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<p>We hit a milestone with CBS's canceling of "The Reagans."</p> <p>CBS blinked.</p> <p>We hit a milestone in the culture wars last week with the internment of the threatened Ronald Reagan hit job. For once, perhaps for the first time, one of our pre-eminent cultural institutions conceded that the great unwashed had it right. Instead of wrapping itself in the First Amendment right to be irresponsible, the network looked for the least graceless way out.</p>

Thunderous protest has persuaded CBS to cancel The Reagans, its miniseries about America's 40th president and his second wife. (The series will air instead on Showtime, which shares a corporate parent with CBS.) It isn't especially troubling that CBS would bow to angry protesters in canceling The Reagans, given that the miniseries itself, if at all typical of the genre, is likely a piece of hackwork. (Those who live by popular tastes, die by popular tastes.) But it is troubling that the public, or at least a highly influential segment of it, has apparently ruled any criticism of President Reagan...

BETHESDA, Md., Nov. 6 — Growing up in a conservative family outside Philadelphia, he came of age politically when Ronald Reagan was president and never lost his reverence for him. Now, after years of anonymous admiration, Michael Paranzino is playing a major role in preserving Mr. Reagan's image. A former Congressional aide who is now a political consultant and work-at-home dad, Mr. Paranzino spurred an Internet revolt against CBS that altered its plans to broadcast a mini-series on Mr. Reagan and his wife, Nancy. Through a Web site name he bought for $8.95, BoycottCBS.com, and a blur of appearances on...

NEW YORK (AP) - In protesting "The Reagans," the miniseries that CBS decided to pull this week, supporters of the former president were defending not just a man, or a politician, but his principles. "This was a left-wing smear of one of the nation's most beloved presidents and CBS got caught," says Brent Bozell, founder of the conservative Media Research Center, which had asked advertisers to consider boycotting the film. All modern presidents have their advocates, but Ronald Reagan's legacy is guarded with an intensity not seen among supporters of Jimmy Carter or Gerald Ford. For many, Reagan personifies the...

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