was a poor leader and, really, not a very good member of the town.  She doesn't participate in chores.  She wakes up late every day.  She doesn't contribute to town.  But what really made this episode memorable, and what almost made me think life was not worth living, were the events involving the town meeting (which is held every week to discuss problems and to award the gold star).

Most of the town hates Taylor.  As I said, last week she was voted off the town council.  Last night she refused to do her job, and when she was punished, she basically laughed in the faces of the town council.  The town meeting turned into a shouting match with people yelling at Taylor to leave town.  It was pretty ruthless.  But DK stood up and defended her a little bit.  He could see it was getting out of hand and just mean.  He shut everyone up, said his piece, and sat down.  When it came time for the host to ask who wanted to leave the town, DK rose his hand.  This would have been a little sad any other week (it's always a little sad when one of the kids feels like he can't take it anymore and decides to leave), but it was very emotional last night.  Before the town meeting, the council discussed who was most deserving of the gold star, and they quickly and unanimously agreed upon DK.  This was the first time in the series that the council reached a decision so quickly.  So when he rose his hand to leave, after having defended the most unpopular kid in town, I felt like my heart was going to stop.  Every one of the kids was in tears.  I couldn't believe that DK might choose to leave before discovering he was going to be awarded the gold star (if he had left, he wouldn't have gotten the star).  Thankfully, Guylan, in his first real test of leadership (he was voted onto the council last week), stepped up and took DK outside to talk.  He was able to convince DK to stay (without telling him he was going to get $20,000), and my heart was put at ease.  My faith in humanity was restored.  I can go on living, knowing that one of the few kids on the show who I think really deserved the star didn't give up.