The new program, called “Kid Detention,” is expected to be ready for broadcast in time for November sweeps, with the following promotional slogan: “One detention camp. Forty kids. No lawyers.” CBS said that filming would begin as soon as 40 children are “randomly rounded up.”
Within hours of its announcement, CBS found itself under fire from Amnesty International. The organization warned of possible human-rights violations that could occur once the children arrive at Guantánamo.
In an attempt to rebuff such criticism, CBS spokeswoman Carol Foyler told reporters, “Nothing worse is going to happen to those kids than if they were on ‘Two and a Half Men’.”
Foyler also attempted to dismiss Amnesty International’s complaint that the kids at Guantánamo would not be permitted to have lawyers. “We want to recreate the experience of being detainees, and of course that means no lawyers,” Foyler said. “Besides, just like the other detainees, these kids haven’t been charged with any crime.”
If “Kid Detention” takes off in the ratings as expected, Foyler said, the network may launch another series, “Kid Rendition,” in which the children are flown to Egypt for further questioning.
Elsewhere, after the president of Columbia University called him a “petty and cruel dictator,” Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied the existence of Columbia University.
