November 1, 2003 - I'm not going to watch The Reagans. The idea of spending two nights of television time watching a second-rate made for TV mini-series featuring a second-rate actors doing second-rate impersonations of a second-rate actor couple leaves me cold. It has nothing to do with politics. It is a matter of reasonable taste and the selection of more edifying television fare available in the 100 channel universe of cable TV. I'll probably tune in the Home Shopping Network instead. The plot line and acting is likely to be superior.

Did Nancy slap Patti? Did Ronnie disrespect AIDS patients? Frankly I do not care. I have my own view of the Reagan Presidency based on having survived it and it doesn't depend upon a CBS Bio-Pic for ratification. Like most of that genre that has come to be known as doc-u-drama this one can be expected to be light on the doc and heavy on the drama. I don't know because I haven't seen it, but that is my guess and it is as good as anybody's.

I'm not going to spend my entertainment dollar on Mel Gibson's Passion either. Again it has to do with neither religious sensibilities nor political correctness. It is that I can't get into the idea of watching actors perform using someone's idea of a dead language last spoken 2000 years ago while trying to follow a familiar plot line in subtitles. Again I don't know because I haven't seen it but my guess is that it will be a ponderous exercise and quite boring.

Both of these examples of artistic enterprise have been the subjects of a drumbeat of vitriol from people who have not seen the films, read the scripts, or spoken with anyone who has. Now the Republican National Committee has gotten in to the act. I suppose that it institutionalizes the effort to discredit a work of fiction based on nothing more serious that that the lead actor is married to Barbra Streisand and that makes the whole project suspect. The RNC wants CBS to insert a disclaimer ribbon running at the bottom of the screen advising the viewer that the work is fiction. The same idea might be applied to Fox News or any given Whitehouse news briefing.

There must be something more important for the governing body of the ruling political party to give its attention to. There are burning issues vexing America . Now drama is an important aspect of our intellectual and political culture, I'll grant you that. The inventions of script-writers and the nuances of characterization do have a way of impacting our perceptions of reality but they rarely change our preconceived notions of it.

I am reminded of lines written long ago by the master of the dramatist's art, " 'Tis a tale told by a idiot, full of sound and fury, and signifying nothing."