CBS Mulls Canceling Reagan Mini-Series - Report

[neuvocat]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - CBS is considering canceling or postponing its upcoming mini-series "The Reagans" under mounting Republican criticism that the production inaccurately depicts the former president and his wife, Daily Variety reported on Monday.


Also, the director of the four-hour TV movie, Robert Allan Ackerman, has quit the production over creative differences with CBS executives who have insisted on numerous last-minute alterations to the mini-series, the Hollywood trade paper said.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031103/us_nm/leisure_reagans_dc_5


Mods, sorry if this is a dupe but does anyone know what's the best way to contact CBS to complain? Thanks.

[FarLeftRage]

1. "Inaccurately depicts" my a**!

It was not accurrate enough!

[saigon68]

26. A DROOLING LAP DOG LACKEY OF CORPORATE HANDLERS

A true sell out for big oil, business and capital. A little man with a vindictive streak who hunted down and destroyed the careers of people who he believed were Kommunists.

[bleedingheart]

2. Holy cow...the only show I was looking forward to and they cancel it

[chromotone]

3. This is terrible!!!

The Reagan Administration was one of the most corrupt, criminal administrations in 20th-century American history!!!

I saw a scrolling banner this morning on CNN that read that Reagan's friends wanted to preview this mini-series before being shown to the general populace. Is this the outcome?

If CBS kow-tows to the right-wing GOP fascists, then ALL hope is lost.

On edit:
Check this out from a Conservative writer:

But President Reagan’s treatment of AIDS has emerged as the big story. The script has Reagan saying, when questioned about AIDS, “They that live in sin shall die in sin” and absolutely nothing more. According to the New York Times, “ Elizabeth Egloff … acknowledged there was no evidence such a conversation took place,” but that “other biographies noted that Mr. Reagan had trouble squaring homosexuality with the Bible. In Dutch … Edmund Morris writes Mr. Reagan once said of AIDS, ‘Maybe the Lord brought down this plague,’ because ‘illicit sex is against the Ten Commandments.”
http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article2805.html

Different words? yes
Different meaning? no

[The Zanti Regent]

9. Exhibit 1 that CBS is #1 in Nazi Propaganda

Wonder how many times Moonves had to lick Grover Norquist's boots!

[SoCalDem]

19. Edmund Morris..therein lies the problem..

Morris already was taken to task when he admitted that he "made up" parts of Reagan's bio he was hired to write.. Of course back then (even before he left office) Reagan had started to show symptoms of alzheimers, so it's no wonder Morris had to "re-construct" parts of St. Ronnie's life..:shrug:
CBS dropped the ball here.. They should have either run with their original plan, or just shut up and changed a few things..

As far as I know, no one has actually SEEN any of the program.. How did the freeps get so lathered up?? Who told them that the serties was unflattering?? Sounds very "inside" to me...

They are so fiercly protective of the Ronnie Myth, that it will be decades before any truth gets out..

[tom_paine]

4. Gettin' mighty Soviet here in the Empire, isn't it?

I guess I understand how a bootlicking Totalitarian would only want a sanitized, deoderized version of history, as skewed as that disgusting 9/11 Bushevik Travesty.

Where's Leni Reifenstahl when you need her?

[joycep]

7. Boy this is sickening--It could not possibly be as bad as the Reagan

actually were! I just cannot understand the way some people worship them.

[FlashHarry]

5. Gee, and yet Viacom allowed DC-9/11 to air...

That was a fictionalized account of a president, written by admittedly pro-GOP writers. I didn't hear a lot of squawking about that from the 'liberal media.'

[tsipple]

6. Oh, Swell

I have a great idea for the miniseries producers: go ahead and broadcast the thing, then "leak" the footage from the cutting room floor to the Internet and let everyone download it to watch.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

8. BULL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We on the left have to get some "" and fight back!

Maybe we should all boycott conservatives!

[peterh]

10. First the Reagan papers were put under lock and key….

Now a CBS depiction is cancelled….these critters certainly fear the truth about their gawd/idol.

With 139 convictions (a number I seem to recollect), there’s good reason to fear the truth.

[raysr]

13. Pictures

My elderly aunt and uncle have a picture if Ronnie and Olly on their wall!

[expatriot]

11. the silver lining here...

obviously I am very anti-censoring this movie but look at the bright side of cancellation...

It will get shown on Showtime uncensored which i think is better than having it cut to hell just to be shown on CBS... and we will have a very excellent example of rightwing censorship.

[dArKeR]

12. Email CBS support

[e-mail], [e-mail]

http://www.cbs.com/ Feedback at bottom of page: Category- Movies and Specials

Air the Reagan movie!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

16. Sent my email. Please everyone, do the same!

[chromotone]

18. I tried twice...

...but both times when I clicked on the "submit" button a "This page cannot be displayed" message appeared(???)

