# History Channel Cancels "The Kennedys"



## Jaspear (May 16, 2004)

History Channel Pulls 'The Kennedys'; Says Controversial Miniseries 'Not a Fit'

"Upon completion of the production of The Kennedys, History has decided not to air the 8-part miniseries on the network," a rep for the network tells The Hollywood Reporter in a statement. "While the film is produced and acted with the highest quality, after viewing the final product in its totality, we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand."

The History Channel, the network of pawnstars, pickers and pipelines has standards? Who knew?

Meanwhile, "Ancient Aliens" is a go for season two.


----------



## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

One wonders what the "real" story behind this abrupt, last-minute cancellation could be. Other than an anticipated disinterest on the part of the viewing public. I suspect some in high places disliked the portrayal of the Kennedy family.

God forbid that anyone should dare reinterpret "history".


----------



## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

My guess is that someone on a compound in Massachusetts TOLD them it wouldn't run.


----------



## makaiguy (Sep 24, 2007)

Nick said:


> God forbid that anyone should dare reinterpret "history".


.. or perhaps correctly portray it? :scratchin


----------



## 1980ws (Mar 18, 2008)

Jaspear said:


> History Channel Pulls 'The Kennedys'; Says Controversial Miniseries 'Not a Fit'
> 
> "Upon completion of the production of The Kennedys, History has decided not to air the 8-part miniseries on the network," a rep for the network tells The Hollywood Reporter in a statement. "While the film is produced and acted with the highest quality, after viewing the final product in its totality, we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand."
> 
> ...


Hmmm, now I've got to see it.

www.irishcentral.com/news/John-F-Kennedy-miniseries-right-wing-character-assassination-97474309.html


----------



## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Told'ya so...................



> The Kennedys, including Caroline Kennedy, lobbied heavily to yank the miniseries, people "close to the situation" told the L.A. Times.
> 
> The Web site StopKennedySmears.com claimed 50,000 people signed an online petition calling the miniseries "right-wing character assassination."
> 
> "This is a great victory for the legacy of President Kennedy and for the entire Kennedy family," said a posting on the Web site.


http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view/20110109nixin_kennedys/srvc=home&position=also


----------



## larryk (Aug 17, 2006)

It has happened before. Remember back in 2003 when the mini series on Reagan, produced by CBS, was pulled?
http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/03/reagans.series.reut/index.html


----------



## Maruuk (Dec 5, 2007)

Sounds like they got punished for truthtelling. If they had packed it with puffy lies and whitewashes, it would have cleared through just fine. But the minute you mention Judith Exxner, Marilyn, the dead voting in Cook County in 1960 and daddy Joe's crooked and brutal ways, the censors come out of the woodwork. Sad America hates to face the truth about their sacred phony icons.

Exact same syndrome with the Reagan doc as larryk points out. We prefer our fantasies and illusions about pols rather than the chilling reality. Or rather, ADVERTISERS prefer them.


----------



## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

SayWhat? said:


> My guess is that someone on a compound in Massachusetts TOLD them it wouldn't run.


+1


----------



## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

To be honest, I'm kinda surprised the Kennedys still have any pull. That political dynasty just doesn't have anyone in any real areas of power anymore.


----------



## fluffybear (Jun 19, 2004)

djlong said:


> To be honest, I'm kinda surprised the Kennedys still have any pull. That political dynasty just doesn't have anyone in any real areas of power anymore.


I think i read somewhere that a member of the Kennedy family has been in D.C. for some 63 years. Doesn't seem like that big a deal though when you figure men like Robert Byrd served 57 years and Daniel Inouye has served 52 years


----------



## Maruuk (Dec 5, 2007)

I didn't grasp the vast wealth of the Kennedys until I went to Chicago and asked what was that gigantic building that took up an entire block of downtown?

"That's the Mercantile Exchange Center. The Kennedys own that."

Oh. If you own that, among MANY other things, getting a TV show canceled is child's play.


