midge56 This is one of the best miniseries I've ever seen. It is right up there with John Adams and Thornbirds. I rarely give out 10 stars but this series truly deserves it. The DVD's can be found on Amazon.The makeup and hairstyling was better than any film or series I've ever seen. In fact, Kate looked better than Jackie. It was also nice that we didn't have to suffer through overacting and ridiculous forced accents like we did with Martin Sheen on Kennedy. All the actors in this miniseries were so natural and looked so much like the real life persons, I forgot they weren't the real deal. Truly exceptional acting and natural makeup without prosthetics. Tom Wilkinson stole the show as Joseph Kennedy. The Kennedy early years was excellent about the son Joe & Rosemary. I wish we could have seen the others like Kathleen, Pat and Eunice. Teddy is shown in the sequel. But they forgot to include John John.However, whenever there is a foreigner or foreign country involved in a true life historical show like the recent Jackie, (Canada in this case) they inevitably show Oswald as the assassin when all of us who were alive at the time know depict no one as the assassin and just the result... so the lie about Oswald doesn't PO the American Public. Oswald grates through us like chalk on a chalkboard anytime someone shows that ridiculous lie.Then we had the BS with the fake history channel boycotting the film in the US. Read Wikipedia. I hardly believe Caroline's opinion carried that much weight. Especially since she wasn't even alive during the first part and a child during her fathers administration. So she wouldn't know the truth any more than Will and Harry really know how their mother Diana was killed.There is nothing revealed about the Kennedy's or outside of what we know from news articles, so no surprises which should have upset the last of the original Kennedy family so I don't know why they tried to destroy this series before it was even cast or filmed. This was a deliberate premeditated attack before the filming script was even written.Read about Operation Mockingbird if you want a real eye opener how our media has been controlled by the CIA. Think I'm kidding? Look it up. They recruited publishers, broadcasters and filmmakers in every major company to control what we see. People like Ben Bradlee and Katherine Graham of the Washington post and Newsweek. CNN, Fox, History Channel, A&E, etc. My brother was a CIA publisher. This is the real deal.Read about Operation Mockingbird on Wikipedia and Ben Bradlee's obit to learn just how free and honest our press, broadcast news networks and filmmakers really are with the CIA involved. Allen Dulles, CIA director fired by JFK along with Charles Cabell and Richard Bissell, is the one who orchestrated the assassinations. Cabell's brother Earl was the Mayor of Dallas in 63. Notice how all the secret servicemen were all standing on the 2nd car following Kennedy and how Kennedy's driver slowed down when the shooting began. Bolton, Kennedy's protection was sent away to keep him out of Dallas and set up to silence & discredit him.JFK's mistress Mary Pinchot Meyer was CIA like her ex husband & brother in Law Ben Bradlee who gave her diary to the CIA. Mary had been assigned to control JFK and his cabinet. Read about her on Wikipedia. She was murdered a year after JFK to silence her. The staged witnesses gave CIA safe house as their address and the other gave phony military identity as they tried to set up a scapegoat for her murder. Bradlee admitted to lying about the diary in his trial testimony. He was Washington post and Newsweek.Dulles was put in charge of the Warren Commission by LBJ to mislead all of the evidence and testimony. Pres Ford & Arlen Spectre were also on the commission and Bush Sr coordinated from the CIA. Witnesses say their testimony was changed and completely altered. Why would LBJ appoint the fired CIA director Allen Dulles over JFK's assassination investigation unless LBJ was involved or knowledgeable of the complicity of Dulles and put him there to misdirect the evidence.I loved this miniseries with the one exception about Oswald. I had to buy it on DVD due to the ridiculous boycott by History channel. So be sure to boycott them. Contact all their sponsors and tell them you will boycott any product which sponsors that network and A&E. I cancelled my service 5 years ago. Isn't it amazing how the UK History Channel aired this series and called it one of the best ever with nearly 3 million viewers there. We are the victims of propaganda and media control.This is an excellent video. Highly recommended.

