JFK Film Alarms His Loyalists

In 2003, CBS canceled a mini-series about Ronald Reagan after conservatives complained. Could a planned History Channel about the Kennedys meet a similar fate? Hatched from the brain of proud conservative of Joel Surnow, the creator of 24, The Kennedys is raising eyebrows among the former president’s loyalists, like Ted Sorenson. Now Robert Greenwald, a liberal filmmaker, has released a short film where Kennedy scholars attack Surnow’s project as inaccurate and a hatchet job. “It was political character assassination,” Greenwald says. “It was sexist titillation and pandering, and it was turning everything into a cheap soap opera of the worst kind.” Greenwald’s film is available at stopkennedysmears.com. The Kennedys does not yet have a cast or premiere date.