‘The Kennedys’ Might Be Shown In Syndication, Or This Might End Up Not Happening Either

Joseph Gibson — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:59:51 +0000

24‘ creator Joel Surnow‘s truthbomb “The Kennedys” has been having a hard time finding an audience. The History Channel refuses to show it, as have DirecTV and Showtime. Now it looks like one more party is stepping up to the plate before deciding that it’s probably not a good idea – Tribune Broadcasting, which owns several TV stations, including the national superstation WGN, is the latest party to stand up to the forces of censorship. Unless, you know, they don’t.

Anyway, even if Tribune wants to take the plunge, they might not get to. Apparently The History Channel has the right to veto any potential buyer of the property as part of their agreement with the producers of the miniseries. But more likely is this condition would give Tribune an advantage, since there are also some other cable networks (and History Channel competitors) in the running, and The History Channel would be less keen to give this property to a competitor.

Whenever we do get to see this, it probably won’t be clear why the hell this was so controversial to begin with. Deadline quotes people who’ve seen it as saying:

“President John F. Kennedy is portrayed in a favorable light as a decisive leader during the Cuban missile crisis, proponent of racial equality and an all-around likable guy, with very little-to-no attention paid to his rumored sexual indiscretions.”

Aw man, now I don’t really want to see it.

http://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/movie-news/directv-latest-co-conspirator-keeping-you-from-seeing-the-kennedys/

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‘The Kennedys’ Might Be Shown In Syndication, Or This Might End Up Not Happening Either