The Kennedys Lands on ReelzChannel
The Kennedys
The Kennedys miniseries has finally found a home: ReelzChannel.
ReelzChannel CEO Stan Hubbard told The Hollywood Reporter that the first two episodes will air Sunday, April 3, with the remaining six to air on successive nights that week.
Before it airs, History Channel cancels The Kennedys
The pickup comes nearly a month after A&E Television Networks abruptly dropped the project from its History channel — starring Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes as John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy, respectively — because it is "not a fit for the History brand."
A multimillion-dollar project developed by 24 co-creator Joel Surnow, The Kennedys drew ire from the political left and some Kennedy historians when it was announced in December 2009. A former Kennedy adviser called an early version of the script "vindictive" and "malicious" in a front-page New York Times story last February. The network later said the script had been revised and vetted by experts.
After it was scuttled by History, producers shopped the miniseries to others, including Showtime, Starz and FX, which all passed.
Can Katie Holmes pull off Jackie Kennedy?
But Showtime CEO Matt Blank, a friend of Hubbard's, reached out to him after watching the miniseries and liking it, but concluding that it wasn't a fit for his network, Hubbard said. Hubbard watched the miniseries last weekend and jumped at the chance to snatch it up.
"One of the benefits of being an independent network is that you can be an independent voice and you don't have to worry about corporate pressure or political pressure," Hubbard said. "This is a project that deserves to be seen."
Will you watch The Kennedys?