C'mon, wasn't this inevitable? Sources have told me that an East Coast law firm has hired a Century City law firm to pursue a possible lawsuit on behalf of one child, and maybe more, who were injured during the reality show Kid Nation. I'm told that CBS has been handling this dispute super-confidentially with in-house counsel and have twice tried to mediate it outside of the courts. But insiders tell me the sides are very far apart on money: CBS wants to pay $50K and the potential plaintiff is asking high 7 figures. Stay tuned.
- So CBS Airing 'Kid Nation' Doesn't Count?
- Yes, Les, This Was A Very Very Bad Idea
- Les, Lift The $5 Million Gag Order & Let 'Kid Nation' Children And Parents Tell All
- Finke/LA Weekly: Moonves Should Pull the Plug on Kid Nation
- No 'Kid Nation' Screeners For CBS Board
- Advertisers Are Rejecting CBS 'Kid Nation'
- Les Moonves, A Mogul With No Conscience
WTF? We all (or at least I) read those waivers that were leaked to Smoking Gun that basically said you couldn’t sue CBS for a dime even if your kid were decapitated. I’d settle huge, CBS, because the parents who managed to get around all your escape clauses must have lawyers more devious than you’ve ever dreamed of.
Comment by Nick — March 5, 2008 @ 4:59 pm
Well, no contract holds water if it’s ultimately deemed by a court to be unreasonable in the first place. Plus there are kids involved, so all bets are off.
I’d be kind of (unreasonably) happy to see CBS go to hell — broke — for this.
Comment by K — March 5, 2008 @ 8:45 pm
This is lame… the parents should sue themselves. They knew what the concept of the TV show was and there’s no way the production company could guarantee children wouldn’t be injured. Shame on the parents for agreeing to let their kids participate while knowing the deal, then wanting to sue CBS afterwards. What do you want to bet by the way that it’s one of the kids who DIDN’T win a big cash prize? Envy and greed run deep.
Comment by John — March 6, 2008 @ 5:32 am
Uh, I am so over people acting like Kid Nation was a horrible thing for those kids. It was summer camp with cameras. There was a show on Disney a decade ago called Bug Juice that was essentially the same thing.
Comment by Marcus — March 6, 2008 @ 8:24 am
Sheesh Marcus, there’s a *slight* difference here. Bugjuice was a camp run by professionals with camp counsellors that cooked for the children and slept in their bunks with them. They were with the kids 24/7. In Kid Nation, the kids (apart from the challenges) were pretty much left to their own devices. They had to cook for themselves and do all the work of basically running the town. That’s hardly “summer camp”.
Comment by Bryn — March 6, 2008 @ 12:37 pm
Yeah I saw this on globalgrind. The parents better accept the $50k and call it a day. They were stupid for exploiting their child in such a manner.
Comment by Kdollaz — March 6, 2008 @ 1:50 pm
Lawyer Nation.
Comment by M — March 6, 2008 @ 8:36 pm
Come on. The parents agreed to this. CBS took advantage of it and produced a show from it. It’s dumb for the parents to come back now and want to sue for a lot of money.
And no, there wasn’t a massive difference in the two shows. Yes, the kids cooked and cleaned themselves but were the cameras run by kids as well? Adults were there and available should any major issue come up.
Don’t be so righteous about about this. To date, nobody knows what lengths they went to create this environment for these children. Stop coaching from the sidelines.
Comment by Blake — March 6, 2008 @ 8:38 pm
what the i love this show how can they fuucking do that
Comment by lol — April 18, 2008 @ 5:34 pm