The Kennedys (TV miniseries)
| The Kennedys | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Historical drama |
| Written by | Stephen Kronish |
| Directed by | Jon Cassar |
| Starring |
Greg Kinnear Barry Pepper Katie Holmes Tom Wilkinson |
| Composer(s) | Sean Callery |
| Country of origin | Canada USA |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Michael Prupas Joel Surnow Jonathan Koch Steve Michaels Jon Cassar Jamie Paul Rock |
| Location(s) | Hamilton, Toronto |
| Cinematography | David Moxness |
| Running time | 45 minutes 353 minutes (Full running time) |
| Production company(s) |
Muse Asylum Entertainment Shaw Media |
| Distributor | Muse Distribution International |
| Release | |
| Original network |
History Television (Canada) ReelzChannel (United States) |
| Original release | April 3 – April 10, 2011 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | The Kennedys: After Camelot |
| External links | |
| Website | |
| Production website | |
The Kennedys is a Canadian-American television miniseries chronicling the lives of the Kennedy family, including key triumphs and tragedies it has experienced. It stars Greg Kinnear, Barry Pepper, Katie Holmes, and Tom Wilkinson among others, and is directed by Jon Cassar. The series premiered in the United States in April 2011 on ReelzChannel and on History Television in Canada.
The Kennedys was the subject of negative responses from historians based on early scripts, including charges of historical inaccuracy and presenting an unflattering depiction of the titular family. On February 16, 2010 the website stopkennedysmears.com was registered by filmmaker Robert Greenwald as part of the critical response to The Kennedys. On February 24, 2010 Dave Itzkoff of The New York Times reported that historian David Talbot, whose recent book had been used as source material for the miniseries, had joined those preemptively criticizing The Kennedys.Ted Sorensen, former speech writer for John F. Kennedy, described the script as a "character assassination". At the time of all of this criticism, the miniseries had not even been cast.
In an interview published in The Los Angeles Times on June 17, 2010, Joel Surnow addressed the complaints, saying, "they looked at early drafts of script that don't even resemble the final draft. It was way too early for them to comment on it."
However, as the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph put it: "With Greg Kinnear as Mr Kennedy, Katie Holmes as his First Lady and a budget of $30 million, expectations had been high. Now, it is widely considered a disaster on the eve of its airing on the ReelzChannel beginning on Sunday. The History Channel decided to drop the series from its schedule in January, stating that it was "not a fit" for the network. There then followed a humiliating and very public quest to find another channel that would air it."
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Wikipedia