CBS' upcoming miniseries "The Reagans" (search) has created so much controversy that the network is considering selling the million program to Showtime, a new report says.
Not only has the miniseries generated a storm of protest, but an ugly battle is taking place inside CBS over the two-part saga, to be aired Nov. 16 and Nov. 18, Newsweek says.
Stars Judy Davis (search) and James Brolin (search) refuse to do any interviews to publicize the program and director Robert Allan Ackerman has opted out of the editing process.
As a result, CBS executives are now doing the cutting themselves.
"It's being edited with a machete," says a person close to the program.
Newsweek says everything was fine until a New York Times story last month detailed the complaints of conservatives.
In short order, a Web site called boycottcbs.com began proclaiming, "Don't let the Hollywood Left smear the Reagans," and CBS president Les Moonves (search) ordered network lawyers to have another look at the program.
The lawyers gave the miniseries a green light, but Moonves started editing anyway, the magazine says.
At that point, Ackerman walked and Davis and Brolin zipped their lips.
"Nobody seems to know what's going on," the director told the magazine. "Whatever is going on is going on very secretly."
So far, the program has been through at least three edits, Newsweek says.
And the most incendiary line - in which Nancy asks the president to do more for AIDS victims and he replies, "They that live in sin shall die in sin," - has been cut.
So has footage of Ronald Reagan Jr. doing ballet.
Newsweek says CBS could sell the program to Showtime - also owned by Viacom - and much of the heat would dissipate. But that would lead to further cries that CBS had caved in to pressure from special interests