CBS Announces New Fall Reality Series "Kid Nation"  5/16/07

Kid Nation is a reality-based series in which 40 kids will have 40 days to build a new world — in a ghost town that died in the 19th Century.  These kids, ages 8-15, will spend more than a month without their parents or modern comforts in Bonanza City , N.M. , attempting to do what their forefathers could not — build a town that works. 

They will cook their own meals, clean their own outhouses, haul their own water and even run their own businesses — including the old town saloon (root beer only). They'll also create a real government — four kid leaders who will guide the group through their adventure, pass laws and set bedtimes. 

Through it all, they'll cope with regular childhood emotions and situations: homesickness, peer pressure and the urge to break every rule they've ever known. At the end of each episode, all 40 kids will gather at an old fashioned Town Hall meeting where they will debate the issues facing Bonanza City . They'll show wisdom beyond their years and the unflinching candor that only kids can exhibit.  

There are no eliminations on Kid Nation — you only go home if you want to. And in every Town Hall meeting, kids may raise their hands and leave. Will they stick it out?   In the end, will these kids prove to adults everywhere (and their own parents!) that they have the vision to build a better world than the pioneers who came before them? And just as importantly, will they come together as a cohesive unit, or will they abandon all responsibility and succumb to the childhood temptations that lead to round-the-clock chaos?  

Kid Nation is produced by Emmy Award winner Tom Forman ("Extreme Makeover: Home Edition") for Tom Forman Prods. and Good TV, Inc.

Source: CBS Press Release