‘The Kennedys’ miniseries pulled by History Channel

A miniseries that threatened to trample over the romanticised version of the Kennedy clan, emphasising the family's sexual misdemeanours at the expense of their political achievements, has been pulled from American television at the eleventh hour by the History Channel, who commissioned it.

The stars of the multi-million-dollar project, who include Katie Holmes (Jacqueline Kennedy), Greg Kinnear (Jack Kennedy) and Tom Wilkinson (patriach Joe Kennedy) were told yesterday that the History Channel had decided only after seeing the finished project not to screen it.
 
"While the film is produced and acted with the highest quality, after viewing the final product in its totality, we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand," a spokesman told the Hollywood Reporter.
 
The much anticipated eight-part series was the most expensive miniseries ever produced for the History Channel. It was due to air this spring.

It has been dogged by controversy ever since it was announced that the man behind the project was the ultra-conservative writer and producer Joel Surnow, co-creator of the Fox action series, /24/.

As The First Post reported last February, supporters and friends of the Kennedys said the shooting script was nothing short of malicious in its portrayal of President John F Kennedy and his brothers. It contained a dozen sex scenes but barely mentioned the era-defining Cuban missile crisis.

The script suggested that urgent national security messages were ignored while Jack Kennedy had sex in a swimming pool. On another occasion Kennedy declares: "If I don't have some strange ass every couple of days, I get migraines."

One of the most vociferous critics was President Kennedy's former adviser and speechwriter, Theodore (Ted) Sorensen, responsible for writing the famous line "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country", delivered by Kennedy in his inaugural address in January 1961.

Sorensen, who died last October, said at the time: "Every single conversation with the president in the Oval Office or elsewhere in which I, according to the script, participated, never happened."

Another high-profile critic was the left-wing documentary maker Robert Greenwald. He accused Joel Surnow of having "a clearly overt agenda... in an effort to defame and destroy the achievements of President Kennedy".

Before filming began on the miniseries, its screenwriter Stephen Kronish told the New York Times: "We do not go into this with an agenda other than to be factually accurate and entertaining."

Exactly who influenced the History Channel to pull the series is not yet clear. According to the Hollywood Reporter, no advertisers had registered complaints or concerns. The only explanation so far is that executives decided the content "was not historically accurate enough for the network's rigorous standards".

A spokesman said: "We recognise historical fiction is an important medium for storytelling and commend all the hard work and passion that has gone into the making of the series, but ultimately deem this as the right programming decision for our network."
 
The miniseries will still be aired in Canada as scheduled (starting March 6) and other international deals will not be affected. It is very possible a US cable network will pick up the series.

Joel Surnow, who was informed about the scrapping of his project only yesterday, at the same time as the cast, has not responded publicly at the time of posting. ·