CBS Slandering Reagan...

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by Rudey
All I know is Reagan is the last great American.

-Rudey

Ronald or Nancy? Just kidding. I think I voted for him.

[Rio_Kohitsuji]

All I'm going to say about this is....hey...at least he's a Teke.

[KSigkid]

The fact is, every news service is going to have some sort of agenda - just as CNN has been a liberal news service since Ted Turner ran it, Fox News is overtly conservative. You're never going to get completely unbiased unless you watch proceedings on C-Span or something similar; even then, what is left out and kept in can be interpreted as bias.

As long as stations compete for ratings, this trend will continue.

[krazy]

Originally posted by GeekyPenguin
You know what, kiddo? It goes both ways. "The Leftist Media" has a counterpart in the "Right-Wing Media." Fox, Rush Limbaught, etc. If you think Fox is both sides of the story, that's your perogative, but you're going to find a lot of people who don't agree with you.

Personally, I find FOX hilarious, their news is so funny! They're such a second-tier station in Milwaukee that I watch their news when I want comic relief. Look at what DeltAlum said if you want the facts on Fox.

Second Tier but leading the ratings.....

[moe.ron]

Originally posted by krazy
Second Tier but leading the ratings.....

According to rating, Fox New's highest rated show got beat by:



NIC SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS 2.7
FOX O'REILLY 1.9

according to YOUR rankings, so did CNN's highest ranked show. Which was beat, i believe, by a whole point by Fox's highest rated show.

damn revisionist liberals.

Kitso
KS 361 times moe.ron needs to just go boink a hyena

[krazy]

Yes Sir... You are correct. O'Reilly beat Larry King by a good margin, who was closely followed by Hannity & Colmes, and Greta. Second Tier?? I think not...

Speaking of Spongebob, I hear he is taking Princell Hair's place at the helm of CNN. Hair's week is up. Maybe he will help their ratings.

[moe.ron]

Originally posted by krazy
Yes Sir... You are correct. O'Reilly beat Larry King by a good margin, who was closely followed by Hannity & Colmes, and Greta. Second Tier?? I think not...

Speaking of Spongebob, I hear he is taking Princell Hair's place at the helm of CNN. Hair's week is up. Maybe he will help their ratings.

In correct honorable sir. O'Reilly beat Larry King by .3. O'Reilly received 1.9 and Larry King 1.6. Both are beaten very badly by John Stewart's "Daily Show" which receive 4.0 But if we compare them to network news, both loose very very badly.

but to get this in true reflection, O'Reilly was beaten by Warner Brother's Charmed who received 2.0. Charmed is the 81st most watch show. The #1 cable show is WWE Raw at 3.1. As for other news show, here is what they received:

NBC NIGHTLY NEWS 6.8
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT 6.3
CBS EVENING NEWS 5.3

[krazy]

Originally posted by moe.ron
In correct honorable sir. O'Reilly beat Larry King by .3. O'Reilly received 1.9 and Larry King 1.6. Both are beaten very badly by John Stewart's "Daily Show" which receive 4.0 But if we compare them to network news, both loose very very badly.

but to get this in true reflection, O'Reilly was beaten by Warner Brother's Charmed who received 2.0. Charmed is the 81st most watch show. The #1 cable show is WWE Raw at 3.1. As for other news show, here is what they received:

NBC NIGHTLY NEWS 6.8
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT 6.3
CBS EVENING NEWS 5.3

On another note, have you checked out Al Schnier's solo album "one"? It is good.

[moe.ron]

Originally posted by krazy
On another note, have you checked out Al Schnier's solo album "one"? It is good.

I wish I can. I'm down in South Africa and they don't even know who moe. is. I've ordered wormwood through amazon and hopefully it'll come soon.

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally posted by krazy
Second Tier but leading the ratings.....

I was referring to the Milwaukee Fox affiliate, who is by no means "leading the ratings." In fact, I'm not sure their anchors know that there ARE ratings.

[krazy]

Oh... Well I am talking about the cable news channel "Fox News" who are leading the Cable news ratings on a national level, so I guess we are talking about different things. But anyway, they do great job.

moe.ron... you should go online and order the Schnier disc if you can, it is electronic music, but really impressive. There is a hint of moe. in there. S.Africa... beautiful place.

[DeltAlum]

First, a bit of perspective. There are only a couple of cable shows that beat even the lowest rated shows (of any type) on the on-air networks. On-air network news is still by far the most watched.

Now, just saw this today regarding the Regan Drama:

Updated: 04:42 PM EST
CBS Cancels Miniseries on Reagan
Program May Air on Showtime
By DAVID BAUDER, AP

NEW YORK (Nov. 4) - Capping an extraordinary conservative furor over a movie virtually no one has seen, CBS scrapped plans Tuesday to televise "The Reagans'' and decided to shunt it off to the Showtime cable network instead.

Based on snippets of the script that had leaked out in recent weeks, conservatives, including the son of the former president, accused CBS of distorting the legacy of Ronald Reagan.

While CBS said it was not bowing to political pressure, critics said that was exactly the case, and worried about the effects of such pre-emptive strikes on future work.

