Santa Fe, New Mexico - Forty children ranging in ages from 8 to 15 years, taken to an isolated, remote part of the New Mexican desert without their parents for six weeks to a ghost town to build a society of their own.
It all harkens up images of Waco, Ruby Ridge and even Guyana that you expect government agents either from the FBI or ATF to drive up any minute, raiding the compound with firearms in tow, rescuing the babes lost in the wilderness and finally freeing them from their cruel sadistic captives.
Only it is not a deadly cult. Although, as some would argue, there are not so many dissimilarities, contractually speaking, like the difference between slavery and indentured servitude, and the high production value, accompanying narrative and timely musical soundtrack.
No. It is the latest installment from the reality TV show genre to hit the airwaves that tests the limits of both good taste and questionable parenting.
"Yeah, Lord of the Flies was rather tame in comparison," said Maxwell Mead, a former associate producer of the show filing a formal complaint with child protective services.
"You heard of the so called 'accidental' drinking of the bleach, right?" continued Mead. "Well, it was no accident. It was attempted poisoning by the other children in the group, occurring three separates occasions to three separate children. We never found out who was doing it, either."
Mead went onto explain that the so called 'accidental' burning widely reported in the media was actually an attempted act of cannibalism by the older children onto the youngest most venerable of the group.
The camera crew only at the last minute aborted the attempt when they realized that they had miscounted the children that day, and the extra child they thought wondered into the camp from a rival network filming a similar children's reality TV show down the road was actually a member of Kid Nation.
In Mead's estimation, the six-week long social experiment managed to prove what millions of years of evolution bare out and what every parent already instinctive knew: kids cannot fend for themselves at such a young age. And if left to their own devices, they will manage to both accidentally kill themselves or each other. Even try to eat one another.
"A couple of days more, and we would have produced more than a show," added Mead. "At least three class one felons, four misdemeanors and five missing children police reports. Fortunately for us, we just end up with a bunch stinky, smelly and hungry kids at the end of the day. All present and accounted for."
CBS executives declined to make any comment except to say that no animals were injured in the production, though a number of flies were reported as missing their wings and numerous anthills were inexplicably reduced to craters.
Once again, they cautioned the show is CG (Child Guidance) Rated. Suggesting, a child be present, if viewed by a parent. Due in part to the earth shattering effect of demolished iconic ideals parents have of their children, but mainly the human species as a whole.
