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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

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It's a 'Kid Nation' after all

Girl hiding behind American flag

On CBS's reality TV show "Kid Nation," 40 children are set loose on a ghost town to create an adult-free society. But the Marketplace Players don't see how this is much different from the America we know now.

Girl hiding behind American flag (istockphoto)

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TEXT OF STORY

Scott Jagow: The show "Kid Nation" debuts on CBS tonight. Forty children are put in a ghost town and they create their own society, with no grown-ups -- at least, on camera. Some advertisers already think this is moronic and unsavory. They've pulled their spots.

But the Marketplace Players don't understand all the fuss. I mean, isn't America a "kid nation" already?


Announcer: Next season, the kids of "Kid Nation" take over . . . Congress.

Congressional Boy 1: To my colleagues across the aisle, I say: I wanna privatize Social Security!

Congressional Girl 1: But we wanna keep Social Security the way it is!

Announcer: And Congress . . . really doesn't change so much.

Congressional Girl 2: We need to raise taxes so we can all have toys.

Congressional Boy 2: Shut up!

Congressional Girl 2: You shut up!

Announcer: Alliances are forged . . .

Congressional Boy 1: Senator, I'll support your Lincoln log bridge to nowhere, if you support free fluffernutters for of all my friends.

Congressional Boy 2: Swear?

Congressional Boy 1: Swear.

Announcer: Enemies are made . . .

Congressional Girl 1: If you don't disclose the note I saw you pass to Jack Abramov in the cafeteria, I'm telling the ethics committee.

Announcer: And then: recess.

[Sound: Kids cheer]

Announcer: Kid Nation: You're living in it.

Jagow: Many thanks to our thespians: August and Willem Rosenberg and Cecilia Tripoli. In Los Angeles, I'm Scott Jagow. Thanks for joining us and enjoy your day.

Marketplace Confessional

"I disagree with Diana Nyad, who told Bob Moon today that Americans are not interested in Wimbledon because there are so few Americans playing. I love watching tennis, no matter who is playing. I have watched tennis for years, but the networks toy with us, creating drama rather than showing the match. Oftentimes, televised matches end precisely when the allotted time expires, even if they have to cut and splice. When they don't, as happened in a Nadal match last weekend, we were left hanging at the end of two sets, as NBC switched to women's golf. I don't have cable TV, so I couldn't switch to MSNBC as was suggested. It's enough to make me turn off the TV and read about the matches online."

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