I saw that The Kennedy’s Miniseries on netflix instant watch. I link the wikipedia page just because it has a lot of information in the associated with the pre-production.
Still my take (and granted I’ll add I’m hardly a Kennedy Historian, but as a Prisoner of Massachusetts you can’t help but glean a whole ton of stuff) it was pretty accurate, and while it did a great job at portraying the family in a flattering light, it also does a good job at showing the problems of the family. Certainly Old Joe Kennedy’s greed, ambition, and impulsive response to throw money at any problem. Also his ability to cheat and conduct illegal acts. Of course Jack’s insatiable lust to nail women who aren’t his wife, also you can see Jack and Bobby’s inexperience and motivation to please their Dad.
Also I was surprised to see a bunch of the series devoted to Rosemary Kennedy, who was really the Kennedy family’s dirty little secret.
Still it was VERY eerie to see NO mention at all about about Senator Edward “Fat Teddy” Kennedy, which struck me as VERY strange. Granted Joe Jr is remembered as the “Perfect” Kennedy who died before his time, Jack as the swaggering Cocksmith, RFK as the idealist, and very few will argue that Teddy isn’t best remembered as the runt of the litter. Possibly it would have been too hard to portray a young Teddy as anything but a playboy drunk tagging along with his vastly more talented brothers, and given that the Senator hasn’t been dead for very long at all, maybe he was erased from history for respectful reasons.
Still the series is about Old Joe’s ambition and elevation of his family through his sons, we can see the nepotism and monolith of Power of having Jack and Bobby both in the Whitehouse, while Teddy simply grabbed Jack’s senate seat as he ascended to power (a seat he only abdicated at the time of his death) there were a LOT of Kennedys in national power, and that is lost to people simply viewing the series.
Its on netflix instant watch, so its worth a look-at. Also I’ll point out that the Makeup and wardrobe is AMAZING! The actors all look so much like their real-life counterparts. So much that there is one scene where Barry Pepper as RFK is standing in front of a Campaign posters emblazoned with a photo of the REAL Robert Kennedy, and it really doesn’t seem out-of-place.
Very cool.
