The Whitewashed Kennedys

by Jace Lacob Info

Jace Lacob is The Daily Beast's TV Columnist. As a freelance writer, he has written for the Los Angeles Times, TV Week, and others. Jace is the founder of television criticism and analysis website Televisionary and can be found on Twitter. He is a member of the Television Critics Association.

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The controversial Kennedys miniseries, finally airing this Sunday, has traded in salaciousness for sugarcoating—Jace Lacob on eight key script changes.

Those concerned that the controversial Kennedys miniseries, dumped by History Channel in January, and airing on the heretofore unheard of cable network ReelzChannel starting on Sunday, would paint the Kennedys as a bunch of lecherous fornicators in the White House—as based on the original script by Steve Kornish (who worked with executive producer Joel Surnow on Fox’s 24), which played up the debauchery angle—might be surprised by what has made its way onto the screen. The result is a tedious and glacial miniseries that arrives with a leaden thud. It is no wonder that Starz, Showtime, FX, and DirecTV’s The 101 Network passed on picking up the project after History jettisoned it.

While there were cries of character assassination from Kennedy scholars, the clan itself, and critics, The Kennedys is itself a fairly surface-level whitewashing, as Kornish and director Jon Cassar seem to go out of their way to present a more balanced portrayal of JFK and the wealthy family than the original script did. Instances of jaw-dropping dramatic license seem to have fallen by the wayside, to be replaced by equally fictional swelling patriotic music, shots of the American flag waving (and falling to the ground, as it does in the opening title sequence), and faux newsreel images that seek to give this tired production some historical “weight.”

Yes, Jack (Greg Kinnear) does have multiple infidelities (including with doomed-to-be murdered painter Mary Meyer), Jackie (Katie Holmes) does take amphetamines, and Joe Sr. (Tom Wilkinson) does have daughter Rosemary (Laura Schutt) lobotomized without consulting his wife Rose (Diana Hardcastle), but the result is largely a neutered version of the Kennedys’ saga that has already been portrayed multiple times in film and television adaptations of the 20th century’s most storied family. In fact, it’s Wilkinson’s Joe Kennedy, Sr., a Machiavellian flesh-eating shark of a father, who gives the project a glimmer of tension and malice; his shrewd puppet master seems to be pulling everyone’s strings, until his devastating stroke in 1961.

So what are the biggest changes from that salacious original script? Let’s take a look.

One: Sexual Politics

How it was: Joe Sr. fondled his secretary as his sons looked on. Criticized for his appalling clothing, Jack says he dresses poorly because, “Girls figure I need help dressing. Once I get ‘em in the closet…” (Ick.)

The Kennedys. Credit: 2010 Kennedys Productions (Ontario) Inc. and Zak Cassar

How it is now: Joe Jr. (Gabriel Hogan) still goes to see his father—the then-ambassador to England—at his office in London, but Joe Sr. (Wilkinson) seems to maintain a strictly professional relationship with his gal Friday (at least for right now). Gone as well: Joe’s criticism and Jack’s sleazy retort. However, the scene still does keep Joe’s belief that concessions should be made to Hitler, lest the United States get dragged into the war, and Joe Jr. still agrees with his father.

Two: Lovers’ Lane

How it was: Joe Sr. canoodles outside his bedroom with his secretary, when they cross paths with his wife, who locks her bedroom door behind her as her husband and his not-so-secret lover enter his.

How it is now: Joe Sr. and secretary Michelle (Rachel Wilson) are caught kissing in the foyer of the house he shares with Rose (Hardcastle). Michelle is sent on her way—conveniently, they’re standing right at the front door!—as Rose asks if her rival needs a sweater as it’s “chilly outside.” Joe Sr. then offers his wife a “Shall we go to bed, Rosie girl?” as though nothing had happened. It’s in keeping with Joe’s belief, which he shares with Jack on his wedding day, that men’s infidelities are inevitable, but that they should try to be discreet when it comes to their wives finding out. (“Wives don’t expect fidelity, but they don’t want infidelity thrown in their faces.”) Later, after Joe’s stroke, Rose sends Michelle away. A traumatized Joe Sr. scrawls the word revenge on his writing slate, leading Rose to say haughtily, “Not mine. God’s.”