I read somewhere- can’t remember where- that some Kennedys were very pissed that the movie portrayed JFK as insisting that his numerous dalliances were the only thing that kept his migraines from incapacitating him. And that is not a joke, on my part, at least- I did read that that is why the movie was pulled.
Maybe the screenplay was written by Gore Vidal.
It would have ruined every other History Channel program. The explanation of the Masonic triangle from Hyannisport to Washington to Dallas was flawed and when they decoded Profiles in Courage it revealed that the descendent of Jesus was a Teamster living in Seattle.
Since I haven’t seen the movie it’s hard to say this for sure, but I think it probably just sucked. Nothing new for the HC, but the inevitable publicity regarding accuracy and political interpretations would have highlighted a bad film. So they dumped a turkey because people would have watched it.
I read that as “Munsters,” imagined the Munster mobile soaked in blood, Eddie saluting, Grandpa as the Dallas coroner inserting a new brain, etc.
Today I read that Caroline Kennedy had some tapes of interviews with Jackie and some project in the works based on same, for the history channel, and that she threatened to withdraw from that project, if they aired this. But really, who knows?
I’m only pleased in that this is another blow to the struggling career of one half of the Tom Cruises. Ha-ha. (But it cost a lot to make and I can’t imagine somebody not picking it up.)
The New York Times has an article today on the cancellation that puts a whole different spin on it.
Starz, FX and Showtime have also passed on it, but it will be shown in at least 30 other countries, so I’m sure the producers will make money on it no matter what happens in the U.S.
Mostly, though, the article reads as if the History Channel wanted a prestige product that would get favorable comment and a boatload of awards and the final result wasn’t one. Sometimes mere ratings aren’t everything. If History wanted to use this as a springboard to lure in other top showrunners, the quality of the product would be all-important.
Which is a serious blow. Rumor is that due to the economy and his career slump and the like they’re down to their last quarter billion.
With all the sex scandals associated with the Kennedys why on earth would they have to embellish? High school kids who’ve never heard of the Bay of Pigs or Cuban Missile Crisis could probably instantly tell you JFK was shagging Marilyn Monroe, Gloria Swanson wrote in detail of her affair with Joe Sr. and a harem of starlets and wannabes all spoke of their affairs with JFK and RFK, then there’s the allegations of JFK’s first marriage- why gild the lily?
They probably could. And since the article says that no serious historians believe it and such a scene was specifically cut out of the series, that’s a real indictment of our culture.
Thinking about it, high schoolers probably also believe she was murdered. By the Kennedys.
It’s always too soon for the Kennedy Family.
Too soon?