SLANDER AT CBS
November 5, 2003 -- CBS has decided not to broadcast its controversial miniseries "The Reagans," instead passing the show on to its cable channel Showtime after complaints from Republicans, members of the Reagan family and Hollywood friends of the former president like Merv Griffin.
The network's statement said, "Although the miniseries features impressive production values and acting performances, and although the producers have sources to verify each scene in the script, we believe it does not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans for CBS and its audience."
That's quite an admission.
Read between the lines and it's clear that CBS belatedly realized it had commissioned a poisonous piece of propaganda that was impossible to defend.
As for the network's "sources," maybe it should name a couple.
Certainly script excerpts leaked to the public indicate the film represents Hollywood leftism at it most dishonest.
A series that was originally supposed to tell the love story of Ronald and Nancy Reagan apparently was turned by ideologues into a hate-fueled smear-fest.
Given that the filmmakers are all close associates of actress/singer/activist Barbra Streisand (whose husband James Brolin stars as Reagan), it's not surprising that the miniseries reportedly depicts the Reagans as personally monstrous.
Apparently, the CBS legal department had long been nervous about some of the program's more outrageous insinuations and inventions: that Reagan had Alzheimer's disease as early as 1984, that he was a relentless homophobe and that Nancy Reagan was a drug addict.
One especially nasty (and stupid) piece of invented dialogue had Ronald Reagan refusing to help AIDS victims, saying, "They that live in sin shall die in sin." It all sounds pretty disgusting.
Of course, we recognize that CBS, or anyone else, for that matter, has the right to make a television movie portraying the former president in a negative light.
But the public also has the right not to watch such a program.
Just as advertisers have the right not to be associated with a program their customers would find offensive.
And it's sad that CBS - which was once considered the "classiest" of the three networks - should have sunk this low.
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