Caroline Kennedy Linked to Miniseries Cancellation

I guess they are branching out from rewriting only Southern History to New England now........
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NEWSMAX

When A&E Television Networks abruptly pulled “The Kennedys” miniseries from the History Channel’s spring schedule, saying it was “not a fit for the History brand,” there were rumblings that the Kennedy family was actually behind the move.

Now a new report discloses that Caroline Kennedy and Maria Shriver did lobby the network to yank the eight-part miniseries about the American political family.

The multimillion-dollar project starring Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes created controversy as soon as it was announced in December 2009. Former John F. Kennedy adviser Theodore Sorensen — who died in October — saw an early version of the script and called it “vindictive” and “malicious.”

The Hollywood Reporter, citing a source “close to the situation,” disclosed that “none of History’s advertisers or sponsors complained about the miniseries. But behind the scenes, members of the Kennedy family strongly lobbied AETN [A&E Television Networks] to kill the project.”

AETN is owned by a consortium that includes the Walt Disney Co., NBC Universal, and Hearst. The source said Caroline Kennedy, daughter of JFK and Jackie Kennedy, personally appealed to Disney/ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney, who serves on the AETN board, not to air the miniseries.

Caroline Kennedy has a book deal with Disney’s Hyperion publishing division, which will bring out a collection of previously unreleased interviews with Jackie Kennedy. Caroline has agreed to edit the book, write an introduction, and help promote it.

“But that level of cooperation might have been unlikely if History had gone ahead with the ‘Kennedys’ project,” the Hollywood Reporter observed.

Maria Shriver, daughter of JFK’s sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, was formerly a journalist for NBC Universal. She too voiced her displeasure with the miniseries to NBC executives.

Also, Shriver is a friend of Sweeney, who serves on the board of the Special Olympics, founded by Shriver’s mother Eunice, according to the Reporter.

There has been “very little outcry” over AETN’s decision not to air the miniseries, NewsBusters observed; in contrast, “journalists such as Brian Williams railed about ‘extortion’ when CBS pulled a historically inaccurate 2003 miniseries about Ronald Reagan.”

“The Kennedys” is still scheduled to air in Canada and will be broadcast internationally.

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