----------



## Supramom2000 (Jun 21, 2007)

Maybe the movie brings up the long forgotten fact that JFK's sister Rosie was lobotomized. I hear so much about Joe and bootlegging, mob activity, SEC fraud and an endless list of womanizing, but I never hear about the lobotomy.

I can easily see why no Kennedy would want that out for public consumption.


----------



## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Oh it WILL be out, just not on that channel. Probably in Europe and then on DVD at some point.

I never understood the canonization of the Kennedys. I always had issues with them and their sense of entitlement. There is no way JFK would survive today's media; they'd pick him clean to the bones.


----------



## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

It likely will end up on a premium channel. I'm not much on fictionalizing historical personalities less than 100 years after their deaths. So I probably won't watch it.

As someone who felt the uplift of Jack Kennedy's speeches (he surrounded himself with real talent), I would have to say in my adult lifetime only one other President shared that skill - Ronald Reagan. Both were effective on the stage. I often think we need the equivalent of a monarch, but hired for that skill.

The 1960's were a peculiar time in American history, in many ways as transforming as the 1860's. President Kennedy was part of a generational dream much of which turned out to be a fantasy. The rest of the family, not so much a part of that dream. But who can blame them? People are just people in the end.


----------



## pablo (Oct 11, 2007)

It will indeed be out. From the first post's article:



> The miniseries is still scheduled to air in Canada on March 6, and will still be broadcast internationally.


----------



## Maruuk (Dec 5, 2007)

Yeah, it'll filter down to us eventually one way or another. So much for freedom of speech in America. The Kennedys just bought that off, like they buy everything else.

Just revealed that they indeed pressured the net to yank it. Cathleen K. and Maria Shiver had pull with the net on a book deal other leverage and got it killed. Disgusting. 

The guy behind the film was the radical Right Wing producer behind "24", or as I like to call it, "24 Illegal Tortures by War Criminals per Show". So this is clearly a hit job against libs/Dems.

But so what? He has a right to put this out and apparently tell the truth about the lobotomy and all the rest. Props to him for making this. There is the same sickening re-writing of history spin machine trying to whitewash the Kennedy saga as there is trying to sanitize the whole ugly Reagan regime.

If Michael Moore and Clooney and Oliver North and Spike Lee have the freedom to make their films, and particularly Doug Liman with "Fair Game", why not Joel Surnow with this? That's what this country's supposed to stand for, freedom of expression.

Except when the megabux fatcats don't want you to know about their dirty little secrets.


----------



## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

C'mon, Maruuk, just tell us what's on your mind!


----------



## maartena (Nov 1, 2010)

"The Kennedy's" - if portrayed correctly of course - has a whole lot more to do with the history of this nation then "ice road truckers" or "pawn stars" or "top gear". I watch History Channel for historical series, not to watch a few Canucks drive over a lake.


----------



## Maruuk (Dec 5, 2007)

Great point, America deserves to see this show assuming it's at least somewhat historically accurate. Hope they show the swimming pool orgies!


----------



## pablo (Oct 11, 2007)

As a liberal Democrat, I hate seeing this. I was actually looking forward to seeing this, regardless of any possible political bias. Maybe now I'll get it off torrents, or hopefully HBO or Showtime will get it in the US.


----------



## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

While I can certainly relate to the idea of not wanting to see your dead parents and grandparents shenanigans and personal demons portrayed in a movie, something is wrong with a media system that allows the family this much economic power.

The Europeans tend to see these things without making blanket judgments about the people. American's just cannot get over the idea that your personal life and your public life are the same thing, inseparable, and determinate of your ability to contribute to society.

By those standards, not only Kennedy, but Eisenhower, Roosevelt, etc., would be unelectable. By today's tabloid approach to evaluating candidates, Lincoln would have a tough time getting elected to some town council; not only did he look strange, his policy ideas weren't safely "middle of the road"; and his wife was a bit nuts and from a slave owning family.


----------



## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

So it looks grim for the series' producers since Starz and FX have already turned it down.

