"40 Children, 40 Days, No Adults. Can they do it? Can they build a better world than grown-ups?"

This is the promotional tagline for a controversial new reality show on CBS called "Kid Nation," where forty kids aged 8-15 are left to fend for themselves in a New Mexico ghost town, frontier-style. And there's no parental supervision whatsoever. Sure, it all sounds like good times, but its definitely not your average slumber party. Charged with the task of building a new society from the ground-up, the kids elect representatives, attend townhall meetings, and even run their own saloon. 

You've got to check out the official CBS trailer:

Strange, right? 

"Kid Nation" won't air until September 19th, but the show has already generated its fair share of criticism from people calling the show disconcerting or even unethical.

Here is one Chicago Sun-Times writer's opinion:

The trailer is the most disturbing thing I've ever seen in relation to a prime-time show. The first two times I watched it, my stomach turned. Literally. I thought I was going to vomit. Not metaphorically. And I don't even have kids.

The trailer prominently features town meetings where kids cry with homesickness or stress. So how could a television show that exploits the psychological and emotional anxiety of children for entertainment possibly be legal? In most states, it isn't. CBS found a loophole in New Mexico child labor laws by describing "Kid Nation" as a kind of summer camp. 

Not surprisingly, the show has drawn comparisons to William Golding's novel, "Lord of the Flies," in which a group of school boys, stranded on a desert island, begin to form their own society and, if I'm not mistaken, end up decapitating boars and killing each other.

I doubt that "Kid Nation" will prove to be that dramatic, but I still find the premise a bit bizarre. My 13 year-old cousin, however, remains unconcerned: "It will probably just prove that kids aren't as stupid as grown-ups. Have you even seen The Bachelor?"