Nov. 04, 2003 CBS pulls 'Reagans' miniseries By Scott Collins and Cynthia Littleton Following a storm of protest, CBS has yanked its sweep miniseries "The Reagans," a controversial four-hour glimpse of the 40th president and his family, sources close to the production said. CBS chief Leslie Moonves made the decision after concluding that the film was unfair to the Reagans and that even extensive edits had not produced an acceptably balanced portrayal. The only question that remains is whether the miniseries will be picked up by the cable net Showtime -- like CBS, a unit of Viacom -- or shelved entirely, sources said. The miniseries was scheduled to bow Nov. 16 on CBS. "The Reagans," executive produced by Neil Meron and Craig Zadan ("Chicago"), has been vehemently attacked by critics who complained that early drafts of scripts leaked to the press have included scenes with little or no basis in historical fact. At least one version of the script reportedly included material suggesting that President Reagan suffered from Alzheimer's disease as early as 1984 and refused to help AIDS victims because of their "sins." Broadsides against the eye miniseries became a staple of conservative talk radio. Some critics were jubilant at the news of CBS' turnabout. "The Reagans deserve to have a film made that didn't come with an agenda," Los Angeles talk show host Al Rantel of KABC-AM said on the air Monday night. "It's like somebody hiring Yassir Arafat to do a movie about the life of (former Israeli President) David Ben-Gurion. ... Those two guys (Zadan and Meron), as believers in the gay left, would like nothing better than to smear Ronald Reagan. If CBS (executives) had any illusions about that, then they're not as smart as they should be." Some within CBS are shocked by the pre-emptive attacks on the film and had hoped that the network would air the miniseries to let viewers decide the issue for themselves. But Moonves and CBS entertainment president Nancy Tellem believe that the finished product is too politically charged and is not the love story between the Reagans that was originally pitched to network executives, sources said. CBS declined comment, as did Meron and Zadan.
Good it sounded like a horrible piece of television. I don't care how accurate or inaccurate certain parts were, it just sounded like a bad idea from the beginning.
So can we say the same about "Friends"? What about the Jessica Lynch story? or Elizabeth Smart? IT'S A TV SHOW!!!! And I guess we can put to rest the debate about who influences the networks now huh? RNC has got some strong pull huh?
Are you kidding? Hello, the show was going to be a bunch of lies. Everyone would have brought outrage down. They did interview with Reagan's aides and they said they were not even questioned about the comments made...where did they get their info? They lied! If you come down on Bush you might as well come down on CBS.... or you just choose who you want to be lied to by? Maybe this is a fundamental human truth we can all start to agree on... We're lied to by the ones we love...
Nobody seemed to mind buying multiple books on the Clintons that were filled with lies. Didn't Pat Robertson advertise a tape that had a bunch of made up conspiracy type stuff about the Clintons? Where was the outrage then? I wasn't gonna watch this either way and I certainly don't want to watch something that has fabrications, I just don't want to hear b****ing from the talking heads who lie about Clinton all the time.
twhy77 it's a TV script, it's fiction. They were not pushing this as a documentary. CBS caved to the pressure from the right.
Do I need to get into this? Don't tell me you haven't heard the stuff about drug trafficing and murder.
I once saw a video that exposed him as a mob boss. Seriously. I know this has nothing to do with crap run on a network TV station, I just thought it was funny. Bill Clinton, Arkansan mob boss.
Yeah but I mean, nobody takes that stuff seriously whearas a network TV station was going to portray this as the way it was...documentary or whatever, it just didn't need to be there, just like the stuff about him being a mob boss doesn't need to be there....and no I haven't heard anything about drug trafficing and murder...
Network TV Station? The Clinton allegations about drug trafficking and murder were not just in some crazy right wing militia website; that kind of garbage ran in the Wall Street Journal . Truly pathetic.
I once got an e-mail that accused him of taking part in no less than 20 murders. Of course, that wasn't on network tv, just some right wing sickos who've mastered the e-mail portion of the information superhighway.
Well, I think that the TV show producers can be allowed some leeway in fictional stories, but this really sounds like slander. Wouldn't you think it was ignorant if a miniseries was made, televised by FOX, produced by Pat Robertson, that portrayed Bill Clinton as someone who regularly brought in prostitutes to the White House and habitually lied about everything?
It's the historical dadaist himself....dada dadadddaddada He "rewrites" Sonnet 18 by cutting up the words and pasting them back together to say something different, kind of like what Michael Moore did with the Charlton Heston interview...
