Kids Nation reality show (no this does not belong in the lounge)

[donsu]

I been watching it and really think it shows just how much little kids can know and do.

but one thing is awful.

the town has a saloon. the kids can buy rootbeer and other drinks. they provide shot glasses. and we get to see the kids mimic adults putting down shots and drinking beer(root) from bottles. the kids have the mannerisms down pat. look just like the adults drinking. it is amazing and horrifying.

in the last show one 8 or 9 yr. old boy went thru a thing and was feeling down about and said to the other kids 'I need a beer' as he headed for the saloon.


SEE! more proof that young males are not being taught how to handle life's losses and rejections. he mimicked adult males and headed for a beer


another little 8 or 9 yr. old boy left the show because he missed his GIRLFRIEND and family and couldn't stop crying over it.

the last thing little boys (or girls) need is a girlfriend (he had a picture of her for pete's sake)

the male could not handle the loss of his girlfriend for 40 days.

SEE?

the young cop kills ex girlfriend and everyone else around - 14 yr. old shoots teachers. neither knew how to handle life.

[Benhurst]

1. They ought to have a medicine man and medicine wagon. The

kiddies could by over-priced sugar pills and tonic water with which to over-medicate themselves. Hell, they could realistically reproduce BushAmerica's health care system with little effort whatsoever.

[MADem]

2. I think the entire construct is hideous. I think their parents should be shot.

The kids are being exploited. I found the thing UNWATCHABLE. CBS should be horsewhipped.

The only brain in that bunch was the kid who punched out and went home.

[donsu]

6. I disagree. this show and other reality shows us is the reality of

american life. Kid's Nation is great. shot glasses - NO

[MADem]

14. That may be your reality, but it's not, thankfully, mine or that of my family.

I couldn't imagine anyone related to me sending a kid off to that hellhole to be filmed, prodded, gamed and exploited by a television network in that fashion. It's disgusting. It makes that SURVIVOR bullshit look high-minded by comparison, and that's some real Shit Tee Vee.

YMMV and likely does, but I'm not changing my view on this.

[tomreedtoon]

29. Ever hear of "Battle Royale?"

That's a Japanese animated movie, and now a live-action movie, where a class of school kids are given random weapons and placed on an island. They must kill each other until only one is left alive.

It's a big hit among the gorehounds in America. They love it. It's only a matter of time before they try to find a way to do it in reality. Thank you, Brian Seacrest.

[MADem]

32. Sounds like a pisspoor remake of Lord of the Flies. NT

[tomreedtoon]

34. Except the ADULTS force the kids to kill each other.

That should appeal to the sadists over at CBS and in the murder-happy horror magazines. As well as to the American Federation of Teachers.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Oh for fuck's sake.

They're playing at being cowboys.

"the male could not handle the loss of his girlfriend for 40 days."

Holy shit! The eight year old was home sick! What a cry-baby! :eyes:

"the young cop kills ex girlfriend and everyone else around - 14 yr. old shoots teachers. neither knew how to handle life."

This is all a really dumb joke, right?

[bigscott]

7. bingo

we used to play cops and robbers- complete with grisly dealth scenes, faked cigarettes and beers - so far I have not killed anyone in real life

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. This reminds me of the scary racist penguins thread.

[donsu]

9. no, not a dumb joke - think about it awhile

nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. You mean it's not a joke?

[FreedomRain]

4. the last thing little children need is

someone telling them who and when they are allowed to love. I've had a girlfriend at almost any age I can remember.

The show is alright, so far, but they really should have not mixed that oldest thug "Greg" in with the rest. I am sure they could have seen what was coming with him in the interview process. They left him in for the dramatic conflict value.

[donsu]

12. thugs are part of real life and how we handle thugs are part of it

nt

[FreedomRain]

22. I was thinking the same thing

as a justification for leaving him in, but I would have dropped him for safety reasons. I can't believe they consider him for the star every damn round! (haven't seen the last one yet)!

[NeedleCast]

5. You understand that these shows are produced, yes

and that there is very little "reality" in reality TV?

[cboy4]

10. This is from the CBS website from the previous

episode:

"At breakfast, Colton, Eric, Zach, and some other Kids get into a heated discussion over Christianity and Judaism."

:spray:

I know that all I ever talked about when I was a kid. Couldn't care less about my tonka trucks.

[donsu]

13. you would have to have seen the show to know what happened

the kids had to make a choice between holy books or a miniature golf game set up for them. they chose holy books.

they had a huge discussion about religion - and found their own way to come together over it.

[cboy4]

15. I don't know. I find it disturbing that this kind of show is

on CBS and not Nickelodeon.

To base a show on little kids and market it toward an adult audience is sort of creepy in my opinion.

Having said that, I've not seen the show, but the premise bothers me.