joker-scar I read most of the reviews posted here and it seems everyone has made some pretty good points across the board. There is SOOOOOOOOOOOO much to mine as far as story possibilities it is actually staggering. First off, the acting…(1.) I usually just ignore Greg Kinnear… But…I think he did a pretty good job. He did look like JFK, more than I thought was possible if I had to cast someone to play Jack. But…he can't hold a candle to Bruce Greenwood's performance in THIRTEEN DAYS. I remember seeing the Martin Sheen mini-series in 1983 and loved it, but alas, I haven't seen it since then. Sheen is such a fine actor that I'll take it on blind faith he nailed it better than Greg. A lot of JFK's magnetic personality was lacking in the performance, most especially the dry humour. But some of that blame should be heaped onto the writers for not infusing the script with more depth. (2.) Katie Holmes…. I think she has charm and talent. Did she nail Jackie, no…. was it a terrible portrayal, no. She did her job, no better no worse than any other capable actress could have done. (3.) Barry Pepper…I think he is a fine actor and did bring out certain traits of RFK that seemed to ring true. But..again I feel, like some others have already stated, Steven Culp nailed Bobby's personality for me, anyone else is just a copy of a copy. (4.) Enrico Colantoni's portrayal of Hoover left me cold. Far too animated at times. (5.) I like Tom Wilkinson and thought he gave a good performance as the cold and calculated Kennedy elder. Could it have been more sublime…sure. Could there have been a bit more lightness to counter the harsh "Kennedy-touch-football-win-at-any- cost" attitude…of course. Again this is the writers fault for not including these moments for the actor to use. Overall I think the series is a Clift Notes (or Coles Notes if you're Canadian like me) version of the Kennedy era. So much was left out and so much was incorrect. I could go on and on like some others but I won't rehash other reviews. If you know NOTHING about the Kennedy era then it will satisfy, if you do… then there are lots of things that will grate on one's nerves. SIMPLE fixes that did not hinge on spending extra money…just on a BETTER SCRIPT! The production value is pretty good but there is a "TV" quality about it. But that comes down to budget, you can only do so much with a finite amount of money especially when dealing with a by-gone period of history. It simply costs money to change our 21st century landscape to other past eras. So I will let that go and say they did a pretty good job (even though I have no idea of the allotted budget, it is not reported on this site). Having said all that…it is also up to the director and cinematographer to take what they have and make it better with staging and lighting and camera- work and…and… and…… ! The biggest problem are 1. the writing and 2. The directing. Lets deal with the writing…like others have stated, so many things were factually wrong with the entire series. Granted, it is impossible to include everything into an 8 hour time frame when you are dealing with such a big chunk of time and with as many important figures within this story…BUT at least when you cherry pick what you ARE going to use at least get it factually correct. The writers had the benefit of 50 years of other people's tireless investigative work on this subject (literally thousands of books and films out there) and yet it seems they made so many 101 factual mistakes with their script. This topic (the Kennedy's) should have dedicated much more that 8 hours to tell this epic story. I also agree with the few who pointed out the random ping-ponging back and forth in time within a single episode. Over all, just sloppy writing. Both writers come from TV and it shows. The director of 24, Jon Cassar, obviously used them since they worked on that show. A smart producer should have stepped in (at least one of the 14 listed) and kept them as junior writers, paid some extra money, gotten some heavy weight writers in to do the final drafts and made the entire series stronger. Oh… by- the-by; someone should have OK'd the hiring of a history consultant! But I'm sure that money was better spent on all the producers bonus's and perks or whatever. Now on to the biggest problem, the directing. This looks like a TV mini-series. Mr. Cassar could never be accused of being cutting edge or having a cinematic eye. Most of 24's unique look came from the editing. If this production had been shot in the 1980's it would be stellar, but in 2011….it looks okay at best. The entire series is simply a homogenized version of some truly monumental events in that era that demanded more attention to detail and more time to tell the story properly. The saddest part is that when a production company drops the ball on an important subject like this, that it usually takes a dozen years to pass until someone will justify spending money to produce a new version to get it right. At least there are other films and mini- series like THIRTEEN DAYS, JFK, PARKLAND, KENNEDY (1983), etc. to show a more accurate view of whatever slice of the pie they chose to present. As of this writing the same production company is producing a follow up series and I'm sure it will serve up the same old same old. Unlike the first time, I will not be buying that DVD set sight unseen. So to sum it up, this mini series is basically the BEST OF the Kennedy's with a bunch of the hits missing.

afarwestent Uhhh, okay. I don't know if this a spoiler or not. I don't want a ruler across my knuckles so let's just say it does have spoilers.... ??? Wow..This is the first review I've ever written and I'm 51 years old. That's how disgusted I am by this garbage.Anyway, the problem with a story like this is: It's supposed to be based on 'actual history'. But unless you've been living in a cave for 50 years (or watching television), you already know that Oswald didn't shoot JFK. He was the patsy, the fall-guy. There is a picture you can view online of the guy on 'The Grassy Knoll' with a rifle pointed at JFK and cloud of smoke emanating from the end of the barrel... (just google: Badge-Man JFK). Malcolm Wallace, LBJ's personal hit-man, fired from the 6th floor of the depository building where a fingerprint matching Malcolm Wallace was found on one of the boxes in the 'snipers nest' There is so much evidence that proves the 'OFFICIAL STORY' is a lie. It would take a couple of years to present it all here in this forum. So I give this mess a '3' for direction and cinematography... That's it ! I was embarrassed for humanity and repulsed beyond words by this film. It perpetuates the lie right down to the last detail while making JFK and Jackie-O out to be druggies...The CIA and Secret Service murdered JFK on behalf of dozens of powerful men and a few powerful women (Queen Mum for instance). That's it. It was a coup de tat. And the CIA has run the executive branch ever sense. This screenplay is garbage. Sick and repulsive. How dare you !!! .......I'm too disgusted to continue... THE END

Desertman84 "The Kennedys" is an eight-part miniseries that chronicles the lives,triumphs and tragedies of the Kennedy family.The cast includes Greg Kinnear, Barry Pepper, Katie Holmes, and Tom Wilkinson together with Diana Hardcastle,Kristin Booth,Chris Diamantopoulos,Charlotte Sullivan and Serge Houde.This historical drama was written by Stephen Kronish and directed by Jon Cassar.The series was centered during the 1960's and how Joseph Kennedy, Sr. shaped his sons John and Robert to become two of the most influential men during the decade.The focus of personal stories was the relationship between the brothers as well as their respective relationship with their father.The political events during that decade also fell into the background such as the Cuban Missile Crisis,Bay Of Pigs and the Civil Rights Movements as well as their extramarital affairs particularly John and Marilyn Monroe as well as that of Robert and Marilyn Monroe.Added to that is also recalls the scandals that the most fabled political family that were involved in.While it was said to be an exhaustive research of the Kennedy family,the absence of many members were both controversial and intriguing.The stories of Edward,Kathleen, Eunice, and Jean were definitely missing.But nevertheless,the viewer is treated to a great stories of the members featured especially as we get to know how the role of Joseph Sr as a father of to his sons which has yet to be told in many films and TV miniseries featuring the Kennedy family.Aside from that,we are treated to a lot of strong performances from the cast especially Wilkinson and Pepper.Overall,it is an outstanding mini-series that one would surely enjoy.