By Jason Apuzzo. To add to The History Channel’s initial rejection of Joel Surnow’s The Kennedys miniseries, you can now add Showtime’s rejection of the series – and also that of Starz and FX.
According to Showtime, even though the miniseries is “well-produced, well-acted and a quality piece of work,” it still apparently “doesn’t fit the Showtime programming brand.” Let’s remember here that several series that do apparently fit the Showtime brand are: Californication, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Weeds, and Penn & Teller: Bullshit!
I know that everyone is currently consumed with the controversy associated with the Arizona shooting, but this developing story with respect to the Kennedy miniseries is really quite extraordinary – and eerily reminiscent of the situation from several years ago with respect to ABC’s The Path to 9/11, a series that was critical of the Clintons. Whereas the CBS miniseries The Reagans – the series to which The Kennedys has repeatedly been compared in the media – did eventually land on Showtime, no such fate currently seems guaranteed for Surnow’s series, which is extraordinary.
In the years since The Path to 9/11 came out, my colleague Cyrus Nowrasteh has been reduced to handing out bootlegged copies of the film to friends and colleagues, because ABC refuses to release a DVD of the program. The situation is really quite incredible, when you consider that Path was a $40 million network movie that had 28 million viewers the night of its premiere. I’m sure Joel never thought such a situation was possible with respect to The Kennedys, yet here we are all over again.
It’s a shame that the Fox News and talk radio people are so busy right now having to defend their own careers, because at least they still have some measure of free speech in what they do. If you work in the Hollywood system? Forget it.
Posted on January 12th, 2011 at 3:36pm.
This is really too bad, as it looks like an interesting series. I actually liked The Path to 911 a lot. it was well made, well acted, and timely.
I remember asking myself at the time what the craziness was about, because it seemed fair and accurate from what we know from books and reports of the Clinton-era policy on bin laden and terrorism in general.
Hopefully this series finds a home…or at least a DVD release.
I agree -particularly for TV, Path to 9/11 was really quite good, and it’s quite a shame that it’s being buried. It doesn’t deserve it.
And yet there are still people who clam that there is no Hollywood blacklist. True enough, there is nothing that requires History Channel, Showtime or FX to broadcast something they don’t want to. But let’s not pretend that their turning down (likely) piles of money is anything other than the desire to not be tied to a presumably conservative project. It used to be that you would hear about something like this and naturally assumed it would find the light of television somewhere. After Path to 9/11, you can never take it for granted. I’m with you, Mr. Apuzzo, it’s a shame the left is going to get away with railroading this project simply because conservatives have to defend themselves against baseless claims of violence sparking rhetoric.
This is a perfect case, Shin, of why I always advocate working in independent cinema. When you work inside the system like Joel does, this is the sort of treatment you’re subjected to – no matter how big you are.
There are so many more options available to the independent filmmaker right now – Peter Weir’s new The Way Back being the latest case in point. That film will be released theatrically in March, and distributors are already gobbling up its post-theatrical rights.
“It’s a shame that the Fox News and talk radio people are so busy right now defending their own careers . . .”
It’s almost as if there are some on the left using the Arizona tragedy for their own agenda.
Naah, it couldn’t be.
Seriously, I wonder if Surnow could do something like Mel Gibson did with “Passion” and church groups. That is, find a way to market “The Kennedys” directly to the public. Say, with Tea Parties?
Just spit-balling here.
I hate to say it, but he really should’ve done something like that sooner – i.e., make people aware and engaged about the project at an early stage, which is certainly what was done with The Passion. At this point, frankly, it’s too late.
Hey, don’t knock “Penn & Teller’s Bulls&%t” too hard. They’ve done some job of exposing a lot of feel-good lefty junk as such. Especially their episode on recycling. Check it out on YouTube.
Hell, I don’t even watch the show. I was just trying to say that if those guys came make the cut on Showtime, I’m sure Joel’s show can.
Thanks for the tip.
Kate Holmes looks like she makes a great Jackie.
Indeed.