SAG, AFTRA investigate Kid Nation as the media looks for more angles on the same story

There hasn’t been much new news about CBS’ upcoming reality series Kid Nation and the quasi-controversy surrounding its production, but media organizations are tripping over each other to create ever-more sensational headlines and find new angles on the exact same story.

Topping bleach drinking as a headline is tough, but between new investigations and interviews with producers, there are tiny hooks to use to generate many column inches. One critic even makes a wild prediction that this show will end reality television as we know it. Yes, a genre that dates back to the early 90s, or the early 1970s, or even television’s early game show days, depending upon how you look at it, will be decimated because some kids lived without adults (except all the ones behind the cameras) for more than a month.

Later this week, look for headlines about investigations into how Laguna Beach rich teenagers were forced to have conversations about their feelings for 30 minutes a day. But for now, here’s a round-up of some recent Kid Nation headlines:

• Ray Richmond jumps on the slippery slope to argue that if some hypothetical “disgruntled parent takes CBS to court and a judge decides that the kids more closely resembled sweat shop workers than campers” and then “the case sets a precedent that is upheld throughout the U.S.,” reality TV will end forever. Forever!
  ‘Kid Nation’ Could Spell Disaster for the Reality Genre [Hollywood Reporter]


• SAG and AFTRA are investigating the show.
  CBS goes on the defensive over ‘Kid’ and ‘Kid’ has SAG concerned, too [Hollywood Reporter]


• CBS’ “Forty kids. One town. No adults.” description/pitch for the show may have hurt the network’s case.
  ‘Kid Nation’ Lesson: Be Careful What You Pitch [New York Times]


• CBS president Les Moonves “told his CBS board of directors has been assured that the company is conducting ‘an internal investigation.’”
  Les Moonves, A Mogul With No Conscience [Nikki Finke]


• Is Kid Nation just summer camp or a “wanton disregard for the lives of children”?
  CBS puts kids in reality TV’s tender care [Los Angeles Times]


• Tom Forman, the show’s executive producer, talks about the production, and “CBS has detailed the precautions and procedures put in place to ensure that adults were ready to step in should real danger arise during the shoot.”
  “Kid Nation” producer answers the $64,000 question [Variety]


• The show may be “the first reality show to be investigated by all kinds of authority figures before it even airs.”
  ‘Kid Nation’s’ current reality: investigations [Los Angeles Times]