A Sprinkling of Pepper on 'Kennedys' Controversy

To paraphrase a famous conservative, "There they go again."

Barry Pepper, who co-stars in "The Kennedys," has sprinkled fuel on the "conservatives as victim" fire in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, saying in regard to outspoken producer Joel Surnow, "Being conservative has become a bad word in Hollywood."

Actually, having seen all eight hours of the miniseries (and even watching without commercials, I want that part of my life back, "Source Code"-style), I prefer to think that being a ham-handed hack has become a bad word in Hollywood, but we all know that's not true, either.

Pepper has apparently done a good job avoiding advance reviews of the project, which based on Metacritic.com's score needed a hilarious rave from the always entertaining Linda Stasi of the New York Post to skew the curve.

History hasn't helped matters by being so coy about why it punted on airing "The Kennedys," but I have a hard time believing that being disowned by historians or chided by surviving Kennedy family members would be reason enough to compel them to pass so late in the game. After all, this is a channel that has found the historical value in "Ice Road Truckers," and which will counter ReelzChannel's "Kennedys" premiere with "Ax Men" and "Swamp People." Unless those titles refer Paul Bunyan and Francis Marion (the "Swamp Fox" of the old Disney series), I'd say they're pretty comfortable playing fast and loose with history.

The bottom line is that Surnow has struggled to come up with an encore after co-creating "24," which is hardly a new phenomenon in Hollywood but has little to do with his politics.

And for all those who have asked, no, I served my time, "The Kennedys" viewing party -- in "Mystery Science Theater 3000" mode -- will not be at my house.