I've been a supporter of CBS' reality experiment "Kid Nation" since the beginning. I give it credit for doing something different, and I'm all for more family-appropriate entertainment. The backlash against the show began before it ever aired, with people up in arms over child labor laws, child endangerment, and parents making a buck off their eager kids' backs (um, welcome to showbiz y'all). When the premiere finally aired in September it was savaged by most of the entertainment press, who labeled it boring (untrue) and contrived (sure, but what isn't?), and falsely reported that the children were violent toward one another (a gross exaggeration of an isolated incident).

Since then the ratings have been fairly uninspiring, and surely the project is a disappointment to CBS given all of its pre-debut buzz. But I've loved the show from the start, and in addition to it being genuinely fun and interesting, it's also surprisingly heart-warming and life-affirming.

Until last week. Things in Bonanza City-the Old West "ghost town" that has been turned over to 40 kids to run without adult supervision-turned ugly after the Pioneer Journal (one of the show's cheesiest elements, through which the producers essentially create drama in the town) encouraged the four districts to trade some their members. Three out of the four districts did so, but one elected not to. That district's leader, Laurel, came under intense fire by the kids of the town, and after a nearly unanimous vote of no confidence the entire four-person Town Council was unseated in an impromptu election, and four new kids took their place. Among them were the town's two biggest bullies, Greg and Blaine.

It's true that the kids have nobody but themselves to blame for putting these immature brats in control. That said, Americans have a knack for electing the wrong candidates all the time, so why should their kids be any different? In short order things got pretty dark. Greg and Blaine forced the kids to participate in pointless, offensive "respect" exercises (while acting completely disrespectful themselves, of course). They started eavesdropping on the kids' private discussions, some of which painted them unfavorably. And they repeatedly retaliated in the most immature ways possible, sowing even more discord in the town.

The bad times kept rolling in this week's episode, as the new, unimproved Council tried to steamroll over everyone else's will, causing an actual physical fight to break out over which chickens to kill for dinner (the girls protecting the "cute" chickens were equally at fault, and are horrible, but Greg's handling of the situation was to employ bullying tactics). They harassed the team's problem child, Taylor-a spoiled princess, to be sure-when the solution was to work with her, as former Council member Zack new very well. And then Greg and Blaine encouraged their districts to ignore their work details in favor of partaking in that week's reward, a town arcade, without limits. Great role models!

Since the Council shake-up went down I've found the show increasingly hard to watch. It used to be fun; now the kids are getting dangerously close to "Lord of the Flies" territory. A cynic could argue that if society's youngest, least corrupted members treat each other like crap so readily, there's little hope for the rest of us. I'd like to think it's just a couple bad apples (Greg, Blaine, Taylor, Emilie, arguably Olivia) making it bad for everyone else. I don't know. But there are only a couple episodes left, and I'll be surprised if CBS brings "Kid Nation" back (although it is a reality show, which is cheap, and there IS the writer's strike, which has screwed up their season, and CBS is far more willing to give reality shows a couple seasons to grow, a la "Amazing Race" and "Big Brother"), so I'll keep watching, and hoping that the disturbing turns the show has taken are only temporary, and that the good old fun Bonanza City will make a comeback.