Reality Shows that Just Faded Away, Part 1: Kid Nation

 Some reality shows debut to much hype, get decent ratings, develop a fan base, and then, after one season, or maybe two, or sometimes not even an entire season, they just fade from the entertainment-news cycle. Sometimes there's talk about another season, but that season never actually gets on the air, sometimes the show just stops being on the air and just stops being promoted. It doesn't die, it just fades away. 

One good example is, whatever happened to plans for Kid Nation seasons 2 and 3? The first season of Kid Nation went on the air in 2007, hyped as a family-friendly show that children and parents could watch and discuss together. The concept: children of grade-school age would create their own "nation" with no on-camera adult supervision, the only on-camera adult being the show's host who announced each show's challenges and "town meetings," but otherwise the children in the cast were left to resolve each segment's inevitable issues and conflicts themselves.

Educators may have recognized an approach similar to the progressive ideas of John Dewey, and the child-centered approaches of Maria Montessori. Putting children into a televised reality show where they would learn by doing, working by a process of discovery rather than through traditional adult guidance, is very similar to alternative educational concepts that have been tried and tested for more than a century.

While the show generated controversy, as any project that puts children in charge of their own development will, it also developed a fan base, and there were reports that a second and third season were expected. Yeah, the kids bickered and fought, got hurt a few times, and said outrageous things--just like adults on reality TV and in reality do. 

Then the show just faded away, the announced second (and third) season never came to pass, and no spin-off's, knock-off's, or updates have ever come to pass, either. If you poke around the Internet, best explanation is that plans for subsequent seasons floundered on the questions of whether the cast of children would be employees of a TV series, or if the TV show was a multi-part documentary of an educational experience similar to a summer camp. If the children were show employees, then the show would have to comply with union protections for children's employment. If the show was meant to be a documentary series recording children in an educational environment, then standards for educational/recreational facilities would have to apply. A subsequent season of the show that would have been compatible with either concept never went into production.

As for the forty kids that made Kid Nation what it was, after winning so many fans and showing so much promise, they faded back into anonymity. On the Internet you'll find a few "where are they now" updates--for example, one of the cast, Daniel Kiri, is now an actor on Chicago Fire--and there are You Tube videos devoted to catching up with the cast--but you have to hunt for them. You don't see "former Kid Nation cast member" as part of the credentials for any prominent media influencer, political activist, expert that appears when a talking head is needed, or someone who pops up on other reality shows. The cast has faded away just like the rest of the show.

Given the ever-expanding world of reality TV, the Kid Nation concept of having children being in control of their own "nation" deserves to be revived. Maybe a production team--either the original producers or their successors--could present a revised concept that would be compliant with child actor protections required by unions and/or applicable laws for educational/recreational facilities. Perhaps such a show could be hosted by an educator trained in progressive or Montessori methods that could explain the pedagogy involved to viewers.