'24' producer takes on Kennedys miniseries

By Nellie Andreeva

The History cablenetwork has cast its vote for "The Kennedys," developing an eight-hourminiseries about the iconic American clan.

The project, slated to begin production inthe spring for a 2011 premiere, hails from "24" co-creator/executiveproducer Joel Surnow, a noted Hollywood conservative. It marks thechannel's first foray into scripted programing.

"The Kennedys" revolves around John and Robert Kennedy, opening withthe 1960 presidential election won by the former and ending with the1968 assassination of the latter. It also features flashbacks to theirearlier years, and depicts the brothers' relationship with theirfather, Joe, and their wives.

The story line draws parallels to "The Godfather": a manipulative,egocentric father determined to live out his own ambitions through hissons, who in turn spend their lives dancing to his tune while trying tostand on their own.

The big political events of the 1960s -- the Bay of Pigs, the CubanMissile Crisis, the civil rights movement -- will be featured in theminiseries, but "we will play them as background to the personalstories of the relationships between brother and brother and father andson," Surnow said.

Since the miniseries largely will shy away from the big conferencerooms and well-documented speeches in favor of private conversations,research for the project wasn't easy, especially given History's strictrequirements for accuracy.

All eight scripts were written by Kennedy scholar Stephen Kronish, aformer "24" co-executive producer. He said he included private scenesonly if they were supported by multiple sources, relied on publicrecords as well as his own extensive library and previous Kennedydocumentaries. No members of the Kennedy family or their inner circlehave been interviewed.

"I didn't want this miniseries to be a Valentine -- there have beenplenty of them -- neither did I want it to be a hatchet job," saidKronish, a self-professed liberal. "I think it is a fairly even-handedlook at people who achieved big things at amazingly early ages. We'rereally trying to see them as people and to strip away some of thepatina that has attached itself to them because of their early deathsand to show them, warts and all."

Canadian-based Muse Entertainment is producing the miniseries, whosebudget is said to be in the $20 million-$25 million range, inassociation with Asylum Entertainment.