IMHO, "there they go again" should apply to TV critics like the New York Post's Buckman who will make every excuse to avoid criticizing a liberal who might buy their newspaper. Like the Post, Buckman just doesn't get it, i.e., doesn't understand the episode. Liberals said, if roles were reversed, and a liberal icon was trashed with a lot of fabricated nonsense, leftists wouldn't protest, but then came the series on JFK and Camelot. So the premise of their argument was wrong: no liberal broadcast TV network trashed Kennedy. LBJ was fair game on the History Channel, but that is not the same thing as attacking JFK's integrity, or The Reagan's integrity.
But that's my opinion. What follows are brief descriptions of segments comprising "The Reagans" series, as reported by the Media Research Center. You decide.
Excerpts from CyberAlert, Media Research Center, November 25, 2003
...
3. Director & Producer of The Reagans Movie Blast CBS's Moonves
In a conference call with reporters on Monday, the director and a producer of The Reagans mini-series, as well as Showtime's programming chief, on whose network the movie will air this Sunday night after CBS Chairman Les Moonves rejected it, blasted Moonves for calling the movie unbalanced and for claiming he was unaware of its content as it was being filmed. Both CBS and Showtime are owned by Viacom.
4. Preview of What Script Suggests We'll See Sunday on The Reagans
Preview of 'The Reagans' movie on Showtime this Sunday night, which CBS had rejected, compiled by the MRC's Rich Noyes from a shooting script posted earlier this month by Salon.com. Part 1 of 7: Overview and Caveats. If the final product follows the outline of the script that Salon posted, it will present a liberal caricature of the Reagan administration with an often befuddled and lost Ronald Reagan following the instructions of others. Reagan's conservative policies are presented as cruel or counterproductive; successes such as the end of the Cold War are painted as totally independent of Reagan's conservative thinking.
5. Showtime's The Reagans: Reaganomics Victimized the Poor
Preview of 'The Reagans' movie on Showtime. Part 2 of 7: Reaganomics victimized the poor. The script makes no reference to the booming U.S. economy during the 1980s, but is peppered with references to cruel budget cuts and the homeless.
6. Reagan Won the Cold War by Overcoming Conservative Warmongers
Preview of 'The Reagans' movie on Showtime. Part 3 of 7: Reagan won the Cold War by overcoming conservative warmongers.
7. Showtime's The Reagans: "Idiot" Reporters Supported Reagan
Preview of 'The Reagans' movie on Showtime. Part 4 of 7: "Idiot" reporters supported Reagan.
8. The Reagans Centers Narrative on Reagan Flummoxed by Iran-Contra
Preview of 'The Reagans' movie on Showtime. Part 5 of 7: Conniving by Reagan's staff led to Iran-contra, which is portrayed as a scandal of the same magnitude as Nixon's Watergate.
9. Showtime: Reagan Began Losing Faculties at Start of Presidency
Preview of 'The Reagans' movie on Showtime. Part 6 of 7: Reagan began losing his faculties almost as soon as he became President.
10. Showtime Movie: Reagans as a Dysfunctional American Family
Preview of 'The Reagans' movie on Showtime. Part 7 of 7: The Reagan family as dysfunctional.
This myopic no-talent gets paid to write this?
Now thats what I call corporate welfare!.
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent miscellaneous ping list.
Adam Buckman goes to prison on visiting days and sells himself for cigarettes. If you don't have any ccigarettes, he'll give you some. I saw it in a movie, so I know he won't be mad that I said that.
Adam Buckman is the guy who all those emergency room gerbil stories are based on. I saw it in a movie, so I know he won't be mad that I said that.
It was hit piece all they way and done in such a ham handed fashion that I was surprised at the lack of professionalism in the scriptwriting. Gad, had the actor Ronald Reagan ever been offered this script, his response would have been, "Well... not only is this script crap. It is very bad crap!"
Adam Buckman evidently had his mind made up before he even hit the play button.