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HalliburtonDisney. Some further thoughts on ABC's miniseries of the 9/11 Commission Report (see the post directly below this one), now in production in Toronto.

First, the casting. Having Patricia Heaton, a former Republican Babe of the Week, play Barbara Bodine, the Queen of Baghdad (and former ambassador to Yemen and, famously, obstructionist against John O'Neill's USS Cole investigations there), is partisan typecasting of the laziest sort.

Second, the project's executive producer. As entertaining as it was, Legally Blonde might not be the most qualifying precedent for a six-hour miniseries about 9/11.

Finally, Disney is now starting to behave like Halliburton. Three thousand dead Americans and they're thinking, "What's in it for ABC? How can we monetize it?" You can hear ABC's head of sales yapping: "Have our account executives get in touch with 3M. We can sell this miniseries like the Super Bowl of duct tape commercials." Meanwhile, the network's production drones are thinking: "Developing a six-hour script is hard. Why bother when the Commission does it for you?" (Note: the official screenwriter's previous credits include The Day Reagan Was Shot, another GOP horror movie.) And the director places a call to Central Casting with the direction, sorry, suggestion: Let's have actual Republican babes play the roles of actual Republican operatives.

ABC's 9/11: It's sort of like reality TV, only more tragic.

{ 9:08 AM }

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