CBS believed it had ordered a love story about Ronald and Nancy Reagan with politics as a backdrop, but instead got a film that crossed the line into advocacy, said a network executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The film had been scheduled to air Nov. 16 and 18, in the heart of the November ratings sweeps. CBS attempted to edit the film to remove offending passages, but gave up.

"We believe it does not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans for CBS and its audience,'' the network said in a statement Tuesday.



AP
James Brolin as Ronald Reagan in "The Reagans"

Neal Gabler, author of "Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality,'' said CBS' decision was unhealthy for democracy.

"CBS, in pulling this film, did incredible harm, much more harm than they could ever have done in making the film,'' Gabler said. "What they've told us now is that a very small group of people have censorship power over the broadcast networks.''

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said CBS' decision "smells of intimidation to me.''

But conservatives said it was a question of accuracy.

The miniseries became a hot topic on talk radio and the TV news networks. The chairman of the Republican National Committee wrote to CBS President Leslie Moonves, asking for historians to review the movie, and the conservative Media Research Center asked advertisers to consider boycotting the film.

"This was a left-wing smear of one of the nation's most beloved presidents and CBS got caught,'' said Brent Bozell, founder of the Media Research Center.

Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie said putting the movie before a smaller audience on Showtime doesn't address accuracy concerns. Without changes, Showtime should remind viewers every 10 minutes that the movie is fictional, he said.

Showtime and CBS are both owned by Viacom, which is anxiously awaiting federal action on rules to restrict ownership of local TV stations. Failure to enact such changes could cost Viacom millions of dollars, said Jeff Chester, head of the Center for Digital Democracy, a communications lobbying group.

Viacom needs help from Republicans in the White House and Congress who might not like seeing Reagan portrayed negatively, Chester said.

"They made a business decision,'' he said. "In doing so, they clearly caved in to the political pressure.''

Viacom shares fell 82 cents, or 2 percent, to close at $39.01 on the New York Stock Exchange.

It's not likely CBS faced much pressure from advertisers, said Brad Adgate, analyst for Horizon Media, an ad-buying firm. Some advertisers might have been scared by the controversy, but many would have been attracted by the prospect of big ratings, he said.

The movie was made by producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, who also made "Martin and Lewis'' for CBS. James Brolin portrayed Reagan. He is married to the outspoken liberal Barbra Streisand, which drew complaints from some conservatives.

In a portion of the script published in The New York Times last month, Reagan was depicted as uncaring and judgmental toward people with AIDS. "They that live in sin shall die in sin,'' Reagan's character tells his wife as she begs him to help AIDS victims.

Supporters of the former president, who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease, said there's no evidence he said that.

There was also a concern about its depiction of Nancy Reagan. The former president's son, radio talk show host Michael Reagan, said he had seen eight minutes of movie highlights and Nancy Reagan was depicted as basically running the White House.

"I said to Nancy, they don't like dad, but they hate you,'' Reagan said Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America.''

Producers Zadan and Meron noted that CBS had approved their script. Although disappointed that CBS won't air it, "we are excited that Showtime has agreed to broadcast it and the public will have a chance to judge `The Reagans' on its own merits.''

CBS said its decision to cancel the movie was "based solely on our reaction to seeing the final film, not the controversy that erupted around a draft of the script.''

Ironically, CBS' decision came two days after the network's 75th anniversary special, which included a skit by the Smothers Brothers poking fun at CBS for firing them more than 30 years ago because of their political content.

Another precedent came in 1979, when CBS pulled a comedy series about a black congressman after complaints by some actual black politicians who had seen a screening, said TV historian Tim Brooks.

CBS faced pre-broadcast pressure earlier this year from Jewish groups concerned about its miniseries about Adolf Hitler. After some changes were made to the screenplay, the Hitler miniseries aired in May to middling ratings.

It's a growing trend in entertainment: concerned groups not even waiting until something is released to make it a battleground. Actor Mel Gibson has been skirmishing with Jewish groups over his Biblical epic, "The Passion of Christ.''

The CBS decision "gives new hope to all of the people who don't like what they see on entertainment television,'' said Robert Thompson, head of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. "All of the special interest groups can say, 'Look, we got the Reagan docudrama off the air.' What's next?''


11/04/03 16:22 EST

DeltAlum comment:

Putting politics aside, which many of you can't seem to do, I think that IF, in fact, CBS cancelled this show due to pressure from ANY political party or ideological movement, it is a sad and worrisome development.

If it can happen to this show, it can happen to any, and sooner or later, programming will be so non controversial that there will be less quality programming (not commenting on the quality of this particular program without seeing it) than there is presently.

Which is scary.

[Tom Earp]

Ronnie, a Grade-B Actor with a pushy wife who led him

Second wife I might add!

CBS the woosies are supposed to have cancelled the program and sold to Showtime to put on air!

He was not A Great President. Period. He Looked good. Talked well from a script, well traind from his bad acting career!

I dunno, i kinda disagree.

Yeah, if CBS bowed to partisian issues to sell it, i can see how that's bad, but the way i see it, they didn't put up much of a fight for it.

So, either they knew they did a poor job on it and didn't want to go down with a sinking ship, or they felt they did an ok job on it and were too afraid to defend it.

I don't know which is worse, them running to air with a product that they don't believe in enough to fight for, or them being too spineless to defend something they do believe is quality.

Kitso
KS 361 times i wouldn't have watched it either way