Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : I Will Continue to Continue, to Pretend.... -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (31)	11/6/2003 4:00:33 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

Howard Kurtz on the CBS disaster. <money quote>........ when CBS chief Les Moonves first saw the film, "Mr. Moonves emerged from the screening furious, people at CBS said. He alerted his staff members and the filmmakers that CBS would re-edit the film. One of the first scenes to go was one in which Mr. Reagan was shown saying to his wife 'They that live in sin shall die in sin' when addressing the AIDS crisis. The quote, the filmmakers conceded, was fictitious." _______________________________________________________ Movie Meltdown By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, November 5, 2003; 10:26 AM In the annals of network screwups, this one wins some kind of award. How badly did CBS bungle the making of "The Reagans," which yesterday was relegated from prime broadcast beachfront to the cable ghetto of Showtime? Let us count the ways. First, Ronald Reagan is still alive, dying of Alzheimer's and beloved by millions. So doing a controversial movie about him was begging for trouble. Second, by billing it as a documentary, CBS fed expectations that it would be factual. Then it threw in junk that never happened, such as Reagan making an insensitive comment about AIDS victims. Third, hiring Mr. Barbra Streisand (James Brolin) to play the Gipper only fed suspicions that this was a left-wing hatchet job. Fourth, when part of the script leaked out, CBS did a lousy job of responding. Fifth, CBS put out a seven-minute promo tape that contained some of the more inflammatory passages and apparently made Reagan look like a boob. I could go on, but you get the point. That Les Moonves and CBS chose to cave rather than "fix" the fall sweeps movie suggests to me that the problems were so great they couldn't be solved by editing. Here's the CBS statement: "This decision is based solely on our reaction to seeing the final film, not the controversy that erupted around a draft of the script." Yeah, right. "Although the mini-series 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. Subsequent edits that we considered did not address those concerns." Some folks will attribute this to pressure from conservative talkers and the RNC (which yesterday called for the film to still be reviewed by a panel of historians, with Chairman Ed Gillespie saying: "Misleading a smaller audience of viewers is not a noble response to the legitimate concerns raised about this program.") Bill O'Reilly was even crowing that this would hurt Dan Rather, even though the news division had nothing to do with this fiasco. But the reason the pressure got intolerable for CBS is that the conservatives' complaints struck a nerve with the public. What CBS was doing seemed unfair and exploitative. Sure, trashy movies have been made about JFK, but he's been dead for four decades. Nancy Reagan, who's also featured, is struggling to care for her husband. This thing was a train wreck waiting to happen. "What had seemed like a calculated bid for a little controversy to boost ratings has backfired," says the New York Times, " as CBS underestimated the fierce and organized reaction from Reagan loyalists. "Now, as conservative groups cheer CBS's decision, the network has to deal with a backlash from Democratic politicians like Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota and members of the Hollywood community, including Barbra Streisand. 'Indeed, today marks a sad day for artistic freedom -- one of the most important elements of an open and democratic society,' Ms. Streisand, the wife of James Brolin, who plays Ronald Reagan in the television movie, said in a statement." Back when CBS chief Les Moonves first saw the film, "Mr. Moonves emerged from the screening furious, people at CBS said. He alerted his staff members and the filmmakers that CBS would re-edit the film. One of the first scenes to go was one in which Mr. Reagan was shown saying to his wife 'They that live in sin shall die in sin' when addressing the AIDS crisis. The quote, the filmmakers conceded, was fictitious." washingtonpost.com