'Kid Nation': Little Miss Uncongeniality
Oct 25, 2007, 12:41 PM | by Pop Watch
Categories: Mini TV Watch, Reality TV
From the desk of Alynda Wheat:
Oh, PopWatchers, we learn so much every week from Kid Nation! Like how easy it is to kill chickens, and how sometimes you should pick a barbecue over a Bible. Last night was all about unity. Why did DK (pictured) get the $20K gold star/consolation prize for being stuck with one too many brats? Because he can bring those brats together! He's a preacherman, delivering love-the-sinner-hate-the-sin sermons that make Bonanza Citizens adore and respect him. Better yet, he's like their dad. And when Daddy said he was thinking about leaving because the kids were so bad, the tears were contagious, jumping from person to person like scabies in a Harvard dorm. Let's just hope he doesn't have cult-leader ambitions.
The irony is that Pageant Princess Taylor is basically serving the same function. In fomenting so much righteous indignation she manages to bring the town together in hate as completely as DK does with love. No, f'real she's a uniter, not a divider — and it ain't easy, people. Sitting idle, standing firm in the face of near-total dissension, extolling your innate superiority to all and sundry with lines like, "Beauty queens don't do [insert undesirable task here]." You have no idea how difficult a hat trick that is to pull off. We have to accept it: When Taylor refuses to haul trash or water, or do her assigned job, she's fostering team spirit, even if it is against her.
What's sad, though, is how much Kid Nation is still only about the few. We're six weeks in, CBS! When do we get to know the rest of the kids? Because inasmuch as we've grown to care about the council members (past and present), Zach, Jared, Sophia, Greg, and a few others, there's only so much we can say — at least not until we get that oh so crucial parent/audience conference with Taylor's folks.

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