Columnist

Would you ever let your child participate in a “social experiment” where they are placed in the middle of a desert to inhabit and create a town all without any adult supervision?

Well at least 40 families did because this premise sets the base for CBS’ new controversial reality show, “Kid Nation.” Before seeing the show, I was intrigued by the idea, which brought to mind the novel “Lord of the Flies.”

The promos in the summer were filled with kids smiling, high-fiving each other and gallivanting around with glee. But when I tuned in to the premiere episode last Wednesday night, I thought I was watching a Tarantino film.

Forty kids were dumped in the desert with all of their baggage and were told to lug it in wagons several miles to an unoccupied ghost town. Keep in mind, some of these kids are eight years old and are as skinny as sticks.

When they arrived at this town, they all chose bunk houses, made macaroni and cheese and explored the place they would call home for the next 40 days.

In the first 30 minutes of the pilot alone, a kid gets hurt while trekking through the desert carrying his bags, a scrawny 10-year-old gets into a physical altercation provoked by a 15-year-old, a beauty pageant winner cries uncontrollably and an adorable 8-year-old hides and proclaims that he can’t take it anymore.

While watching, I wanted to turn the channel immediately, but for some reason, I couldn’t. I don’t understand what’s entertaining about seeing innocent children break down in tears because their parents convinced them that a reality show will change their lives.

I didn’t care about what kid would be a cook, or who made good points during a meeting, I wanted to see how far this show would go until a producer snapped out of his “social experiment” hypnosis and finally abolished this nation of kids.

At the end of every episode, the producers give the kids the option to leave. When one 8-year-old wanted to leave because he was homesick, the snide host of the show tried to manipulate the little boy into staying.

He claimed this television show was super important to life and how it was an experience of a lifetime. Thankfully the kid was able to leave before he was forced to drink the prove-your-parents-wrong Kool-Aid.

I don’t know why “Kid Nation” is on the air. It’s exploitative and demeaning. If it was truly as monumental as the producers claim it to be, there would be no camera crews or reward challenges or multi-million dollars of advertisement time.

There would be no “Real World”-like confessionals in which the producers coach these kids on what to say, do and think. “Kid Nation” is entertaining to an extent just to see the eclectic group of kids.

Some of which are incredibly brilliant for their age, while others are funnier than most sitcoms these days. But in the age of television where “reality” shows dominate, “Kid Nation” seems meek.