1. Notify your local CBS affiliate TV station that you will NOT watch "The Reagans." This is very important.
2. Consider watching no CBS TV at all during that whole week, which is Sweeps Week. If so, email your local CBS station about that, too.
3. Watch for sponsors' lists, which will be published after the miniseries runs. I've already emailed Target, having read that they will be a sponsor -- told them I would not do any holiday shopping in their local store. Excerpts from their reply:
TARGET: "Target is not a sponsor of the two-part movie "The Reagans." However, we frequently advertise on several television networks, including the one airing this particular program. "
Translation: We didn't pay for the movie but we may have bought the airtime it will run in.
TARGET: " The purchase of commercial airtime is a complicated process. ...Target contracts with television networks, which then provide us with a block of programming time in which our commercials may air."
Translation: We can't do much about when our ads will run, having bought a "block of time."
Implication: It's those horrid networks' fault, not ours.
TARGET: "Not every program will appeal to every viewer..."
Give me a break!
Their address is <
guest.relations@target.com >
Regardless of what one thought of Mr. Reagan as president, the issue is the airing of a twisted smear as "history," which many people will take it for. Not to mention the callous attack on a man dying of Alzheimer's. If any of you have elderly family members with dementia, I suggest you include that point when emailing your local TV station or sponsors. I did.
sweeps is the whole month of november. Don't watch ANY cbs to impact the CBS bottom line for the rest of the quarter.
CBS should be more worried about the fact that NOBODY has said CBS has a reputation for fairness. In fact nobody is disputing just the opposite.
I understand about buying "Blocks" of airtime and they probably don't know when it's going to run. HOWEVER, they can make a public statement about future advertising from Target if this runs. Their explanation is a copout.
Bump for your post. Contractually, Target may not be able to back out of CBS, but they can ensure no Target ad runs during the show.
What we should eventually see as ads during the broadcast would be Ben & Jerry's, and maybe Nike.
What really confuses me is Streisand is Jewish: do the majority of Jews hate Reagan?
This whole saga sickens and depresses me.