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PrintFebruary 2, 2011
Kennedy miniseries finds a home
The producers of the miniseries "The Kennedys" that was orphaned when the History Channel's parent company refused to broadcast it after pressure was brought by the Kennedy family has found a home.
Hollywood Reporter:
After a three-week journey, The Kennedys has found a home.Check out the trailer at the bottom of the article. Awesome. Greg Kinnear looks and sounds like JFK while British actor Tom Wilkinson captures Joe Sr.'s ruthlessness perfectly.
The controversial miniseries will world premiere on April 3 on the ReelzChannel, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Producers of the ambitious project from 24 executive producer Joel Surnow and writer Stephen Kronish have struck a deal with the independent, family-owned cable network to air the 8-part miniseires, which was abruptly yanked from the History channel on January 7 amid pressure from the Kennedys over its depiction of the political family. At the time, History owner A&E Television Networks told THR that "after viewing the final product in its totality, we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand."
But it is certainly a fit for ReelzChannel, a 4-year old independent cable channel owned by Minnesota-based Hubbard Communications that is available in 60 million homes nationwide on services including DirecTV, Dish Network, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, Comcast and Charter Communications.
Any movie or media that does not put halos on the heads of every single Kennedy is attacked by the the family's still formidable PR machine. The goal is to protect the legacy - such as it has been presented to the American people. In truth, JFK was not a very good president, although his term was cut short. He did set us on the path to the moon but the amount of ink spilled by liberals trying to absolve JFK from escalating our involvement in Viet Nam is pathetic. And trying to make the moderately conservative Kennedy into some kind of liberal icon is laughable.
Now it appears that the Kennedy family - warts and all - will finally be portrayed in a more realistic, less hagiographic light.
