Henrick Vartanian
Jon Cassar the Canadian director of The Kennedys could not believe it when he, discovering that his miniseries will not air at all. The director says he made the necessary changes to the project anytime History Channel demanded them. But a decision to not air the series just left him stunned.
“We were very surprised,” said the director on Tuesday night at a Fox network media event where TV critics were present. “The actual product takes no political stance one way or the other.” Assures the filmmaker. The History Channel in the U.S. announced last Friday that it would not air The Kennedys, which it commissioned in partnership with Canadian specialty channel History Television. However. the miniseries, which was shot on location in Toronto, will air for the Canadian viewers starting March 6.
Director Cassar who also served as exec. Producer on Fox’s “24” has his own theory on why the series wont be on TV stateside. He believes that the Kennedy family and their friends likely lobbied the parent companies that own History channel in the U.S. such as Disney, Hearst and NBC Universal, to block the project.
“I doubt they’ve even seen it,” says Cassar. “They were objecting to it before it started. They were objecting to the idea of it.”
Allegedly the Kennedy people were not too thrilled discovering that an earlier draft of the screenplay had sexual moments taking place inside the White House.
The Kennedys were under close watch because executive producer Joel Surnow is somewhat believed to have conservative views that might have been injected into the production.
Chances are other U.S. networks may actually air the miniseries. But so far both HBO and Showtime have passed.