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CBS Evening News Moved to Showtime (2003-11-04) -- Just hours after deciding to sell the planned CBS miniseries 'The Reagans' to the Showtime cable movie channel, network chief Les Moonves announced that the 'CBS Evening News with Dan Rather' would also move to Showtime starting in December. "It just doesn't work," Moonves told staffers. "Listen, we are not afraid of controversy, we'd go out there if it came in at 50-50, pro and con, but it simply isn't working. It's biased." According to an unnamed CBS insider, "He made up his own mind after seeing it. He's made a brave,...

"The Reagans" are headed to Showtime, while the CBS execs responsible for the controversial miniseries might be headed for the woodshed. As expected, the premium cable network Tuesday officially picked up the telefilm, which featured James Brolin as President Reagan, one day after CBS pulled the project from its planned Nov. 16 debut. "The Reagans" has been blasted by numerous critics who complained that leaked versions of the script put forth an inflammatory and biased portrayal of the 40th president and former first lady Nancy Reagan. While the network's decision was widely viewed as an attempt to placate conservative pressure...

<p>Yesterday, CBS announced that it would not broadcast a grossly inaccurate miniseries on the life and presidency of Ronald Reagan. The decision may ameliorate the harm to CBS' reputation, but the network's choice not to spike the series entirely, but simply to send it to Showtime, demonstrates the ethical rot that persists in the grand old network.</p>

CBS has confirmed on Tuesday that it is pulling its controversial miniseries on Ronald and Nancy Reagan from its November sweeps slate. The four-hour biopic will air sometime next year on CBS' sibling cable network Showtime. "This decision is based solely on our reaction to seeing the final film, not the controversy that erupted around a draft of the script," the statement said. CBS said the show "does not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans for CBS and its audience. Subsequent edits that we considered did not address those concerns." Earlier Tuesday, CBS Entertainment president Nancy Tellem had said...

CBS admits that "The Reagans" is too biased for it to air ... but says the miniseries somehow isn't too biased for its sister cabel channel Showtime to broadcast. "Although the miniseries features impressive production values and acting performances, and although the producers have sources to verify each scene in the script, we believe it does not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans for CBS and its audience," the network stated today. CBS failed to identify the "sources" for its unbalanced portrayal. After all, how can anyone "verify" the AIDS comment that even the scriptwriter has admitted is a...

Showtime Info: http://www.sho.com/site/homepage/index.do Homepage http://www.sho.com/site/util/contact.do Contact Page

VIACOM CHAIR SUMNER REDSTONE EXPRESSED GRAVE CONCERN FOR NETWORK BROADCAST...WILL AIR ON SHOWTIME UNCUT [WITH AIDS QUOTE ONLY DELETION]...CBS will issue press release early in morning; Robert Greenblatt, head of SHOWTIME will announce that SHOWTIME will air the telepic. Bob Ackerman the Director has said he will re-edit some portions of the film for SHOWTIME. CBS to write-off $9 million...

Now that CBS is on the run, it's time to continue the pressure on VIACOM. If you have a subscription to SHOWTIME... cancel it.

Tell Showtime you want the Reagan smear dumped from their network!! http://www.sho.com/site/util/contact.do

<p>James Brolin and Judy Davis star in CBS' "The Reagans," which has stirred up so much heat it may end up on cable.</p> <p>November 3, 2003 -- CBS' upcoming miniseries "The Reagans" has created so much controversy that the network is considering selling the $9 million program to Showtime, a new report says.</p>

The final frontier: Lesbians Showtime teases 'L-Word' By RICHARD HUFF DAILY NEWS TV EDITOR Gays are in on TV these days, but Showtime is going where no programmer has gone before with a series - exploring the lesbian lifestyle. In January, the network will launch "The L-Word," a stylish drama revolving around a group of lesbians and straight women in Los Angeles. The show looks at their relationships, their workplace settings, and clearly, based on a series of clips shown to the media yesterday, their bedrooms. It's filled with beautiful women such as Jennifer Beals, Pam Grier, Mia Kirshner and...

The scandalized New York Times reporter who filed stories replete with false information and plagiarized material is the subject of a new Showtime movie titled "The Jayson Blair Project." The network calls its film a "dark comedy" which seeks to answer the question: "Why would a seemingly bright reporter at one of the most prestigious newspapers in the country sabotage a wonderful career by fabricating stories?" Jayson Blair (N.Y. Times photo) "We are very excited about this project," said Robert Greenblatt, president of entertainment for Showtime Networks. "Most films based on the world of journalism focus on how a reporter...

DC 9/11: Time of Crisis This great showtime docudrama that has been discussed here on Freerepublic is getting ready to start right now (11:00 pacific) on showtime. (Channel 539 on my direct TV) so this will be 2:00 AM for you cable people. Set your VCRs you will not be dissapointed!

In case you missed it: # Tonight at 9pm EDT/PDT, Showtime will re-air its DC 9-11: A Time of Crises "docudrama" about the Bush White House in the days after September 11th, 2001. For more about the movie, see two previous CyberAlert items on it and on negative journalistic reaction to its "too pro-Bush" portrayal: a href="http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030905.asp#5 http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030908.asp#4

As CyberAlert predicted, newspaper critics have denounced a Showtime movie for being too favorable to President Bush. The September 5 CyberAlert forecast: "On Sunday night, September 7, Showtime will premiere DC 9-11: Time of Crisis, what I understand will be a 'docudrama' with a sympathetic take on President Bush and his top aides in the days after September 11, 2001. So, expect some derisive reviews in newspapers on Saturday and Sunday."BREAK Reviews in USA Today, the Washington Post, New York Times and the Boston Globe all ridiculed the script and acting in it, but the favorable portrait of President Bush...

On Sunday night, September 7, Showtime will premiere DC 9- 11: Time of Crisis, what I understand will be a "docudrama" with a sympathetic take on President Bush and his top aides in the days after September 11, 2001. So, expect some derisive reviews in newspapers on Saturday and Sunday. It stars, as George W. Bush, Timothy Bottoms, the same guy who played Bush in the mocking Comedy Central sit-com, That's My Bush. The Showtime Web site page for the movie promises: "Timothy Bottoms stars as President George W. Bush in this docudrama that traces the nine days after the...

HBO's 'Normal' and Showtime's 'Soldier's Girl' bring the lives of transgendered people to the small screen BY GLENN GARVIN ggarvin@herald.com The conversation would have made Calpernia Addams wince, if she hadn't already heard it a thousand times before. Walking down the street at Sundance Film Festival, the center of the hip filmmaking universe, the phrase floated out of the cloud of deal-cutting babble: . . . and then the transsexual prostitute. . .''In Hollywood, it's like the two words go together, transsexual and prostitute,'' says Addams, who owns a video production company -- and is also transsexual. ``They don't even...

Poised to make his case tonight in a Special Prime Time Interview with Ed Gordon on Black Entertainment Cable Television [8PM EST]..Trent Lott (R-MS) is now facing more calls to replace him as Senate Majority Leaderfrom top republicans