For those who are curious, but didn’t get to see the eight-part, docudrama series, “The Kennedys,” which was shunted to the obscure Reelz movie channel, here’s what you missed:
*A number of unlikable characters. Rose Kennedy as an annoyingly religious cartoon caricature. Joe Kennedy as an amoral, ego-driven patriarch of Faustian ambition. Bobby Kennedy as the obnoxiously abrasive “bad cop” to all those who might prove problematic to his brother, the president.
*Lots–and lots–of melodrama.
*A really, really bad portrayal of Frank Sinatra.
*A JFK who was often in pain and surprisingly devoid of charisma. Played by Greg Kinnear, this JFK was likable but flat. He also looked hauntingly like JFK in numerous scenes. Eerie.
Hi, Joe,
I thought that you might want to sign this petition.
I thought your comments in your column yesterday about the Kennedy’s were spot on! Although the acting was very good, the material was claptrap! I heard it was written by a conservative Republican who said that he could write about the Kennedy’s impartially. I guess he was wrong—– as usual!
You only left out one thing that I would have said and that was that JKF was portrayed as a President who couldn’t manage to accomplish anything w/o the help of his baby brother, Bobby. Too bad jerks like this writer get to distort the legacies of 2 great patriots and have their 12 mins of fame at the same time.
And you were right about the portrayal of Rose Kennedy…she was annoying instead of inspiring. Joe Kennedy, in league with the devil! No wonder that the Kennedy family objected to it and that the History Channel refused to air it.