I don't know if my email went through. :shrug:

[Mikimouse]

17. Text of message I just sent to CBS...

To whom it may concern,
It has recently been reported that CBS is considereing the cancellation of the planned mini-series detailing the presidency of Ronald Reagan. I am frankly surprised that this is even possible, given the airing of such obvious propaganda as 'DC/911', and other somewhat denigrating 'documentaries about FDR and the Kennedy politicians. While I doubt that my letter to CBS will be the deciding factor in whether the series airs, I would like to remind those at CBS that the cancellation would demonstrate, with some degree of finality the degree to which this nation is controlled by the political and economic oligarchy. I encourage CBS to proceed with the mini-series and demonstrate the strength and commitment that has been evident in their news broadcasts and documentaries, re: President Clinton and Vice-President Gore, as well as others too numerous to detail. There are higher rewards for commitment and honesty than might be found on a piece of green tainted paper. Sincerely Yours, Nick (last name omitted here)

[Nevernose]

24. Done

Sent feedback. I only hope they listen to non-Freepers, or get enough non-Freeper types to comment.

[zbdent]

14. Yes, I remember well the Righties trying to make sure any

made-for-tv shows or movies were accurate when dealing with:

FDR
fill-in-the-blank Kennedy
Jimmy Carter
Hoffa
etc.

[David Zephyr]

15. It's Called Censorship.

Get used to the sound of the word.

[stimbox]

20. Yep, it's 1984 all over again

It's getting more and more Orwellian in our country.

Sent my comment.

[kskiska]

21. O'Really was just in a lather over it

He was scoffing about Reagan calling Nancy "Mommy." It's true. He did. They would sit in their jammies and eat dinner in front of the TV. Where were these people when the Reagan kids, Michael and Patti, wrote their Mommy/Daddy Dearest books? Most of this stuff is documented. Patti said her mother was a pill popper and tranquilized most of the time. I'm old enough to remember this stuff . It's not new. The story about Ronnie telling Nancy to "get off my back" was well known at the time, too. Ronnie ignored AIDS for years and didn't even say the name until Rock Hudson died.

[NewJerseyDem]

22. I have a problem with the miniseries

From what I have heard, it seems like the miniseries may basically make up things about Reagan. While he certainly isn't my favorite person in the world, you can't just make up quotes and pretend that he said them when there is no evidence of that. At the same time there have been other miniseries which similarly attack other high profile figures and those do run. Perhaps, it is time that television networks are more careful about what they put into their shows.

[peterh]

23. I have a solution…

Unlock the Reagan papers and let scriptwriter have at it….Damn…that’s a movie I might want to watch….with a stomach pump & a fifth close by.

[tridim]

27. It's dramatic interpretation

It's impossible to tell a true story in 4 hours without rewriting and interpreting events. It's been done in every single true story ever written for the screen. For instance, everyone knows Reagan was a homophobe who was afraid to even mention the word AIDS in public. The writers could have spent hours presenting this single fact (which spanned several years), but time constraints dictate that the "idea" had to be compressed into a single scene.

I haven't seen the movie, so I guess it's possible they did "make up things", but if the writers ever want to work again I doubt they did.

Do you believe George Washington actually said, "I cannot tell a lie, I chopped down the cherry tree"? I doubt it, it's simply a metaphor for his honesty as a child.

[KennedyGuy]

25. Glad to see this finally getting some attention here

I posted about it last week, included phone numbers to contact CBS, and it was greeted with a big ho-hum. We should have been calling CBS with the same ferocity that the right wingers have.

[goforit]

28. THE BUSHIES BULLY CBS?????......They can't do this!!!!

:argh:

[Snellius]

29. When they made the film of Joe Klein's "True Colors"

an unflattering portrayal of a Clintonesque womanizing president, I didn't hear the DNC jumping around like the Church Lady with a Bible and scissors in hand. There's been several less than glowing screen biographies of Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, John and Bobby. So why is Raygun special? Maybe because his apostles are afraid that any semi-honest portrayal of their conservative messiah will reveal him for the nonentity he really is.

[0007]

30. Not a dupe because the show still on be on....

This just came out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/04/arts/television/04REAG.html?ex=1068526800&en=0e46f662b40e8679&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

[peterh]

31. Ya know…if this does turn out to be an unflattering series…

And if CBS goes ahead with it, I could see a number of affiliates opting out…much like a few in Texas did with the Hitler movie….only, I would expect it to be more widespread this time.

[leesa]

32. Chickenshits!