Reagan drama 'may be cancelled'

Actor James Brolin plays Ronald Reagan in the drama

US TV network CBS is expected to announce it is cancelling plans for a mini-series about former President Ronald Reagan, according to a report.

The network has come under pressure from Republican and Conservative groups, the New York Times said.

The paper said it was likely the drama would instead be handed over to CBS's pay-cable channel, Showtime.

Mr Reagan's supporters are concerned that Hollywood liberals will use the drama to attack his legacy.

Mr Reagan, 92, was president from 1981-89 and has Alzheimer's disease.

The Republican party has demanded an advance viewing of the biopic, while others have called for a boycott of CBS.

Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie has written to CBS president Leslie Moonves asking to see the show to check its accuracy.

Some of the former president's supporters are boycotting CBS

"We live in a culture today of reality TV. Lines between fact and fiction get blurred," he said.

"I am concerned that its portrayal of our 40th president and his wife is not historically accurate."

Jeff Wald, manager of actor James Brolin, who plays Mr Reagan, said: "We don't know what movie they're putting out there or when or what they're doing with it."

But he said criticism of the programme was a "hatchet job" and its producers were "absolutely dismayed" at the backlash.

CBS declined to comment on Monday but Mr Moonves has previously said they were still editing.

"We've looked at the rough cut, there are things we like, there are things we don't like, there are things we think go too far," he told CNBC's Tina Brown.

"So there are some edits being made trying to present a more fair picture of the Reagans."

Internet campaign

A report in Newsweek said CBS executives were editing the film themselves after director Robert Allen "opted out" of the editing process.

Other reports in the Washington Post and the Reuters news agency said they were considering never showing it at all.

And an internet campaign has been set up by Mr Reagan supporters to encourage viewers to boycott CBS.

Producer Neil Meron has defended the show, telling the New York Times: "This is not a vendetta, this is not revenge. It is about telling a good story in our honest sort of way."

Scenes cut

The story starts when Mr Reagan is introduced to his future wife, Nancy, in 1951, and follows him through his years in office.

In one scene, Nancy was reportedly shown pleading with her husband to help people with Aids but he responds: "They that live in sin shall die in sin."

That scene has now been cut, Newsweek said.

Scriptwriter Elizabeth Egloff admitted there was no evidence that the conversation took place, but said the script was based on known opinions, events and facts.

The Reagans had been scheduled to be shown in two parts on 16 and 18 November.