In a new “Lord of the Flies”-esque reality creation from leading network CBS, children from ages 8 through 15 will create and administer to their very own society. And you thought teenagers and tweens were already scary – imagine giving them total control. Thanks to CBS, you don’t have to – you can just watch the action (safely) from your couch. That is…if you even want to.

The show will probably be called Kid Nation, though the title has yet to be officially decided, and will run for thirteen episodes on the most-watched network. Originally, Kid Nation was going to be a summer show (summer is the king of all reality seasons), but CBS execs thought the show could amount to much more if run during the fall (and prime TV) season. The show isn’t officially on the fall schedule…but that doesn’t mean it won’t make an appearance, just the same.

Reality programming where groups of random people are thrown together and put into intense survival situations have been the bread and butter of unscripted programming on CBS – the network’s Survivor success alone is a good argument for why reality can really work. Kid Nation continues in the same Survivor sort of vein…only, with a younger generation of would-be backstabbers and devious plot-makers. The show will observe the teens and tweens as they attempt to build a society (from scratch) for forty days and forty nights. Where, oh where, are these kids’ parents?

But don’t worry, these youngesters aren’t being shipped off to a remote tropic isle. Instead, they’ll be populating Bonanza City, NM, a “ghost town” that was abandoned by its residents more than a century ago. Hardly ideal for building a new society – a site that has been long since rejected. They will have no luxuries (like Playstation) and no parents (which isn’t as fun as it sounds when there’s no Playstation). Changing up the formula a little, this CBS reality show won’t eliminate kids – they’ll get to go home, or stick it out, when they want to. In an elimination antithesis, a single kid will be singled out each week by his or her peers not to take the shameful walk away, but to win an award.

Is it possible for a group of kids to not only construct an entire society, but live there in peace? What…you didn’t read “The Lord of the Flies” as a kid?