"The Kennedys" on Reelz Channel

I was curious to see this after the reports of the controversy over it. Given that Reelz was the channel that wound up airing it, I sort of assumed it was poorly done. It was a pleasant surprise, in that I thought the characters were well cast and did well. I had a problem with Katie Holmes as Jackie. All the other actors projected their character. Katie Holmes just projected Katie Holmes, especially when she smiled. That's not a slam, she probably had the toughest role and she's just too cute to pull off Jackie.

 

The actor who played Bobby Kennedy was excellent.

 

I was pretty shocked to see how loosely they played with the details of the assassination, given how well documented it is. A couple things stuck out glaringly. They showed Oswald cleaning his rifle on (I assumed) either the night before or the morning of the assassination, and he was alone. I'm nearly certain that didn't happen--he spent the night with his wife at the home of Ruth Payne.

 

They also showed him being picked up for work by one of his co-workers at the Book Depository. That didn't happen--Oswald walked to the co-worker's house carrying the wrapped-up "curtain rods" under his arm.

 

Finally, they showed Joe and Rose Kennedy learning of the assassination from a TV broadcast just as Joe was struggling to stand up from his wheelchair for the first time since his stroke. That didn't happen either--Joe was in bed and sleeping when the first word of the assassination reached Hyannis Port, and he wasn't told until the next morning. Ted Kennedy and one of his sisters broke the news to their father.

 

This sort of made me wonder how much of the story prior to the presidency might have been wrong.