Quoting:
Whatever issues you have with the script aside, it being cancelled is a bad thing.  I wouldn't have watched it, but the fact that CBS buckled down to powerful conservatives does.  This is censorship.  This bothers me.  
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you missed the point.

It wasnt just conservatives that complained, it was also advertisers, and members of the Reagan family who didn't want their father being potrayed in a completely false light.

Thats not cencorship.  If CBS was under a legal ruling to not air it, then yes that would be cencorship.  But CBS can air it if they want, its their decision, and they made the choice to not air it.  If you make the decision to not do or say something, you aren't being censored.  Its your decision.  

Quoting:
Whatever issues you have with the script aside, it being cancelled is a bad thing.  I wouldn't have watched it, but the fact that CBS buckled down to powerful conservatives does.  This is censorship.  This bothers me.  
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Hmmm, let's examine this often misused word.

cen·sor·ship   noun   :The act, process, or practice of censoring.

OK, that was not a lot of help.  Let's look up censoring then.

entry found for censoring.
cen·sor    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (snsr)
n.
1.  A person authorized to examine books, films, or other material and to remove or suppress what is considered morally, politically, or otherwise objectionable.
2.  An official, as in the armed forces, who examines personal mail and official dispatches to remove information considered secret or a risk to security.
3.  One that condemns or censures.
4.  One of two officials in ancient Rome responsible for taking the public census and supervising public behavior and morals.


OK, that helps.  Well, there is nobody that is actually telling CBS not to run this.  And there is no official saying it is objectionable.  In fact, CBS (and all networks) HAVE censors.  Ask the Smother Brothers about the infamous CBS censors.  :)

If there is censorship here, it is on the side of the network themselves.  I myself, I prefer to bring in another word:  RESPONSIBILITY.

In allowing this movie to be made for broadcast on their network, CBS has failed in it's responsibility to the public.  They themselves claim that they did not properly check into the script or the movie until it was almost finished.  Even the President of the network has admitted it is full of slander.  In fact, in the draft form, I would not be surprised if CBS was not sued by the people "involved" for character attacks.

When a movie is made on real people and events, the producers have the responsibility to make it as factual as possible, unless the obvious intent is satire, or fantasy (Hitler in "The Producers" and Clinton in "Contact" come to mind here).  If they are trying to portray events as true, they should do research and back up their claims.  If the people protrayed are still alive, I believe this responsibility is even higher.

Personally, I think the biggest lapse of judgement was to allow somebody as politically diametrically opposed to the characters as Babs and her husband to be involved in the first place.  This simply guaranteed that it would be nothing but propaganda from the very beginning.

Now this does not mean that I feel only conservatives should do any such movie.  When the movie "THe Day Reagan Was Shot" was made, a lot of Liberals were involved.  And while I felt some character attacks were made, for the most part the movie told the story as it was.  They did not feel the need to bash the people involved.

I have worked in and around Hollywood for years.  I also remember his terms as Governor of California.  Even Nancy's weird belief in Astrology was known.  But they never let things like that affect the running of the state and the country (other then the timing of some things, like his swwaring in as Governor and the signing of the missle treaty with the USSR).

Quoting:
Besides, it's still going to be shown, if not on CBS, and it's gained a whole lot more publicity in the meantime.
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It may have gotten publicity, but it has also lost something much more important: credibility.  Now anybody that watches it will know it is a blatant character attack, not a true non-biased portrayal of President Reagan and his life.  And believe me, if it is anything that Hollywood types HATE, it is being told they are irrelevant and lack credibility.

Quoting:Well, there is nobody that is actually telling CBS not to run this.  And there is no official saying it is objectionable.  End Quote

Exactly.

A network canning a movie/show because of public or advertiser outcry isn't uncommon.

One example that stands out in my mind because it was so vile and disgusting, was that show last summer called "Are You Hot?".  Anyone remember that piece of trash?  It was possibly the most trashiest TV show I had ever seen.  And, obviously the public and advertisers thought so too, because the network pulled it off the air after only a few shows.  And nobody claimed that was censorship, it was the same situation as the CBS/Reagan issue.

CBS is not being censored, they just realized the public isn't as stupid as they thought they were, and were not going to stand for this.

