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November 04, 2003 Sitcom Under Pressure, CBS Shifts Reagan Mini-Series to Showtime Nov. 4, 2003 -- CBS announced today that it will not broadcast a four-hour mini-series, "The Reagans," the unflattering portrayal of the former president and his wife that had been the subject of intense criticism by conservatives who launched a full-scale lobbying effort to get the network to kill the series. Instead, CBS said the series will be shown on Showtime, the subscriber cable network... Much of the furor was unleashed after The New York Times, which obtained a final copy of the script, said the show depicted Mr. Reagan as a skilled politician and cheerful, but distant and a bit out of touch, and his wife as controlling and fiercely determined, with poor relations with her children. Of particular concern to conservative critics was a scene in which Mr. Reagan says of gays who have AIDS: "They that live in sin shall die in sin." Mr. Reagan made no such public remark, and opponents of the mini-series say the line was an indication of liberal bias against the two-term president. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ CBS Kills Nixon Bio June 12, 2004 -- CBS said today that it will not air the five-part biography "Nixon," after Republicans said the show unfairly portrays the late president as being responsible for one of the worst political scandals in American history. The controversy began after the New York Times obtained a draft version of the script, which portrays Mr. Nixon as a brooding, insecure man who believed himself to be surrounded by enemies. Of particular concern to conservatives is a scene in which Mr. Nixon describes the Watergate break-in as "a third rate burglary." That line was, in fact, spoken by White House press secretary Ron Ziegler. Critics say attributing it to Mr. Nixon is proof of liberal bias against the late president. CBS says the controversial movie will be shown in the History Channel's 4:00 AM time slot. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ CBS Cancels McCarthy Drama Aug. 30, 2005 -- CBS has refused to broadcast the six-part miniseries "Commie Hunter," after conservative author Ann Coulter reportedly told a friend the show doesn't adequately depict the courage and dedication that made the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy a hero to millions of patriotic Americans. The controversy began after the New York Times obtained a one-page summary of the script, which portrays the Senator as an honest but occasionally heavy-handed critic of the traitors in the East Coast liberal establishment. Of particular concern to Republicans is an alleged scene in which Sen. McCarthy supposedly suggests there are at least 206 card-carrying Communists employed at the State Department. Conservatives point out that Sen. McCarthy, in fact, only said there were 205 Communists working in the State Department. In a statement, CBS said the "miserable piece of left-wing propaganda" might be shown on daytime television in the Baltic nation of Latvia. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ CBS Nixes Hoover Show Dec. 14, 2006 -- CBS says it will try to kill a proposed 12-part docudrama about the life and times of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Network executives say conservative talk show host G. Gordon Liddy has convinced them the show will unfairly slander the great American law-and-order chief -- even though the script has not yet been written. The controversy began after Liddy provided the New York Times with a tape of a bedroom conversation between the show's producer and his gay lover, in which the two describe Hoover as a self-loathing closet transvestite with a taste for sleazy French maid outfits and pushup bras. Conservative critics note the FBI Director actually had impeccable fashion sense, and that the pushup bra wasn't even invented until well after Hoover's death. CBS said the show -- if it is ever filmed -- will be shown as an in-flight movie by Air Zimbabwe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ CBS Vows to Block Bush Expose Apr 1, 2010 -- CBS says it agrees with Department of Homeland Security censors that a purported video about the seven-year-long conflict in Iraq should be banned from the U.S. airwaves. Conservatives say the show -- allegedly being produced by underground subversives -- unfairly blames former President George W. Bush for pushing America into an unwinnable war in a deeply fragmented Third World country. Government informants have told the DHS (which in turn has told the New York Times) that the film will portray Bush as an ignorant but arrogant man convinced the Lord God chose him to bring peace to the Middle East. Supposedly, the documentary also alleges that Saddam Hussein's regime did not possess weapons of mass destruction before the U.S. invasion. Conservative critics say the search for WMD in Iraq continues to make good progress. Suggesting otherwise, they note, is strictly prohibited by the VICTORY III Act, the Official Secrets Act of 2005, and the Sedition Act of 2007. CBS says that if copies of the alleged video surface, they will be aired at a public show trial, and then immediately burnt. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
