First they had The Muppets. Then along came Muppet Babies, infantilized versions of Kermit, Fozzie, Piggy and Scooter.

Years after Bugs Bunny and the gang had lost their appeal, Warner Brothers introduced Baby Looney Tunes, a regressed rendition of the classic cartoon characters.

Now, with reality TV shows more ubiquitous than stray hairs on Donald Trump’s head, CBS is resorting to the “bring on the babies” strategy with Kid Nation, a reality show featuring children. No adults. Just children.

  Kid Nation Preview

  Clip: This Is Butter, Not Soap

Call it, “Survivor Babies.”

40 kids between eight and 15 years old will be dropped into Bonanza City, New Mexico, a veritable frontier ghost town, and challenged to turn it into a working community. With no parents to help them, the children must cook and clean for themselves, establish their own working government, set laws (bedtime rules), and even run Old West-style businesses such as a saloon (which only serves root beer, by the way).

Unlike other reality shows, no one gets voted off Kid Nation. But if life on in the Old West gets too tough, contestants can quit at any time and return to the comforts of their Dora the Explorer sheets.

Like all reality shows, there is a cash prize at stake, $20,000, which will be awarded to one child chosen by a majority of the others as being the most worthy “pioneer.”

The hook, of course, is that kids will be kids. As if starting a city isn’t tough enough, these children will have to do it while dealing with homesickness, peer pressure, and the temptation to act up with no real authority figures around. At least that’s what CBS is promising.

But will it be entertaining? I don’t know about you, but watching kids be deprived and have a meltdown isn’t exactly “must-see TV” for me. If you have children, you know this. I don’t have kids, but I’ve watched a niece and nephew or two go nuclear in the supermarket before. Even when it’s for some completely unjustified reason, seeing a child have a temper tantrum is uncomfortable at the least, and triggers a natural emotional response. You don’t want to see them cry. It’s disquieting.

It might be entertaining when Susan screws Kelly out of a million bucks by calling her a rat and voting for Richard, or when Ilan tells Marcel to stick his foam where the sun doesn’t shine (moments from the first Survivor and Top Chef Season 2 if you don’t remember) but I don’t think it will be as entertaining to see kids behaving the same way.

And of course, they will behave the same way. CBS offers that we might witness children proving to adults that they have the vision to create a better world. “Out of the mouth of babes…” so to speak. I doubt it. Most of the contestants have probably seen an episode of Big Brother or two. They know how this works. Offering $20,000 only adds a little motivation to turn Bonanza City into the island from Lord of the Flies.

Kids will be kids.

Kid Nation premieres Wednesday, September 19 on CBS.

Ethan Morris: “Not always right, but never in doubt.” Go ahead and write me.