CBS can’t handle (the) Truth-or its advertising

But you won’t see any advertising for it on CBS network programs. But the fundamental truth seems pretty inexorable, and the filmmaker goes to such great lengths to excuse and explain it away that the movie starts to play less like a docudrama than revisionist history.

In the film, Redford plays Rather opposite Blanchett as producer Mary Mapes, portraying the true story of a CBS “60 Minutes” investigation into former President Bush’s military service. CBS, which confirmed the rejection, told Callan it was not comfortable accepting the ads because of inaccuracies and distortions in the movie, and that it would offend longtime CBS News employees. For one thing, Robert Redford is MUCH hotter than Dan Rather-no offense. (Never one to forego playing dirty, Bush had deflected a serious question by bringing up a trivial Rather hissy fit.) Mapes contends in her book and Mike Smith in a rant onscreen that the media conglomerate Viacom (which then owned CBS) threw them under a bus because billions were at stake in Washington, where Viacom vigorously lobbied for favorable action on “media ownership rules, debt structure, a variety of cable issues, and leniency in television (particularly cable) decency standards”.

“To get an official statement from them that is negative was not surprising to anyone involved in the film”, said Fischer.

Redford and Blanchett have been on rival networks NBC and ABC to promote the two-hour film, but have not been warmly received by CBS. But CBS’s competitors have booked the stars: Redford was on the Today show on Monday, while Blanchett was on Good Morning America last week.

Blanchett appeared on CBS’ “Late Show” on October 8, however. However, the film’s depiction of the network and the independent panel that determined the Bush story’s invalidity are not.

Dan Rather and his producer put together the story that will end their careers. Or, as a character spells out in the most explicit terms imaginable – which happens a lot in this movie – “So you’re telling me that the President of the United States may have gone AWOL for an entire year?” Topher Grace, as the resident rabble-rouser on the team, gives a Big Speech about how and why the network is running from the story – but it comes out of nowhere, and is delivered to basically no one, dramatically inert and laughably on-the-nose. “I don’t think it’s our job as filmmakers to draw a conclusion, but rather to pose the questions”.