[donsu]

16. see the show

nt

[bluedog]

33. I seen it. they are doing well

the kids are doing a real good job of getting along and picking their priorities.they had a choice of more port-a- potties or a TV.....they choose Port-a potties, one other one I seen was.....the Bible and other Religious Books...or a rough gulf course.....they choose the books.....another was a microwave or Pizza.....they chose Microwave.....

The dishes were being left dirty and one team member asked for help other team members to help wash and clean up.They did........even though they were from different teams..

The boy who cried,..well he broke my heart......he was so homesick......the letter from his little friend just was his tipping point.......he was remembering how much he missed home and his family and friends..like he said.he spent time away before..but he had his grandmother there.

give the kids a break..they are learning.....and picking and choosing what they feel is right for their "town".....I'd say...they seem smarter than some adults.

[SoCalDem]

17. The definitive film on children running things was made a long time ago

These kids on the tv version, are play-acting.. not actually surviving on their own.. and yes I think it's terribly tacky to have introduced a "saloon" into things..

The thing is that kids really DID have to do some real surviving back in the REAL old west. There were ( and probably still are in some communities) kids who worked 12-18 hrs a day on sod-buster farms. These kids also did a huge part of the child rearing, they cared for the animals, did harvesting, tended the gardens, fought range fires, and insect infestations.. Many of them lived too far away to even attend school, and only learned as much at their semi-literate parents could teach them..

People who audition for these so-called reality shows are looking for their own way out of their ordinary lives,. the parents of these kids are seeing $$$$ if their little darling happens to "break out" , and ends up with a commercial or maybe a role in some other tv show.

The sad thing is that some kids who are naturally drawn to shows with kids their own age, might be confused and think that it IS real :(

[donsu]

18. kids are smarter then you give them credit for

of course this isn't the real old west.

of course the parents should be paid money.

of course this is a big learning experience for the kids.

[donsu]

19. this thread has veered off course - subj. males not learing how to deal

with life's troubles. so deal with it with violence

and alcohol


the kids on the show, without knowing it, are holding a mirror up to the adults.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

21. I'm pretty sure that root beer does not contain alcohol.

Nor is having a glass of beer a particularly inappropriate response for dealing with feeling down.

Nor do I think the show teaches kids to shoot people for feeling depressed.

[SoCalDem]

25. The kids are mirroring what they have heard of and seen about the "old west"

they are playacting. (like kids do in real life too) :hi:

My guess is that once chosen, those kids were treated to a heavy dose of the old Gunsmoke shows and maybe "the Rifleman", and any number of old western movies.

Modern kids don't see shows like these, but the people producing this "tv show" may have, and knew what they were after.. They wanted "Bugsy-Does-Deadwood"

The "real west" was not a kid-friendly place, and the actions of and reactions of these kids cannot possibly be "realistic". These are modern kids who have been fully indoctrinated by commercial tv for their whole lives, and who are play-acting what they have been shown..

[FreedomRain]

26. I'll have to agree to that, you don't

see any of the girls acting out in that manner. (Taylor has her own problems, but one of them is having been put in charge; few teens are gonna respect a 9 yr old pageant queen as a leader.)

So, why do you think some of the boys act this way? Isn't it natural? Many of the boys in school did the same thing, at all ages. It would take a massive societal change to give them other strategies for dealing with trouble. It would be interesting if they had a panel of child psychologists discuss the show for ten minutes after every episode.

[spoony]

20. The "depth charges" were a bit over the top

It was like they were in binge-drinking training or something, cheering each other to chug faster. I wonder how much the producers influenced this behaviour, as well as the dramatic monologues etc.

[NeedleCast]

23. I remember binge drinking Coke as a kid

It was funny. We'd see who could "chug" the most coke before the carbonation caused them to blow coke out their sinuses. Just dumb shit kids do.

I don't think it's indicative of kids with future drinking problems.

Now I'm off to make my afternoon jagerbomb.

[donsu]

24. yes mimicking college kids drinking

watching that was horrifying

the kids have all the adult drinking mannerisms down pat.

[NeedleCast]

31. What are adult drinking mannerisms?

I mean, we all pretty much put the source of beverage to our mouths and swallow, correct?

I don't think it's any more mimicing adult drinking mannerisms is than "chugging" milk in elementry school so we could produce a big belch and invoke an "ewwww, gross" from the girls sitting around us.

[spoony]

35. Did you used to drop a shot glass full of chocolate milk

into a beer glass of white milk then chug it? That's the stuff I'm talking about. They might as well have been doing root beer bongs.

[Ilsa]

27. When are they doing the show on religion? nt

[donsu]

28. it was the last show - in my area Wed. nite

it was interesting to see how the kids first reacted, the divisions, and then the kids coming together in their own way.

[DS1]

30. has the black kid been busted for dog fighting yet?

:eyes:

[earth mom]

36. I like it too, though I've missed a lot of it. Last night they were talking religion: Amazing!

But I was ticked that I had to miss most of the rest of the show because I had to run to the store! :(