New York
CBS executives this week scrapped plans to air a miniseries on Ronald and Nancy Reagan, under pressure from conservative groups. After a copy of the script leaked, Republicans said the two-part saga, The Reagans, was a smear on the former president and his wife. In one scene, Nancy Reagan urged her husband to support AIDS research, and he replied, “They that live in sin shall die in sin.” The former first lady was portrayed as a cold, manipulative social climber. Network executives tried to salvage the miniseries by editing it “with a machete,” a source told Newsweek. But the finished product was not a “balanced portrayal,” CBS said in a statement, so the network decided to license the four-hour saga to Showtime, a cable service owned by the same parent company, Viacom.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
‘The worry is far from fanciful’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
How are Americans bracing for the end of SNAP?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Millions depend on supplemental federal food funds that are set to expire this month, as the government shutdown begins to be acutely felt
-
Book review: ‘Joyride: A Memoir’Feature A journalist’s story of how she chased and accomplished her dreams
