THERE THEY GO AGAIN (Conservatives had nothing to protest in The Reagans mini-hatchet series)

New York Post ^ | November 30, 2003 | ADAM BUCKMAN

[OESY]

If it was about the three-hour miniseries I just watched - "The Reagans," which finally hits the air tonight at 8 on Showtime - then the people who made such a big stink about it look like a bunch of loony, paranoid alarmists.

[HitmanLV]

If there was nothing that ticked people all (many people, not only conservatives) then why didn't the network just air it?

Seems to me the beef should be with the network denying the film a needed vote of confidence.

[onyx]

Well, I wouldn't expect Adam-democrat-left-wing-Reagan-hater-Buckman to be offended by anything that's untrue so long as it incorrectly paints the greatest president of the last century in an unflattering light.

[Maria S]

"It is also not historically accurate, which is a problem for TV movies of this kind, but an area I'll leave to historians to sort out.
"The Reagans" is, however, a typical made-for-TV movie - melodramatic, clichéd, a bit disjointed, and a little cheesy in some of its settings and re-creations."


That pretty well sums things up, IMO. Now, let's make "The Clintons", historically inaccurate, melodramatic, cliched, a bit disjointed, and a little cheesy...and see if the liberal crowd sits by quietly.

[OESY]

This piece ran with a sidebar entitled "The Reagans Exposed: Ten Things you didn't know about 'The Reagans,' the ill-fated, made-for-CBS miniseries."

IMHO, "there they go again" should apply to TV critics like the New York Post's Buckman who will make every excuse to avoid criticizing a liberal who might buy their newspaper. Like the Post, Buckman just doesn't get it, i.e., doesn't understand the episode. Liberals said, if roles were reversed, and a liberal icon was trashed with a lot of fabricated nonsense, leftists wouldn't protest, but then came the series on JFK and Camelot. So the premise of their argument was wrong: no liberal broadcast TV network trashed Kennedy. LBJ was fair game on the History Channel, but that is not the same thing as attacking JFK's integrity, or The Reagan's integrity.

But that's my opinion. What follows are brief descriptions of segments comprising "The Reagans" series, as reported by the Media Research Center. You decide.

Excerpts from CyberAlert, Media Research Center, November 25, 2003
...
3. Director & Producer of The Reagans Movie Blast CBS's Moonves
In a conference call with reporters on Monday, the director and a producer of The Reagans mini-series, as well as Showtime's programming chief, on whose network the movie will air this Sunday night after CBS Chairman Les Moonves rejected it, blasted Moonves for calling the movie unbalanced and for claiming he was unaware of its content as it was being filmed. Both CBS and Showtime are owned by Viacom.

4. Preview of What Script Suggests We'll See Sunday on The Reagans
Preview of 'The Reagans' movie on Showtime this Sunday night, which CBS had rejected, compiled by the MRC's Rich Noyes from a shooting script posted earlier this month by Salon.com. Part 1 of 7: Overview and Caveats. If the final product follows the outline of the script that Salon posted, it will present a liberal caricature of the Reagan administration with an often befuddled and lost Ronald Reagan following the instructions of others. Reagan's conservative policies are presented as cruel or counterproductive; successes such as the end of the Cold War are painted as totally independent of Reagan's conservative thinking.

5. Showtime's The Reagans: Reaganomics Victimized the Poor
Preview of 'The Reagans' movie on Showtime. Part 2 of 7: Reaganomics victimized the poor. The script makes no reference to the booming U.S. economy during the 1980s, but is peppered with references to cruel budget cuts and the homeless.

6. Reagan Won the Cold War by Overcoming Conservative Warmongers
Preview of 'The Reagans' movie on Showtime. Part 3 of 7: Reagan won the Cold War by overcoming conservative warmongers.

7. Showtime's The Reagans: "Idiot" Reporters Supported Reagan
Preview of 'The Reagans' movie on Showtime. Part 4 of 7: "Idiot" reporters supported Reagan.

