And exactly how did CBS steer clear of violating child labor laws and compulsory schooling laws when it filmed "Kid Nation"? They left 40 kids in a ghost town and filmed all their waking hours. The kids had to take care of themselves and solve their own problems -- for our entertainment. And there were no teachers, even though it was not summer vacation time?snipHow'd they do it? By literally declaring the production a "summer camp" instead of a place of employment; by taking advantage of a loophole in New Mexico labor rules [exempting TV productions] two months before the state legislature tightened the law, and using a ghost town that wasn't exactly a ghost town....
Next season? Factory camp! Come on kids! It's a big fun game! And you can live in this run-down tenement building!
I wasn't that upset about the show when I heard about it. Partly because I knew they didn't have a "Lord of the Flies" incident because it would have been on the news earlier. This seems sleazy though. More and more of our entertainment is based on living vicariously through others as they are manipulated and edited to be heroes and villains in petty morality plays and reenactments of high school cliques.
Coming soon: Nursing Home Survivor; watch as seniors get voted off life support.
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