The Reagans

Watch it yourself ignore the scores of 1 by right wingers, bringing the score down.

I love history and politics so this 4 part doc from "Showtime" called "The Reagans" was must viewing for me. It was indeed informative and revealing which was historical and biography type telling of Ronald's early and humble start of being a radio announcer to his start in Hollywood with B pictures, to his election as California governor to his rise as the president. All of this is supported by footage vintage clips and news interviews and interviews are given with media people and republican cabinet members Jim Baker, Ed Rollins, and Stu Spencer are interviewed as they give thoughts and opinions. Plus son Ron Jr. give his thoughts on his parents life and how they seemed different as he did not always agree with them. Shown also is how Ronald was influenced by his Hollywood days to become pro right and leave his union membership, and after elected he became a pro military hawk and was influenced in domestic issues by the religious right. Also his final term was plagued by scandal the Iran contra affair, and Nancy always ruled and looked over his shoulder even though she consulted with the stars. Plus his final years hints and clues were displayed by the actor/politician of memory loss. Really great super doc that looks back at an era and a man that shaped many things like him or hate him see this doc if you are a political or history type buff!

It is awful how the Reagans were to poor families while they spent money on themselves. It's INSANE that they gutted the New Deal and believed in Trickle Down economics. Obviously they were both spokespeople for evangelicals and corporations. It's also nuts they had so many gay friends and let AIDS just go unattended for so long. Or how he really felt he had not sold arms for hostages - when he had? It was good Reagan tried to deescalate nuclear tensions. The story comes off like a tragedy of a man who believed in the myth of America and the corporations who used him to hijack our political system.

This was a good documentary on the Reagans. I was a child and a teenager through most of Reagan's presidency, so I remember a lot of these events, (and even some of Carter's presidency) but it was nice to see it all narrated w/ more historical detail.

I think some of the good things Reagan did were downplayed (I mean he did turn the economy around significantly in his first term (compared to what a mess things were w/ Carter)). The program also had an overly ominous tone in general - as though the Reagan presidency was this dark awful time for everyone but the very rich - which was not the case. Things improved compared to Carter for many, many regular people too - thus why Reagan was so popular. However, these types of programs always like to make conservatives villains so the negative slant wasn't unexpected to me (got to just take it with a grain of salt).

I especially liked the commentary of Kitty Kelly, their son and Stu Spencer - was nice to hear their real life accounts. James Bakker was good too.

My Senior year in high school PBS aired it's American Experience special on Reagan. It a fairly nuanced, maybe even somewhat sympathetic documentary. This, however, is not. I don't think anyone can deny this is a critique of the Reagan's almost exclusively from a Left Wing point of view. That being said, it's not bad. It's fairly interesting, but as a mentioned just know going in it's not a puff piece.