8. The Reagans Centers Narrative on Reagan Flummoxed by Iran-Contra
Preview of 'The Reagans' movie on Showtime. Part 5 of 7: Conniving by Reagan's staff led to Iran-contra, which is portrayed as a scandal of the same magnitude as Nixon's Watergate.

9. Showtime: Reagan Began Losing Faculties at Start of Presidency
Preview of 'The Reagans' movie on Showtime. Part 6 of 7: Reagan began losing his faculties almost as soon as he became President.

10. Showtime Movie: Reagans as a Dysfunctional American Family
Preview of 'The Reagans' movie on Showtime. Part 7 of 7: The Reagan family as dysfunctional.

[beckett]

Buckman saw a heavily edited version. Who can say what unedited slanders would have made it into the CBS broadcast had not irate conservatives forced CBS president Leslie Moonves to cave and consign it to Showtime?

[lizma]

let's make "The Clintons"

I don't know. If you watch an episode of the "Sopranos" and one of "Sex and the City", it would pretty much cover it all.

[Rome2000]

ADAM BUCKMAN

This myopic no-talent gets paid to write this?

Now thats what I call corporate welfare!.

[Outraged]

That pretty well sums things up, IMO. Now, let's make "The Clintons", historically inaccurate, melodramatic, cliched, a bit disjointed, and a little cheesy...and see if the liberal crowd sits by quietly.

You mean "Now, let's make "The clintons", historically accurate, undramatic, perfectly true to facts, jointed, and not a bit cheesy...and see if the liberal crowd sits by quietly."

[vpintheak]

If there is one thing I hat, it's the dumb-assed patronizing lefties calling us small minded. Educational elitism at its worst.

[vpintheak]

If there is one thing I hate, it's the dumb-assed patronizing lefties calling us small minded. Educational elitism at its worst.

[Always Right]

There is nothing to fuss about if you believe the premise of the lies portrayed in the movie, that Ronald was a dufuss and Nancy was a nasty bitch. Anyone who has any clue would be offended the outright lies of the movie.

[eggman]

You mean "Now, let's make "The clintons", historically accurate, undramatic, perfectly true to facts, jointed, and not a bit cheesy...and see if the liberal crowd sits by quietly."

Part of the script is already written. It's called The Starr Report and the left was not too quiet about that being published. No ridiculous script dreamed up by a right-wing scriptwriter could be more damning than the truth about BJ Clinton.

[KellyAdmirer]

I didn't see it, won't see it, am glad very few others saw it, and this is now a non-story that I will gladly put in that great cosmic wastebasket of the mind known as "I just don't care any longer what this guy is irked about that is causing him to take so many cheap shots at conservatives." We won, he lost, case is closed forever.

[dixiechick2000]

I don't know Adam Buckman from a hole in the ground.

Apparently, that's a GOOD thing.

[Texas Eagle]

Itwill be interesting to hear what Michael Reagan says about it tomorrow.

[Atchafalaya]

Got it right that time; pisses me off too. I can reed and spell guud to. I went to USL! Hey, like you I get the chu rouge with pundits that cloak us with a stereotype of ignorance and a lack of savoire faire. Savoire can do Faire (or vice versa) and I could care less. I'm conservative, and I think. If we keep our shit together we can kick some serious ass next election; eh what?

[nutmeg]

ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.

[Swordmaker]

dixiechick2000 wrote: I don't know Adam Buckman from a hole in the ground.

Apparently, that's a GOOD thing.

Diixie... some people use holes in the ground for latrines...

On second thought, perhaps there is no practical difference.

[Doctor Raoul]

Adam Buckman forces himself on small animals. I saw it in a movie, so I know he won't be mad that I said that.

Adam Buckman goes to prison on visiting days and sells himself for cigarettes. If you don't have any ccigarettes, he'll give you some. I saw it in a movie, so I know he won't be mad that I said that.

Adam Buckman is the guy who all those emergency room gerbil stories are based on. I saw it in a movie, so I know he won't be mad that I said that.