Cancelled Reagan Miniseries Was 'a Stinker,' Says Critic

CNSNEWS.com ^ | 11/05/03 | Marc Morano

[kattracks]

(CNSNews.com) - A conservative media critic Tuesday called CBS's cancellation of the miniseries about former President Ronald Reagan "an amazing development" designed to obscure the reality that the movie was "a stinker." Democrats and liberals also decried the network's cancellation, with one website declaring a "Right-Wing Jihad Makes CBS Quiver."

Michael Medved, author of the book Hollywood vs. America and a nationally syndicated radio talk show host, said CBS and its parent company Viacom were caught off guard by the overwhelming response by conservative critics, government officials, talk show hosts, special interest groups and other Reagan supporters.

"They were probably surprised by the intensity of the emotion," Medved told CNSNews.com, adding that Viacom's decision to shift the miniseries to CBS' sister pay-cable network, Showtime, represented "an amazing development." The miniseries had previously been scheduled to air on CBS Nov. 16 and 18.

In recent days, a number of Republicans and conservatives had blasted CBS for what they considered an unflattering portrayal of President Reagan, played by actor James Brolin.

The criticism was based on excerpts from the script of the miniseries that had found their way to the press. According to published reports, the former president was to be portrayed as having a callous disregard for AIDS victims and as a man who compared himself to the "anti-Christ." The script also failed to note the record economic expansion during Reagan's years and the demise of communism.

But the public pressure on CBS may not have been the only factor in the decision to cancel the miniseries and relegate it to Showtime, according to Medved. "I think the dirty little secret was the thing was a stinker," Medved said.

"Leaving aside its content or its political slant, my guess is CBS is deciding to save itself embarrassment all around," Medved added.

CBS President Les Moonves will be able to gain a double advantage by canceling the movie, according to Medved.

"Moonves will be able to escape embarrassment by not running a stinker series at the same time he can blame those nasty right wingers," Medved said.

In a statement released Tuesday, Viacom said it made the decision after seeing the final cut of the show.

"Although the miniseries features impressive production values and acting performances, and although the producers have sources to verify each scene in the script, we believe it does not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans for CBS and its audience," the Viacom statement read.

'Right-wing jihad'

Liberals and other Reagan detractors spared no criticism of CBS for the decision to cancel.

The left wing website, BuzzFlash.com, alleged in headlines Tuesday that the network had capitulated to pressure. "Right-Wing Jihad Makes CBS Quiver," the website declared, adding that CBS "should change their name to Cowardly Broadcasting Service or the Censored Broadcasting Service."

BuzzFlash.com said CBS was caving in to "right wing censorship" and accused the Republican Party of turning American "television into [a] Soviet-Style Propaganda Tool."

Others raised the rhetoric even higher.

Noting that CBS had tried to salvage the project by cutting controversial scenes from the Reagan miniseries, Philadelphia Daily News TV critic Ellen Gray drew a comparison between Nazi dictator Adolph Hitler and Ronald Reagan.

"CBS' Hitler miniseries also underwent some changes after an early draft of the script leaked and drew fire. That all those changes were aimed at making Hitler look even worse than he appeared in the original just goes to show you Ronald Reagan has a lot more friends," Gray wrote Tuesday.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) also criticized the decision to cancel the Reagan miniseries.

"It smells of intimidation to me. It sounds to me like they were intimidated," Daschle said Tuesday at a news conference. "And I'm disappointed. I think any time occasions arise when the essence of the judgment made by television producers is influenced by outside forces, we have to call into question whether that level of intimidation is appropriate," Daschle said.

"Whether or not this was the right decision is something left to others to make, but it does again raise the specter of just how powerful some of these special interest groups truly are today," Daschle added.

Many Democrats disputed the Reagan record and urged CBS to cover what they view as the former president's failures.

U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) wrote an open letter to Moonves last week urging the network to include "some of my recollections of the Reagan years" in "the interest of historical accuracy."

Dingell's "recollections" of Reagan included "$640 Pentagon toilet seats; ketchup as a vegetable; union busting; firing striking air traffic controllers; Iran-Contra; selling arms to terrorist nations; trading arms for hostages" and "apartheid apologia; the savings and loan scandal; voodoo economics."

"I hope you find these facts useful in accurately depicting President Reagan's time in office," wrote Dingell in the conclusion of his Oct. 29 letter.

'Disgustingly poor taste'

A conservative media watchdog group hailed the decision to cancel the miniseries.

"CBS's decision to pull the The Reagans miniseries was a wise one," stated L. Brent Bozell III, president of the Media Research Center, the parent organization of CNSNews.com .

"The original decision to broadcast a factually distorted film about the former president when he is in the latter stages of Alzheimer's disease showed disgustingly poor taste," Bozell added.

