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"In doing so, they clearly caved in to the political pressure Actor Mel Gibson has been skirmishing with Jewish groups over his Biblical epic, "The Passion of Christ The film had been scheduled to air Nov " Producers Zadan and Meron noted that CBS had approved their script "This was a left-wing smear of one of the nation's most beloved presidents and CBS got caught," said Brent Bozell, founder of the Media Research Center CBS believed it had ordered a love story about Ronald and Nancy Reagan with politics as a backdrop, but instead got a film that crossed the line into advocacy, said a network executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity Some advertisers might have been scared by the controversy, but many would have been attracted by the prospect of big ratings, he said While CBS said it was not bowing to political pressure, critics said that was exactly the case, and worried about the effects of such pre-emptive strikes on future work Neal Gabler, author of "Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality," said CBS' decision was unhealthy for democracy "What they've told us now is that a very small group of people have censorship power over the broadcast networks After some changes were made to the screenplay, the Hitler miniseries aired in May to middling ratings "CBS, in pulling this film, did incredible harm, much more harm than they could ever have done in making the film," Gabler said "All of the special interest groups can say, `look, we got the Reagan docudrama off the air "I said to Nancy, they don't like dad, but they hate you," Reagan said Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America , said CBS' decision "smells of intimidation to me Supporters of the former president, who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease, said there's no evidence he said that The chairman of the Republican National Committee wrote to CBS President Leslie Moonves, asking for historians to review the movie, and the conservative Media Research Center asked advertisers to consider boycotting the film Reagan Miniseries to Air on Showtime Nov 4, 3:54 PM EST Capping an extraordinary conservative furor over a movie virtually no one has seen, CBS said Tuesday it will not air "The Reagans" and shunt it off to the Showtime cable network instead It's a growing trend in entertainment: concerned groups not even waiting until something is released to make it a battleground "They made a business decision," he said "We believe it does not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans for CBS and its audience," the network said in a statement Tuesday Based on snippets of the script that had leaked out in recent weeks, conservatives, including the son of the former president, accused CBS of distorting the legacy of Ronald Reagan Showtime and CBS are both owned by Viacom, which is anxiously awaiting federal action on rules to restrict ownership of local TV stations CBS attempted to edit the film to remove offending passages, but gave up D Without changes, Showtime should remind viewers every 10 minutes that the movie is fictional, he said " It's not likely CBS faced much pressure from advertisers, said Brad Adgate, analyst for Horizon Media, an ad-buying firm He is married to the outspoken liberal Barbra Streisand, which drew complaints from some conservatives " Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie said putting the movie before a smaller audience on Showtime doesn't address accuracy concerns " CBS said its decision to cancel the movie was "based solely on our reaction to seeing the final film, not the controversy that erupted around a draft of the script The miniseries became a hot topic on talk radio and the TV news networks Viacom needs help from Republicans in the White House and Congress who might not like seeing Reagan portrayed negatively, Chester said In a portion of the script published in The New York Times last month, Reagan was depicted as uncaring and judgmental toward people with AIDS CBS faced pre-broadcast pressure earlier this year from Jewish groups concerned about its miniseries about Adolf Hitler Failure to enact such changes could cost Viacom millions of dollars, said Jeff Chester, head of the Center for Digital Democracy, a communications lobbying group The former president's son, radio talk show host Michael Reagan, said he had seen eight minutes of movie highlights and Nancy Reagan was depicted as basically running the White House "They that live in sin shall die in sin," Reagan's character tells his wife as she begs him to help AIDS victims 16 and 18, in the heart of the November ratings sweeps The movie was made by producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, who also made "Martin and Lewis" for CBS What's next?" ââ‚¬â€?ââ‚¬â€?ââ‚¬â€? Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Lynn Elber contributed to this report " Ironically, CBS' decision came two days after the network's 75th anniversary special, which included a skit by the Smothers Brothers poking fun at CBS for firing them more than 30 years ago because of their political content " The CBS decision "gives new hope to all of the people who don't like what they see on entertainment television," said Robert Thompson, head of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University Although disappointed that CBS won't air it, "we are excited that Showtime has agreed to broadcast it and the public will have a chance to judge `The Reagans' on its own merits Another precedent came in 1979, when CBS pulled a comedy series about a black congressman after complaints by some actual black politicians who had seen a screening, said TV historian Tim Brooks " But conservatives said it was a question of accuracy James Brolin portrayed Reagan There was also a concern about its depiction of Nancy Reagan