This afternoon from The Hollywood Reporter:


> Showtime has decided not to pick up the controversial miniseries The Kennedys, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
> 
> ...HBO has its own Kennedys project in development, and networks owned by the Walt Disney Co., NBC Universal and Hearst - the three owners of AETN whose executives sit on the board of directors and authorized History to dump the miniseries - are unlikely to pick up the project.


One of the Rainbow channels AMC, IFC and Sundance could pick it up on the cheap about now, I guess.


----------



## Maruuk (Dec 5, 2007)

It might actually get here via BBCA. In stunning SD on D*.

I agree that a show like this likely to focus on embarrassing personal issues has no place in the political arena. But this isn't that arena, this is the entertainment spectrum. The Kennedys are finished in politics, and most of the folks depicted are deceased.

To the degree that special interest money and power can influence creative media content distribution is precisely the degree to which we have sacrificed our core democratic freedoms. The supposedly "liberal" Kennedys have actually sullied their own name and rep more with this virtual censorship than if they had allowed the project to be broadcast here.

They are telling us they have something to hide. Excellent, all the more reason to expose it. They can't execute a world-wide ban. We'll see it soon enough.


----------



## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Well stated.


----------



## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

If anything, they've generated more interest. I rarely watch biographies or dramatic versions of them. But I might make it a point to find this one since they seem to have gone to such great efforts to bury it.

Anybody know any independent distributors looking to make a name for themselves?


----------



## Maruuk (Dec 5, 2007)

Rumor that Ch. 101/D* might pick it up.


----------



## pablo (Oct 11, 2007)

That would rock.


----------



## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Have you noticed the flood of pro-Kennedy propaganda hitting the waves recently?


----------



## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

SayWhat? said:


> Have you noticed the flood of pro-Kennedy propaganda hitting the waves recently?


Jack Kennedy took office 50 years ago, January 20, 1961. His only inaugural address is one of the best speeches delivered by a U.S. President. Here's some excerpts:

"...the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God."
 "Let the word go forth.....that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans."
 "Let every nation know... that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
 "The world is very very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life."
 "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate."
 "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country"
 "For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed."
 "All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin."
 "...let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own."
I've always said this country needs the equivalent of a King (as in England) hired to give inspiring speeches and cut ribbons, while some politician runs the executive branch. Reagan and Kennedy both showed what a really good orator can do for America.


----------



## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

> Jack Kennedy took office 50 years ago, January 20, 1961


And it would have passed by unnoticed as do all other inaugural speeches if the Kennedy Klan weren't trying to counter any possible negative press from this project.


----------



## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

SayWhat? said:


> And it would have passed by unnoticed as do all other inaugural speeches if the Kennedy Klan weren't trying to counter any possible negative press from this project.


Believe me, it would not have gone by unnoticed regardless of what was going on. It was a very meaningful speech to a whole generation that no longer has any delusions about the Kennedy's being anything other than pretty normal human beings caught up in the swirl of power and wealth at that time.

Of course, I could be wrong because I frankly don't give a crap about the sex lives of politicians and celebrities as long as they do their jobs, be it President or actor. There is more than a little cynic in me that says this whole thing could just have been a publicity boost like other celebrity-types use.


----------



## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Ask not about your country's leaders; instead, let your country ask about you.


----------



## pablo (Oct 11, 2007)

Maruuk said:


> Rumor that Ch. 101/D* might pick it up.


Here's a link: http://www.tvline.com/2011/01/exclusive-directv-in-talks-to-air-the-kennedys/

Let us pray.


----------



## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

Maruuk said:


> I didn't grasp the vast wealth of the Kennedys until I went to Chicago and asked what was that gigantic building that took up an entire block of downtown?
> 
> "That's the Mercantile Exchange Center. The Kennedys own that."
> 
> Oh. If you own that, among MANY other things, getting a TV show canceled is child's play.


Actually, it's called the Merchandise Mart.


----------



## Maruuk (Dec 5, 2007)

Oh ya, sorry, just been to Chicago a few times, the Merch Mart. Was the largest building in the world when it was built in 1930...