The Ronald Reagan Legacy Project, a group dedicated to honoring the legacy of the former president, was pleased with the Viacom/CBS decision.

"CBS has done the right thing," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), the organization that runs the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project.

"Those of us familiar with the real Reagan record would rather it be dumped entirely, but selling the show to second-tier Showtime is a marked improvement," Norquist said.

Marc Christian, the homosexual partner of the late actor Rock Hudson, also defended Reagan and refuted the CBS script, which reportedly included the former president saying that homosexuals who had developed AIDS deserved to die.

"The notion that a Ronald Reagan was a homophobe strikes me as silly beyond belief," Christian wrote in a letter to CBS's Moonves. Hudson died from AIDS in 1985. The letter was released Tuesday by FrontPagemazine.com columnist Tammy Bruce.

"Not only did he have several gay men on his staff when he was governor of California, he called my lover, Rock Hudson, when he was on his deathbed just weeks before he died of AIDS and wished him well and voiced his and Nancy's concern and prayers," Christian wrote.

"...The Reagans had known Rock for years and knew he was gay (as did most of Hollywood)," Christian's letter continued. "The point is, Reagan could have ignored Rock's illness and didn't," he added.

See Earlier Stories:
CBS Cancels Movie on Ronald Reagan (Oct. 4, 2003)
Advertisers Urged to Preview Reagan Movie Before Sponsoring (Oct. 28, 2003)
Group Aims to Stop CBS 'Hatchet Job' About Reagans From Airing (Oct. 30, 2003)

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[Bigg Red]

If the people at CBS were capable of embarrassment, they'd wear bags over their heads for the rest of their lives!


&&

Good one! You are so right!

[Terriergal]

I say let them run the show, but with those little popups like VH-1's Popup video which say things like "Reagan really didn't say this, but it fit with the director's/screenwriter's idea of him so they included it in the script."

[Terriergal]

No it's called free market forces, Little Tommy, but I know such a concept is hard for you commies to accept.

Ever notice no one got upset at the intimidation of radio stations to pull Dr Laura's show and Tv stations to pull her TV show?

[nicmarlo]

No it's called free market forces, Little Tommy, but I know such a concept is hard for you commies to accept.

'tis why they hate our system of government and our capitalistic (ooooh, evil) society. : )

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I say let them run the show, but with those little popups like VH-1's Popup video which say things like "Reagan really didn't say this, but it fit with the director's/screenwriter's idea of him so they included it in the script."

Now there is an idea! I might even watch that just for laughs.

[Mudboy Slim]

"...it does again raise the specter of just how powerful some of these special interest groups truly are today," Daschle added."

Individual citizens, banding together to boycott those promoting filth about an individual we admire, are now considered a "special interest group."

Whatever...MUD

[Mudboy Slim]

"The only way the hapless imbucile/substandard *actor* could've landed a role was if someone bought it for 'em."

Nawww, he's an air force pilot on some late-night syndicated show that nobody watches. All I can say is that he made an awful ugly-lookin' Ronald Reagan...MUD

[Mudboy Slim]

"As for the leaker Dass-hole? Well that one better shut his piehole & regroup the comrades like real fast, nic. His party's *message* -- due to his leadership -- has resulted in a hemorrhaging so massive death's surely imminent."

Speaking of death, isn't D'asshole's political career on life-support?! I believe he's up fer reelection next November and John Thune is primed to make him an EX-Senator!!

'Bout FReepin' time...MUD

[Newbomb Turk]

Tommy Daschund is saddened, deeply saddened upon learning news of the cancellation

Just wait until we cancel his reelection and return to Washington.

[Landru]

"Nawww, he's an air force pilot on some late-night syndicated show that nobody watches. All I can say is that he made an awful ugly-lookin' Ronald Reagan..."

Ummmm, Mud?
That's a *TV* show.
There's a progression one takes to go from a television series to more major roles on the big screen.
An intermediate step to the "big" role would logically be a TV *miniseries*.

That said, you're right.
He *is* ugly but then people like Charles Laughton were too & he enjoyed a stellar career.
So methinks it's actually worse than that.

He's just a gawad-awful horrible *actor* & would really *need* to provide his own financing to land what he percieved to be the apple of his eye.
Because make no mistake about it, no one's sure in the hell gonna *award* it to him based solely upon his acting "skills."
*Not* unless they're sleeping with him.

...guess you never heard the name, Pia Zadora, huh. ;^)

[Mudboy Slim]

"That's a *TV* show. There's a progression one takes to go from a television series to more major roles on the big screen. An intermediate step to the "big" role would logically be a TV *miniseries*."

With all due respect, yer remark I was responding to was...
"The only way the hapless imbucile/substandard *actor* could've landed a role was if someone bought it for 'em."
That says "a" role, not a "big" role.

FReegards...MUD