CBS is reeling under an onslaught of bad public ity over its new reality show, “Kid Nation.”
Over the weekend, questions were flying over whether the pounding the network has taken – most notably from The New York Times – will generate the kind of buzz that turns “Kid Nation” into a hit or force the network to cancel it before it even airs.
The show took 40 kids, between the ages of 8 and 15, and put them in a ghost town in the New Mexico desert. The kids had to fend for themselves in a primitive environment, hauling their own water, cooking their own food and, most importantly, establishing their own rules and government.
When CBS announced “Kid Nation” last spring, the show was immediately dubbed the reality TV version of “Lord of the Flies.”
New Mexico state officials are investigating to determine if child labor laws were violated by keeping the kids on camera for 14 hours a day – and whether the work they did was unsafe.
One mother is complaining her 12-year-old daughter was burned in a kitchen accident during filming – which took place last spring – and didn’t get medical attention.
The steady drumbeat of damning news coverage – including reports on rival network newscasts – has been a PR nightmare for the network that has had trouble in the past generating buzz for its shows.
“If it was pursuing the ‘Did you see Sanjaya’s ‘do?’ or ‘Ooh, McDreamy!’ kind of water cooler buzz, that’s not what it got,” Forbes magazine wrote last week.
Interestingly, the network has not permitted any critics to screen the show before its scheduled Sept. 19 debut.