History Channel pulls Kennedy family miniseries

[image=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2011/01/kennedy_pap_2011_a_p.jpg]

Caroline and Maria didn't like it?

Is anyone else kind of bummed about this? A miniseries about the Kennedys in the Sixties could make for some really dramatic television, and could even be as good as the John Adams one from a while back. Then again, this is the History channel.

 

It probably would have been interesting but I agree that the History channel isn't exactly high quality these days. Besides, it's not like we haven't seen the Kennedy family in a zillion other movies/TV shows before.

 

The way I see it with my extremely limited knowledge of this project (I haven't read any of the scripts), it's either one of two things. It's A.) a miniseries that includes elements of the "Dark side" of the Kennedys, including John and Bobby, as presented to the world by Seymour Hersh, or it's B.) a miniseries that attempts to rewrite history with a more favorable right-wing point of view (with 24's Joel Surnow writing). Possibility B has two further possibilities- it's a.) something to completely smear the Kennedys and make them look awful, like monsters, or at least make JFK look incompetent or b.) something to make JFK look like a right-winger whose legacy was hijacked by the left-wing after his death.

If it's Option A, with none of the B, it could've been really, really good.

edit: Jello: who? or where?

 

Given the man who produced it and the criticism of the script, I am not shedding any tears over the miniseries' loss.

 

Except that the History Channel approved of the script before shooting ever began. They knew what they were getting. Okay, Surnow's a conservative, but if that's all the evidence people are going off of to declare that it must be some kind of a hatchet job, then I'm just a tad skeptical. Frankly, however it turned out, it's gotta be at least as historical as what the channel had on tonight: Pawn Stars and American Pickers.

I do wonder about some of those cheering this decision, though. Would they have reacted the same if the Bushes had got W pulled by its studio? Or, for that matter, what'd they say when The Reagans aired on cable instead of CBS a few years back?

 

I give more weight to the fact that he co-created neocon masturbation fantasy 24 and Fox News' "answer" to The Daily Show. As well as criticisms from historians on drafts of the script-- admittedly not the final draft, though.

I couldn't care less about the fact that it really doesn't violate History Channel's already extremely-questionable integrity with regards to actual history. Nor do I care about a Ronald Reagan miniseries that was released when I was 16. I'll take my victories over perversions of history when I can get them.

 

Hahaha the only legitimate acting project that Katie Holmes gets in the last 5 years and it gets canceled.

 

PAWN STARS, AMERICAN PICKERS, MONSTER QUEST and a never ending parade of shows about white trash
loggers, fishermen and truck drivers heading to Alaska's North Slope in their fart-infested cabs.



Almost forgot the Mayan apocalypse/Alien invasion dramas.

 

Yeah. History Channel needs to tell the truth.

They cant exactly say it doesnt meet their "standards" when their standards typically involve Bigfoot driving an 18 wheeler to an Area 51 pawn shop.

 

Apparently, it got pulled because in it JFK is assassinated by a madman who jumps onto the backseat of the limo and shoots force lightning into the president.

 

I'm pretty excited about the Kennedy Home Movies special that's going to be on TLC in a couple of weeks.

 

"Well, I admit an 18-wheeler driven by bigfoot is a one-of-a-kind item, but there's not a huge market for those, and I need to make a profit. I'll give you $8000."

 

Uh, so? Doesn't mean it wasn't a Bush Republican fetish program. And it was still significantly bolstered (released shortly after) and ultimately inspired (from Season 2 onward) by the September 11th attacks.

 

You think Jack filmed Marilyn?

 

I'm not sure what I'm going to be watching if he didn't.

 

Bobby's sloppy seconds?

 

Who killed the Kennedy miniseries,

When after all it was you and me?

 

They say it was the Lee Harvey Oswald miniseries, but we all know it was the second miniseries on the Grassy Knoll.

 

My favorite documentary on the Kennedy assassination was one hosted by Peter Jennings on the 40th anniversary, mostly because it trashed the conspiracy theories. One guy claimed that Lee Harvey Oswald could not have fired as quickly as the Warren Commission said he did and still hit his mark. The show went on about how Oswald was a marksman in the Marines, but then they also showed an expert demonstrating that he could aim and fire as fast as Oswald did. He was in his 80's.

 

That one was excellent. The computer recreation was the highlight.

 

Got news for both of you, that thing was a joke that didn't come close to debunking any of the serious reasons sane people disbelieve the WC theory. It's not hard to make a convincing argument when you get to leave out anything that doesn't fit your need.
The best lone gunman book of all time (by consensus) about the assassination is Case Closed. I was less than surprised to see them pull the exact same tricks he does in the book on that special.

Insert conspiracy nut jokes now...

 

He didn't actually fire any bullets though.

 

What do "sane people" believe points to a conspiracy to assassinate the President, pray tell?


I find it funny that Garfield and McKinley were killed by lone, crazy gunmen and (especially in the latter case) were succeeded by extremely ambitious men who instituted radical changes in United States policy. Yet people pay little attention to those two, let alone give attention to any conspiracy theories. Hell, Harding's death could be considered "suspicious" even though he officially wasn't assassinated...

And let's not forget Lincoln, who actually was a victim of a conspiracy (though too many people don't really know that), albeit a small one consisting of unimportant people.