NY Post "The Reagans" Review (Tempest in a pee pot)

[kskiska]

November 30, 2003 -- What was all the fuss about again?

If it was about the three-hour miniseries I just watched - "The Reagans," which finally hits the air tonight at 8 on Showtime - then the people who made such a big stink about it look like a bunch of loony, paranoid alarmists.

And CBS, which canceled it earlier this month in the midst of the uproar, is really looking like the Chicken Broadcasting System.

This miniseries is simply too tame to have kicked up such a commotion. Having finally seen it (Showtime's publicists got it into critics' hands over the weekend), I have to marvel at the small minds that raised such a ruckus over it.

It turns out that their knee-jerk reaction against this miniseries sight unseen was completely unnecessary. It served only to give the movie tons of free publicity that it otherwise would never have received.

Had the protesters had the opportunity to see "The Reagans" before they began foaming at the mouth, they likely would never have bothered writing a single letter or threatening a single advertiser boycott.

more…
http://nypost.com/news/nationalnews/12147.htm

[girl gone mad]

1. This was in the post?

surprising.

[buycitgo]

2. beat me to the poncho with that

I taped it; didn't watch but a tiny snip, plus the very lame "factoids" run before credits, among which this stood out:

Nancy Reagan now "devotes her life EXCLUSIVELY to the care" of RR.

EXCLUSIVELY........ha

I have it on tape, in case they decide to edit it.

unbefrickin lievable

also, they did a quite lame version of young Ron's pretty funny "Risky Business" Bob Seger underwear scene, with a real dipwad of an actor, playing Ron Jr.

maybe if they'd used, uh, Ron Jeremy instead

[kskiska]

5. "devotes her life EXCLUSIVELY?"

I'll bet she's never changed a diaper. She's never alone with him. From everything I've read, she still does lunch with Merv and all her friends on Rodeo Drive. She got Merv to attack CBS for her. He claimed he was so upset. Like Merv doesn't know how these things work in the industry.

[kskiska]

3. Freeps are deflated

Over 500 posts. They're disappointed that no one at DU was watching.

To: Petronski

I have it on, but I am doing some reading and have another eye here on FR; my point is I have seen much worse from the lamestream when it comes to RR. And, in some scenes, they give him a nobility and a down-to-Earthness that is positive. And they DID give Nancy that great Gulag line used against that horrible Raisa Gorbachev.

Look, my only point is that I was expecting worse and have seen worse from the commie-lib-pinko-dems. Yes--if you and I collaborated on this screenplay it would have been better.

414 posted on 11/30/2003 7:44 PM PST by Pharmboy (Dems lie 'cause they have to...)

To: Lazamataz

FWIW, nobody over at DU seems to be watching - they're all too busy watching Norm Chimpsky get a tongue bath from Charlie Rose. So you may very well be the only one watching this piece of junk ;)

468 posted on 11/30/2003 8:02 PM PST by general_re (Knife goes in, guts come out! That's what Osaka Food Concern is all about!)

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1031259/posts?q=1&&page=1#1

[buycitgo]

4. "Norm" Chimpsky?

does that idiot mean this

http://www.who2.com/nimchimpsky.html

or is he just a run of the mill moranski?

[Cat Atomic]

6. Yep- they made fools out of themselves for nothing again.

Silly brownshirts. I wonder if the german thugs were as entertaining?

[Kurovski]

7. Don't have Showtime but I listened to

the last hour or so. former first lady Nancy came out lookin' pretty damn good, and the President seemed more a victim of the nasty shits (vipers, as Mrs. Reagan called them) around him.

Could it be that those shits (many now again in the WH and thereabouts) were the ones really responsible for getting it off free TV? Reminding folks about Iran-Contra is not a good thing.

It seemed better than average acting for a made for tv movie. Judy Davis ain't no slouch, and far from being a "charactature"(sp?) as I'd heard from Mikey Reagan, I thought
Brolin sounded uncannily like RR.

[juajen]

8. I agree with you Kurovski

I actually watched all three hours, and enjoyed it. The acting was good, both major players and minor ones.

I don't think their panning of this movie had anything to do with the Reagans. To me, it was almost a reenactment of the * White House. A man in charge, but being manipulated by smarter thugs around him. Also, I think it showed a pretty picture of Nancy Reagan. Didn't portray her as a very good mother, but many of us mothers are certainly not perfect. It did, however, portray her as a wonderful wife and a strong first lady. As such, it also points out Laura Bush's deficiencies. It would be my bet that she is not aware of much that is going on around her.

I also gained a small amount of respect for Pres. Reagan. I honestly didn't think he was that far gone (alzheimers). Now, I am not sure that he did know about the Iran-Contra goings-on, or in the alternative, that he wasn't manipulated into it.

While I didn't agree with all of his objectives, I don't think he was a bad man; just an actor who got caught up and probably did the best he could do.

As a dem, I think it's funny they made such a todo over nothing.

[Kurovski]

9. I have to say that I too now have a different view of Mrs. Reagan.

I hope to see the film. It gave me something to think about.

I always thought president Reagan was losing his faculties around the time of Iran-Contra, so I always found it plausible that he didn't remember, or that he never understood to begin with.

But I'll never forgive his neglect of the AIDS issue. Especially since he was a man who worked in Hollywood.

The fact that this was taken off the air for political reasons is utterly disgusting. While that fact is frightening, really, the only feeling I can muster is anger. Things are not going well for America.