Kennedys mini-series finds a home on ReelzChannel

The saga of The Kennedys is starting to feel like history repeating itself. Just as the 2003 series The Reagans was dropped from CBS only to move to Showtime, so too has the controversial made-in-Toronto series found a new home on ReelzChannel, a cable channel based out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. While this marks a definite step down from the History Channel’s prime time audience, it’s a win for Camelot addicts. Reelz will air the world premiere of the series on April 3.

So to recap: first news came from the Hollywood Reporter that A&E Television Networks, the parent company of the History Channel which was originally supposed to air The Kennedys, allegedly received pressure from Caroline Kennedy to axe the series. Then, the Canadian director of the series Jon Cassar told reporters he was stunned by History’s decision to drop the already completed show, since during production he complied with every requested change to the script from the network and lawyers. Now, ReelzChannel CEO Stan Hubbard told Variety he has no problem with the content of The Kennedys:

I believe the people that made it took great care to make sure they were sensitive to history, the Kennedy family and the Kennedy legacy. That said, there are things in history and with the family that aren’t always the prettiest. But what you’ll see in this movie is that John Kennedy was a strong and great leader who had the courage of his own convictions, and Robert Kennedy was the conscience of both a family and a generation.

Canadian viewers with get their first peek at the controversial mini-series when History Television (no relation to the History Channel) airs it here in April.

• ‘The Kennedys’ lands on ReelzChannel [Variety]