Controversial 'Kennedys' Miniseries Fails to Attract Major Advertisers

3:32 PM PDT 3/13/2011 by Katy Bachman

"Advertisers are scared to death of this. They told us point blank, ‘It's too politically hot,’ " gripes the head of ReelzChannel, which picked up the miniseries in January after History yanked it.

National advertisers are notorious wusses, shying away from any program that might be even the slightest bit controversial. So it was essentially inevitable that a media frenzy over a miniseries depicting one of the most iconic political families in history would result is a tough ad sales pitch for The Kennedys. Three weeks before the eight-part series premieres April 3, ReelzChannel has failed to line up any major sponsors.