Kid Nation is an American reality television series created by Endemol USA in which 40 children between the ages of 8 and 15 are left in a desert town to create a functioning society in the town, including setting up a government system with minimal adult help and supervision.
The series aired in the USA on CBS from 19 September to 12 December, 2007. There are 13 hour-long episodes in the series.
Kid Nation premiered in South Africa on SABC2 on Saturday 24 January 2009, at 20h00.
Synopsis
40 children, 40 days, no adults. Can they do it? Can they build a better world than grown-ups?
Kid Nation is a reality-based series in which 40 kids will have 40 days to build a new world... in a ghost town that died in the 19th Century.
These kids, ages 8-15, will spend more than a month without their parents or modern comforts in Bonanza City, New Mexico, attempting to do what their forefathers could not: build a town that works.
They will cook their own meals, clean their own outhouses, haul their own water and even run their own businesses, including the old town saloon (root beer only).
They'll also create a real government: four kid leaders who will guide the kids through their adventure, pass laws and set bedtimes.
Through it all, they'll cope with regular childhood emotions and situations: homesickness, peer pressure and the urge to break every rule they've ever known.
At the end of each episode, all 40 kids will gather at an old fashioned Town Hall meeting where they will debate the issues facing Bonanza City. One child will be awarded a gold star at the town council each week, worth $20,000.
There are no eliminations on Kid Nation. You only go home if you want to. And in every Town Hall meeting, kids may raise their hands and leave. Will they stick it out?
In the end, will these kids prove to adults everywhere - and to their own parents - that they have the vision to build a better world than the pioneers who came before them?
Just as importantly, will they come together as a cohesive unit, or will they abandon all responsibility and succumb to the childhood temptations that lead to round-the-clock chaos?
Stills
