Notes and Observations on Kid Nation, episode 5 -

(spoilers)

- Not much to say about this episode. Taylor is such a one-dimensional bitch that she eventually just got boring.

- I wish I hadn't seen this picture right before the DK-focused episode.

- We replayed a few times on DVR and I'm pretty sure the home-schooled Guylan said, "I lived in a zoo, so I know how to handle a pig."

- While watching the episode I asked, "Who is more pathetic, Taylor or her friend?" New Kid Nation buddy Matt replied "You."

- Do they have showers? I guess they can't show kids showering, so we'll probably never know. It seems obvious, but last week we found out they had been living without toothbrushes.

- Is this the second challenge that has involved live pigs? Does CBS own a nearby farm?

- Speaking of challenges! Did you catch Olivia's bitter "come on Anjay" as he fruitlessly dugg through beans and pig shit? That rivalry is not over.

- CBS always works in one shot of the adorable little Asian kid with one tooth. You can set your watch to it. Same with the thimble-tiny Christian girl who won a gold star back in week 2.

- Fred Claus looks terrible, and I'm pretty sure it isn't going away until New Years. Just when it starts to fade there's going to be a second wave of "Get the family, and spend the holidays... with Fred" ads.

- PREDICTION: Taylor's no Greg, and she will not redeem herself and earn a gold star.

- The weekly challenges are getting increasingly arbitrary, which I suppose is as good a way as any to decide the upper class.

- I hate the one adult. They should get an 18-year-old to host the show or, at the very least, a cool 13-year-old in a suit.

- The Kid Nation cast page on CBS is full of kids who have received no face time, like Migle and Nathan. I guess they weren't being bitchy or making empty threats to leave Bonanza City.