JFK series finds home
‘The Kennedys” miniseries has finally found a new Camelot.
Originally created for History, the controversial miniseries will now air on the ReelzChannel beginning April 3, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The $30 million, 8-part miniseries, starring Katie Holmes as Jackie Kennedy and Greg Kinnear as John F. Kennedy, was picked up by Reelz in an effort to raise the 4-year-old indie channel’s profile and encourage carriers like Cablevision to pick it up.
Time Warner Cable subscribers in the city will get Reelz just in time for “The Kennedys” premiere, though — Reelz launches in New York on March 12.
“The Kennedys,” produced by “24” exec Joel Surnow, was supposed to be History’s first foray into scripted dramas.
Before it went into production, it came under fire from historians and Kennedy advisers alike, who protested the scandal-filled way the political family was being portrayed in script drafts.
Early last month, History announced that it had dumped the highly-anticipated miniseries from its lineup, citing the “dramatic interpretation” as being “not a fit for the History brand.”
Sources said that the truth was that the real-life Kennedy family had pressured network and parent company bosses to kill the miniseries because they didn’t want anything to taint the 50th anniversary of JFK’s inauguration this year.


