As an update to this post, Hugh Hewitt got an email from someone with some inside knowledge of the situation at ABC in light of the pressure they've received from Bill Clinton and other Dems to edit "The Path to 9/11" (in an attempt to make themselves look better). Here's part of what the email had to say:
The Disney execs met all through the weekend - unheard of in this business - debating what changes would be made and what concessions should be given. Here is what looks to be the conclusion:
- There will be a handful of tweaks made to a few scenes.
- They are minor, and nuance in most cases - a line lift here, a tweak to the edit there.
- There are 900 screeners out there. When this airs this weekend, there will be a number of people who will spend their free evenings looking for these changes and will be hard pressed to identify them. They are that minor.
- The average viewer would not be able to tell the difference between the two versions.
- The message of the Clinton Admin failures remains fully intact.
The story here is the backlash that the Disney/ABC execs experienced was completely unexpected and is what caused them to question themselves and make these changes at all. Had this been the Bush Admin pressuring, they wouldn't have even taken the call. The execs and studio bosses are dyed in the wool liberals and huge supporters of Clinton and the Democratic Party in general. They had no idea any of this could happen. As I understand this, the lawyers and production team spent literally months corroborating every story point down to the sentence. The fact that they were the attacked and vilified by their "own team" took them completely by surprise; this is the first time they've been labeled right-wing, conservative conspiracists.
The scramble caused by this backlash was so all consuming that the execs spent their holiday weekend behind closed door meetings and revamped their ad campaign. But at the end of their mad scramble, they found only a handful of changes they could make and still be true to the events. The changes are done only to appease the Clinton team - to be able to say they made changes. But the blame on the Clinton team is in the DNA of the project and could not be eradicated without pulling the entire show. A $40 million investment on the part of ABC is enough to stem even Bill Clinton's influence.
I'm sure they do this for everybody that calls in a complaint.
Yeah...right.
There are enough preview copies out there that I can't image they could make any really substantial changes without being decimated in the blogosphere. It will be interesting to see what comparisons are made by those who've seen the preview version.
ABC will reportedly broadcast the entire show without commerical interruption. Given the revenue that they are giving up, ABC must feel this is a pretty important show.
SPECIAL NOTE: I'm looking for some guest commentators on Sunday and Monday. I'm going to do something I haven't done previously - on Sunday night before the show starts airing on the East coast I'm going to put up an open thread and take the moderation off the comments so you can use it to post your own commentary on the show as you watch it. It will be sort of a poor man's chat room. I'm especially interested in having those of you in the East or Central time zones who will see the show three hours before I do. I'll be curious to read your thoughts on it. In order to post, all you'll need to do is click on the comment button below.
The open thread will be bumped up to the top again on Monday night for the 2nd part of the series. I hope as many of you as possible will join in. Don't be shy.
(Disclaimer - of course as always, I reserve the right to edit any objectionable material.)
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