The Reagans
| The Reagans | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Based on |
First Ladies Volume II by Carl Sferrazza Anthony |
| Written by | Carl Sferrazza Anthony Jane Marchwood Thomas Rickman Elizabeth Egloff |
| Directed by | Robert Allan Ackerman |
| Starring |
James Brolin Judy Davis Željko Ivanek Mary Beth Peil Bill Smitrovich Shad Hart Zoie Palmer Richard Fitzpatrick Vlasta Vrána Francis Xavier McCarthy Frank Moore Aidan Devine John Stamos |
| Theme music composer | John Altman |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Robert Allan Ackerman Carl Sferrazza Anthony Stephanie Hagen Dave Mace Neil Meron Lynn Raynor Craig Zadan |
| Cinematography | James Chressanthis |
| Editor(s) | Mike Brown Melissa Kent |
| Running time | 180 (2x90 minutes) |
| Release | |
| Original network | Showtime |
| Original release |
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The Reagans is a 180-minute television film about U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his family which CBS had planned to broadcast in November 2003 during fall "sweeps", but was ultimately broadcast on November 30 of that year on cable channel Showtime due to controversy over its portrayal of Reagan.
The miniseries featured James Brolin as Ronald Reagan and Judy Davis as Nancy Reagan, and covers the period in time from 1949 when Reagan was still in Hollywood, through his governorship of California until Reagan's last day in office as President in 1989.
About a month before it was scheduled to air, portions of the script were leaked. As a result of these stories, the miniseries began to be widely criticized by conservatives as an unbalanced and inaccurate depiction of Reagan. CBS reportedly had ordered a love story about Ronald and Nancy Reagan with politics as a backdrop, but instead received what they later claimed was an overtly political film. Supporters of the film claimed that these criticisms were simply partisan bias, and were an attempt to censor a film because it did not always portray the former president in a positive light.
Conservatives began criticizing it before it was broadcast and claimed that it put words in Reagan's mouth and condemned it as leftist historical revisionism. Some of the criticism was based upon early drafts of the script and featured scenes that were not shot or were dropped from the final version. Eventually, after several weeks of outspoken criticism by conservatives, on November 4, 2003, CBS withdrew the broadcast saying that it did "not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans." The network chose instead to broadcast the miniseries on the cable channel Showtime, which along with CBS was owned by Viacom. In a statement on its web site, CBS said:
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