Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Just Say 'Showtime'
Aired November 04, 2003 - 14:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour, the Reagan revolution. Make that half a revolution, as in CBS does a 180 on a miniseries devoted to the life and times of the 40th president.
CNN's Maria Hinojosa live from New York to tell us what made "The Reagans" too hot to handle.
Hello, Maria.
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.
Well, apparently politics, politicians and lots of conservative pressure to pull the miniseries is what made it too hot to handle. Now the miniseries has been scheduled to run over two days on the CBS network in mid-November, but today, CBS released a statement saying they were pulling "The Reagans" off their air, and instead putting it on another Viacom-owned station, the Showtime cable network.
CBS said it will not broadcast "The Reagans" on November 16th and 18th. This decision, they said, is based solely on our reaction to seeing the final film, not the controversy that erupted around a draft of the script.
Now, in that draft, there were scenes that apparently angered many conservatives, Republicans, and friends of the Reagans. In particular, one exchange between Nancy and Ronald Reagan about AIDS. In the movie, the former president said about AIDS patients, that -- quote -- "Those that live in sin shall die in sin," but there are questions about whether he ever said those exact words. Though gay and lesbian activists say that Ronald Reagan did not say the word AIDS until seven years into his presidency.
Now the character of Ronald Reagan is played by actor James Brolin, who has attempted to stay out of the fray, though critics of the movie have pointed out that Brolin is married to Democratic supporter Barbara Streisand.
Now all of this became so controversial that the chairman of the Republican National Committee asked CBS to allow scholars to check the movie for historical accuracy, according to Reuters.
The decision to pull the Reagan miniseries, though, is creating waves of reaction. Conservatives cheered by the decision. Some media analysts say the network is buckling under pressure and verging on censorship.
Today, even Congress got involved today, with Daschle saying, that this was a sense of -- oh, we do have the bite. Let's hear what Tom Daschle had to say:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D), SAN DIEGO: It smells of intimidation to me. It sounds like they were intimidated and making decisions that reversed earlier ones. And I'm disappointed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HINOJOSA: But there were also some critics who did not call themselves supporters of Ronald Reagan, who also said that the timing of this miniseries did present a particular problem -- 92-year-old Ronald Reagan is still alive, but vulnerable, because he can't really defend himself from any of this, because he suffers from Alzheimer's -- Miles and Kyra.
PHILLIPS: CNN's Maria Hinojosa in New York, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 4, 2003 - 14:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour, the Reagan revolution. Make that half a revolution, as in CBS does a 180 on a miniseries devoted to the life and times of the 40th president.
CNN's Maria Hinojosa live from New York to tell us what made "The Reagans" too hot to handle.
Hello, Maria.
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.
Well, apparently politics, politicians and lots of conservative pressure to pull the miniseries is what made it too hot to handle. Now the miniseries has been scheduled to run over two days on the CBS network in mid-November, but today, CBS released a statement saying they were pulling "The Reagans" off their air, and instead putting it on another Viacom-owned station, the Showtime cable network.
CBS said it will not broadcast "The Reagans" on November 16th and 18th. This decision, they said, is based solely on our reaction to seeing the final film, not the controversy that erupted around a draft of the script.
Now, in that draft, there were scenes that apparently angered many conservatives, Republicans, and friends of the Reagans. In particular, one exchange between Nancy and Ronald Reagan about AIDS. In the movie, the former president said about AIDS patients, that -- quote -- "Those that live in sin shall die in sin," but there are questions about whether he ever said those exact words. Though gay and lesbian activists say that Ronald Reagan did not say the word AIDS until seven years into his presidency.
Now the character of Ronald Reagan is played by actor James Brolin, who has attempted to stay out of the fray, though critics of the movie have pointed out that Brolin is married to Democratic supporter Barbara Streisand.
Now all of this became so controversial that the chairman of the Republican National Committee asked CBS to allow scholars to check the movie for historical accuracy, according to Reuters.
The decision to pull the Reagan miniseries, though, is creating waves of reaction. Conservatives cheered by the decision. Some media analysts say the network is buckling under pressure and verging on censorship.
Today, even Congress got involved today, with Daschle saying, that this was a sense of -- oh, we do have the bite. Let's hear what Tom Daschle had to say:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D), SAN DIEGO: It smells of intimidation to me. It sounds like they were intimidated and making decisions that reversed earlier ones. And I'm disappointed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HINOJOSA: But there were also some critics who did not call themselves supporters of Ronald Reagan, who also said that the timing of this miniseries did present a particular problem -- 92-year-old Ronald Reagan is still alive, but vulnerable, because he can't really defend himself from any of this, because he suffers from Alzheimer's -- Miles and Kyra.
PHILLIPS: CNN's Maria Hinojosa in New York, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
