CBS's Patinkin Village

Most of the hate stemmed from an article in TV Week that reported that the show makers had declared the production a "summer camp" instead of a workplace and took advantage of New Mexico child labor laws, which were lenient when it came to television and theatrical productions, but which the trade magazine said were changed not long after production on the reality series wrapped.

Forman insisted they picked New Mexico only because it had "the right location."

That's where he lost the critics.

"Does it trouble you at all that, if I follow this story correctly, the way you filmed 'Kid Nation' would be illegal in a number of states in the United States?"

"Is it something I think about? Of course," Forman responded. "I think we made the decision early on that we were going to give these kids an incredible experience. . . . I don't know that this is that different, at the end of the day, from what may go on at an Eagle Scout camp somewhere in the United States."

Show host Jonathan Karsh made the mistake of making comparisons to the documentary series "Seven Up," in which a group of British children were interviewed every seven years.

"It would be fascinating to do it like the 'Seven Up' series and, every seven years, see how these kids are doing," he said.

One critic responded: "I don't know if you've seen the recent installments in that documentary series, but those people are all adults now and, almost to a man and woman, they have unbelievable regrets that they allowed themselves to be filmed when they were 7 years old or 14 years old. They really, really despise that it happened. . . . I'm wondering what your reaction is to that."

Forman and Karsh appeared to be unaware of that latest installment. Karsh tried to recover, saying that "Kid Nation" shows children's leadership skills and that he believes all the kids will look back and be very proud of what they did, though he can't speak to what they'll think 20 years from now. But Forman said he could see how years down the road one of the kids might say, "I can't believe I wore that shirt or wore my hair like that" or "Oh God, I looked dumb," but "that's about as intense as it would get in this situation."

"It's not a joke about clothes -- they're very scarred," the critic said testily.

"The 'Seven Up' series is not my production," Forman responded.