Kid Nation

New York MagazineLindsay Robertson

Like any good reality show, Kid Nation's strengths are in its characters, and the most remarkable aspect of these characters so far is their intellectual superiority to adults on reality shows--they use big words and make funny jokes!

Los Angeles Times

As you might expect from a program that stars 40 kids--at least some of whom will say the darndest things--it is pretty delightful

SalonHeather Havrilesky

Games of make-believe might be useful, but otherwise, playtime is just a dangerous fantasy that gives children the illusion that their lives won't be a living hell when they grow up. Is that really fair? That's why it's so satisfying to watch as the kids realize that they have to work, and work is hard.

New York Daily NewsRichard Huff

What Kid Nation lacks, however, is drama. With a cast of 40, it's hard for viewers to get attached to any of them long enough to care.

New York PostLinda Stasi

It's a good kid show, but frankly, as an adult I'll lose interest faster than it took these kids to make gourmet biscuits and grits.

The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley

CBS, which had promoted the show as almost exactly that ["Lord of the Flies" for voyeurs], backed down, explaining that Kid Nation was really more of a 40-day character-building exercise, like Outward Bound, but with camera crews and off-camera supervisors. And of course, it turned out to be a little of both, but mostly neither.

Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan

There was one brief shoving match on the program, in which a 15 year old "got in the face" of an 11 year old, but most of the program was pretty sedate, if not a bit bland.

Detroit Free PressJulie Hinds

Would the creators of Kid Nation please go to their room for a time-out and come up with something more original?

Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen

It's a mildly entertaining reality series designed to encourage controversy to draw viewers and goose ratings.

PopMattersMarisa LaScala

Kid Nation does not mean to find out whether kids can do what adults could not. It means instead to demonstrate that these kids really would die without the intervention of adults.

Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

But even if you pushed those questions about production ethics out of your mind last night, the Kid Nation premiere was still an uncomfortable, irritating, and narratively subpar hour of TV. It was a disorganized mess that milked its young cast for cacophonous psychodrama.

Washington PostTom Shales

It's not so much an exercise in socialization as the indoctrination of children into a consumer culture.

USA TodayRobert Bianco

They're kids, exhibiting the kind of behaviors, good and bad, that kids do in real life. That's not awful or particularly surprising--but it's also not even remotely entertaining.

VarietyBrian Lowry

Setting the controversy aside, the show is hopelessly derivative, shamelessly manipulative and in narrative terms, a bit of a mess.