Quoting:
They are being forced not to air it.  That's a form of censorship.  There may be no official saying that it can't be aired, but people still aren't letting it be aired.  Maybe censorship is the wrong word, but it's still the network being kept from speaking freely. End Quote

Let me say again, CBS has every right to air it.  And they made the decision to not air it.  That alone is not censorship.

How is it censorship when they themselves decided not to show it.  And besides, they are still showing it on a different channel (Showtime), so how are they being censored?  They aren't.

Quoting:I mean, yeah, people have the right to be offended and boycott or whatever...If you're offended, so what?  Don't watch...This is so offensive that it had to be pulled?  Life goes on, people.  End Quote

Its not as simple as just being offended.

In this case, you have a movie filled with false situations, misquotes, slanderous material, and flat out non-occuring situations thats CBS totally made up.  All this was admitted by CBS.

Its one thing to "dramatically portray" someone in a movie, but when you literally put words in their mouth and put them in situations that never even happened, that is wrong.  And CBS should be held accountable for that.

Quoting:If it turns out to be slanderous, let the Reagans sue.  Not only that, it hasn't even been shown yet and that's an ugly precedent.  We're never gonna get anything controversial aired now.  Give it a chance before you slaughter it.
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Actually, the Reagan family has seen it, and immediately came out with statments about how much of it was false and made up.  

Have you even heard, read, or seen any of the movie or script?  I have and its pathetic.  Considering where it came from however, I'm not surprised.  Its no secret Streisand's feeling towards Reagan, and now she got her chance. ::)

Whats worse, is the guy this movie is attacking will never be able to defend himself from the ugly portrayal in this movie.  CBS has lost a lot of credibilty with this, not that I had much for them to begin with.

Quoting:
Have you even heard, read, or seen any of the movie or script?  I have and its pathetic.  Considering where it came from however, I'm not surprised.  Its no secret Streisand's feeling towards Reagan, and now she got her chance. ::)
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I admit, I tried to read the script.  I made it through about 20 of it, and gave up.  It is so full of garbage, it is silly.  I had a feeling it belonged on Saturday Night Live, not Primetime TV.

Of course, I posted the link to the script here, I wonder how many people actually took the time to read it.  I have read it, and made my opinions from it, not from just what other people said.  Sadly, so many people are robots, and would rather be told what to think now.

For over 10 years, Rush Limbaugh has signed off his Friday show with the following words:

OK, it is time to go for the weekend.  DO not bother opening any newspapers, or watching the news.  SImply tune in on Monday, and I will tell you what happened, and what you should think about the events of the weekend.

Of course, he often said, it was the opposite he wanted, and was useing reverse psychology, challenging people to read and learn, and to make their own beliefs.  But sadly, so many people do just what he says, and let others think for them.

Quoting:
Why doesn't Reagan know about this? ???


Howard
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In 1994, Ronald Reagan announced he had Alzheimer's Disease.  Since then, almost all of his mental facilities have dissapeared, and more recently his physical ones.

For the first few years after his diagnosis things were not so bad, then he suddenly started to get worse.  I remember around 2000 I read a report about his condition.  He was still very active, but he no longer had the mental capacity to do complex things.  Since he loved yard work, his Secret Service agents would spread leaves around the yard every morning so he could rake them up.  His memory was so far gone, he was doing it every day.  He enjoyed the work, but an agent said it was sad to see his facilities so far gone.

THe last report I remember was about 4 years ago.  By then, he no longer recognized any of his kids, and he thought Nancy was his sister or daughter, he could never remember which.

THat is what is so nasty about his disease, and the movie made on him.  He is still alive, but obviously unable to reply to any of the accusations.  It is kind of like how they waited for Nixon to die before they made the most insulting movies about his life.

Quoting:
Alzheimers is a terrible thing.  My grandmother is in the final stages now, and I have seen her go from a vibrant active loving person, to basically a vegatable.  She has no clue who I am, among other things like when she should eat, use the restroom, etc.

The more I think about CBS making this false and humiliating movie about a man who is barely living with no chance to defend himself, the more it ticks me off.

%*$# CBS.  (and for good measure, %*$# Striasand and her husband for being a part of it too)







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As I stated in the "Other thread" about this...they should all burn