The End of the First

Beginning on September 20th, every Wednesday night at 7:00 I'd been watching CBS's new reality show, KID NATION. At first sight of the two-month-in-advance commercials, I immediately thought, "Are they serious? This show is NOT going to work." I had never planned on watching that first premiere episode, but when September 20th came around, I didn't have a good reason not to.

So I watched the premiere episode of Kid Nation. My reaction was the absolute opposite of what I had thought earlier. I LOVED IT. The kids were so interesting (props to CBS audition people). Let me just mention a few of them:

GREG: 15. The oldest kid there and if I don't say so...not all that bad looking either. He ended up on the third and final town council.

ZACH: 11. Really insightful kid with an intriguing voice. He was definitely one of my favourite kids throughout the entire run. He was on the second council and won the last gold star ($20,000).

SOPHIA: 14. Her mind deserves ample praise. She gave the impression of being resourceful and very intelligent. She was awarded the first gold star and one of the last gold stars (last ones were worth $50,000). She earned her reward.

MICHAEL: 15 (He had his birthday on the show). I absolutely loved this kid. That is not an exaggeration. He also came across as very intelligent, and when he talked, it always seemed that he knew what he was talking about. He was also on the final town council. I bet anything he's either an earth or an air element. My guess is that he's a Capricorn, but my only problem is I don't know when the episodes were filmed.

I shortly developed an obsession and re-watched the first episode at least six more times before the airing of the second episode. The next Wednesday night, I was eagerly waiting for episode number two and was so excited that I almost had difficulty breathing. My facination slowly died down though, and I became a normal viewer. As I watched from week to week, I couldn't help but notice the obvious tampering by CBS (they would not have just dumped 40 kids out in the middle of New Mexico without some supervision). It annoyed me, but I lived with it.

HOWEVER, I was disheartened, yesterday, when I realized that I was going to be watching the very last episode of Kid Nation. I had become fond of many of the kids, and it was hard to believe that I would never seem them again. It was like I was a part of the freaking show!! I watched the final episode and smiled almost all the way through it (especially at the part when the kids were reunited with their parents). It was sad to see the end.