The uh Kennedys is On. Should We uh Set the Dee-Vee-Aww?


I'm sure I am not the first person to say that Hollywood could have never come up with the story of the Kennedys on its own. If Shakespeare had conceived the Kennedys as a play, he would have added a schism within the family: Joe Jr. would not die in the first act; through some misinterpretation, he would swear himself an enemy of brother Jack, culminating in someone (or ones) dying in the final act. Tyler Perry would build the story around Jackie, making her president, and he would play her.

The creator of the series "24" and the Reelz channel gave the Kennedys a whirl in their eponymously titled miniseries. Judging from the episodes I watched, I would say it was as good as you would expect something with Katie Holmes in it to be. She has the clout to be in things she doesn't deserve to be in, so she'll always be the worst part of the feature. "The Kennedys" is no different. Mrs. Cruise squeezed herself on to the same stage as the brilliant Tom Wilkinson. I must say that the two other principal male players are effin' amazing. (I almost don't need to mention that Wilkinson portrays success-addict Joe Sr.) Greg Kinnear plays an introspective, empathetic, moral, whispering and bright Jack. Barry Pepper does an incredible Bobby, conveying his superior intellect, righteousness and loyalty. Katie Holmes plays a frustrated woman named Jackie.

I concede that Holmes may have been shackled by a story that gave her little, if anything, to do--but for Pete's sakes, Katie, can you at least make an attempt at your character's unique speech patterns? I suspect that if anyone tried to give Holmes any pointers on how she could improve her performance, she would have responded with a lame "this is my interpretation of who Jackie is." According to that interpretation, sometimes Jackie talked like the rest of the Kennedy family and sometimes she didn't. It was as if at one point the director yelled, "Fuck it, you can all talk with that stupid accent even if it's not accurate."

In the episodes I saw, there is no mention of Ted, which is surprising, considering his later relevance. I did see about ten minutes or so of young Rosemary in flashbacks. Of course, there was nothing sordid about the young Ted before 1969, when he mistakenly drowned a woman. The miniseries ends with the 1968 assassination of Bobby, thus avoiding Ted's later shenanigans but allowing for the opportunity to present the oft less-told story of "Rosemary's Lobotomy." Lobotomies are always good for the ooooh factor. Matriarch Rose, portrayed by Wilkinson's real-life wife Diana Hardcastle, does not get any particular credit for patenting the social consciousness for which the family is known. Patricia Kennedy is barely in focus, with little to do but introduce Marilyn Monroe to Bobby.

Trying to tie up thirty years of history in an eight-hour television show is always a task of omission. It also requires glomming some events together for dramatic flow. And then there is history versus artistic license. I don't know if there is any way to get it right. "The Kennedys" is definitely adequate, but aside from being a showcase for more Jack and Bobby impersonations (which are good), it may have also been purposeless, considering the number of Kennedy movies and miniseries we have already seen or chosen not to watch.

If you bought its marketing blitz, you would think that "The Kennedys" was a big coup for the Reelz channel, and it may have been. I don't think I have ever tuned in to the Reelz channel before in my life. Other networks were shopped for the airing, but according to the scuttlebutt, they were successfully dissuaded by Kennedy family members not to air it, through the sort of maneuvering that would have made Grandpa Joe proud. It begs the question of what the big deal is. The portrayals were almost all positive, save for Joe's old-school determination. Also, we've seen it all before, and if not, it's in Wikipedia. I do not think "The Kennedys" was as bad as some critics say. It was not a "must miss." I would recommend any one installment just for the performances of Wilkinson, Kinnear, and Pepper. There's gotta be an Emmy somewhere in that mix, regardless of the drawbacks. 

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