You can't grasp the full size of it here, it extends down the full length of the block. A testament to Man's boundless greed and ego.

Speaking of great Kennedy speeches, I'd put the astonishing extemporaneous address of Robert Kennedy in a Black ghetto above anything his brother's speech writers like Kenny O'Donnell ever wrote.

Picture this, Kennedy has just flown into Indianapolis and was told about King's murder. The cops all say "Don't go into the ghetto whatever you do! They''ll tear you to sheds, Bobby!" But RFK feels this deeply and wants to go ahead with the planned speech in the ghetto. So he shows up to discover that NOBODY KNOWS about MLK yet! HE has to be the one to tell them. Are you kidding me??? So he steps up on the podium, and everybody's real happy and cheering and stuff, and he has to be the one to drop the boom...remember, this has to be improv because he had assumed they already KNEW about MLK.

_ Ladies and Gentlemen - I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening. Because...

I have some very sad news for all of you, and I think sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee. (huge gasps and screams and crying out in the audience)

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in.

For those of you who are black - considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible - you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge.

We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization - black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.

But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote: "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.

(Interrupted by applause)

So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, yeah that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love - a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke. We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past. And we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.

(Interrupted by applause)

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people. Thank you very much. (Applause)

Robert F. Kennedy - April 4, 1968_

THAT is one for the ages. And not a teleprompter for miles around.


----------



## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

Maruuk said:


> THAT is one for the ages. And not a teleprompter for miles around.


Unlike for the current occupant of the White House.


----------



## pablo (Oct 11, 2007)

Looks like The 101 Network plans fell through. The miniseries will now premiere in the US on the Reelz Channel on April 3.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/the-kennedys-finds-a-home-on-reelz/
http://www.reelzchannel.com/trailer-clips/53538/the-kennedys-trailer


----------



## mreposter (Jul 29, 2006)

Saw a short promo of the show yesterday (on ET???) and it looked laughably awful. Greg Kennear in a really bad wig and overacting, while Mrs. Tom Cruise stood around like a statue wearing another really bad wig.


----------



## Maruuk (Dec 5, 2007)

Any chance D* will get an HD version of Reelz by then? Does Reelz even HAVE an HD channel?


----------



## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Reelz has been running promos today.


----------



## Maruuk (Dec 5, 2007)

Wonder if there'll be an 18 1/2 minute gap in the video when they get to the part about Rosemary or the six hours immediately following Chappaquiddick.


----------



## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Holy Cow, with this much heat and some light,  I can't wait for the discussion after it airs. I've had it in the queue for a few days.....


----------



## pablo (Oct 11, 2007)

So anyone watched this yet? I'll wait till I can see it in HD.


----------



## DonDeAgo (Jun 3, 2008)

I watched the first two episodes and will be watching again tonight. They are really pretty accurate in their portrayal of the whole family. 
I remember watching JFK's inaugural address as a young man and knew it was something special at the time. I was one of the young people he inspired and will never forget the shock that tragic day in Dallas was to everyone in this country and the rest of the world.
During the last presidential campaign President Obama brought back many memories of JFK's inspiring speeches. As she said at the time I believe Caroline Kennedy felt the same way about him when she and her Uncle Teddy endorsed him.


----------



## Maruuk (Dec 5, 2007)

As the critics have said, it has so much to cover and ends up being ploddingly faithful to history. There isn't much style or depth to it, it's just kind of a stage play where the actors read their historically-correct lines. It's kind of like a Classics Illustrated comic book of the Kennedy era. I find it mildly entertaining, but my wife fell asleep almost immediately on it.


----------



## Hoosier205 (Sep 3, 2007)

Katie Holmes. A horrid actress.


----------



## Maruuk (Dec 5, 2007)

She can't decide between a New England blue-collar accent, the Kennedy Boston Brahman accent, or Jackie's extremely bizarre Upper Crust Long Island-meets-Marilyn-Monroe tones. So she simply alternates them sentence by sentence.


----------

