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Kid Nation‘s resident villain, southern beauty pageant queen Taylor DuPriest, says producers of the show fed her lines. In an Entertainment Weekly story that catches up with four long-forgotten reality stars and one host, Taylor reveals that the producers were quite manipulative. First, lest we think Taylor’s dumb, she proves herself to be self-aware, recognizing …

Read More about Kid Nation villain Taylor says producers fed her lines

Kid Nation wraps up its first season tonight at 8 p.m. ET. CBS has revealed that three kids will receive special $50,000 gold stars during the episode. The series remains one of my favorite new fall shows, yet it’s nearly impossible for me to do my job and mock it, because the cast members are …

Read More about Kid Nation concludes tonight

The New Mexico Attorney General’s Office began investigating CBS’ Kid Nation in late August, but after looking into “the permit process, the 22-page contract between producers and parents, and whether the production company illegally refused to allow inspectors onto the property, officials now say they have dropped the matter,” Los Angeles Times reports. A statement …

Read More about New Mexico drops its Kid Nation investigation; second season may not happen

Kid Nation took precisely one episode to take the producers’ relatively subtle guidance into what came off as outright exploitation. On the second episode, which aired last night, the fake “journal” of the fake “settlers,” which is really just a way for the producers to inject artificial drama into kids’ already dramatic lives, suggested that …

Read More about Kid Nation cast kills two chickens at the suggestion of the manipulative producers

The two new reality series that debuted last night “delivered similarly solid but unspectacular” ratings, Variety reports. In its debut, Kid Nation was watched by 9.1 million viewers, about a half-million more than watched Big Brother 8‘s finale the night before. The new CBS series also “won the 8 p.m. hour in adults 18-49 — …

Read More about Kid Nation, Kitchen Nightmares have “solid but unspectacular” debut ratings