"Pertinent, powerful and persuasive... handsomely
produced....brilliant..." --Howard Rosenberg, Los
Angeles Times
"This film should be seen by every American in
every city and town." --Norman Lear, TV producer and
Founder, People for the American Way.
"Profoundly enlightening... a devastating look at
TV's impact on the presidency." --Helen Thomas,
Hearst News Service, "Dean" of the White House press corps.
produced....brilliant..." --Howard Rosenberg, Los
Angeles Times
"This film should be seen by every American in
every city and town." --Norman Lear, TV producer and
Founder, People for the American Way.
"Profoundly enlightening... a devastating look at
TV's impact on the presidency." --Helen Thomas,
Hearst News Service, "Dean" of the White House press corps.
"Watch how commercial TV networks use polls, gaffes, stereotypes and show business values to create winners and
losers in a drama of their own making to pump the ratings--and distract you from what you need to be an informed
citizen and understand what's really happening in America." -- William B. Shanley, filmmaker
Is it this Box or this Box?
Who elects the President of the United States? Is it the ballot box or the TV box?
How are viewer's political perceptions formed? By reality or TV reality?
These are the fundamental questions posed by veteran Hollywood actor and social activist Martin Sheen in this rare,
critically-acclaimed, documentary feature examining how TV changed the most significant election in the last forty years,
the 1980 Presidential Election when Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter.
Watch the hidden hand of commercial TV's news programmers in an election that radically changed America's course
and will help you discern their role casting winners and losers in 2008.
The Election that Forever Changed America
Before Martin Sheen was playing President and winning elections in NBC's "The West Wing"... before the Supreme
Court stopped the recount in Florida... before the Bill & Monica or OJ shows--there was an election. It was an election
that was made-by-TV, for-TV. We called it "The Made-for-TV Election."
The year was 1980... the raw power of the Big Three TV Networks was at it's peak... CBS wore the Tiffany Crown and
Walter Cronkite was "the most credible man in America." Jimmy Carter was stuck in the White House surrounded by
gas lines... An actor named Ronald Reagan came riding out of the West promising "to get government off the backs of
the people" and repeal the New Deal.... Kennedy brother Ted promised a return to Camelot... And maverick
congressman John Anderson decided to take on the Two Party System all by himself. And as had become the habit, the
TV Networks put politics and show business together in a blender and branded the brew "Campaign 80."
The Made-for-TV Election
"We're going to take the election of 1980 when Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter. It's not too recent, but it's not too
long ago, and there were many fascinating features that made it a particularly good show. As we look at it together, we're
going to ask you to think of the TV coverage of that campaign not as news, but as show business. The Made-for-TV
Election: candidates cast and tested in such a way, real events handled and timed in such a way, edited in such a way,
dropped or included in such a way, that candidates and real events emerge as television theater." --Martin Sheen
Carter's Crisis of Competence... The Kennedy Challenge... Chappaquiddick Revisited... The Shah Blunder... Jerry
Brown the Clown... Bush's Big Iowa Mo... Reagan's Nashua Theatrics... TV's Maverick... Cameo Appearances... The
Rose Garden Strategy... The Dream Ticket... Carter the Loser... Reagan the Buffoon... Carter the Meenie... The Great
Debate... The October Surprise... America Held Hostage Revisited... Early Election Projections... Day 444... and more.
Now It's Your Turn
For US politics and news junkies everywhere, and all Americans interested in the efficacy of US elections, this landmark
film is now available for the first time on DVD. Color, approximately 100 minutes.
Featuring Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Ted Kennedy, John Anderson; CBS: Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Ed Bradley;
NBC: John Chancellor; ABC: Frank Reynolds, Sam Donaldson; UPI: Helen Thomas, Walt Rogers; Washington Post:
David Broder, Martin Schram; Washington Star: Mary McGrory; Los Angeles Times, Bob Scheer; Carter Press Secretary
Jody Powell; Carter TV Advisor Jerry Rafshoon; plus cameo appearances by CBS' Leslie Stahl, Roger Mudd, Bill
Moyers, Jeff Greenfield, ABC's Ted Koppel, columnist James J. Kilpatrick, members of the National and White House
press corps--and most importantly, the American electorate.
Credits
Produced, Written and Directed by
William Brandon Shanley
Co-Produced and Written by
Gerald J. Keane
Executive Produced by
Alvin H. Goldstein
Martin Sheen directed by
Joe Rothstein
The "Man Inside the Piano"
Harry Miles Muheim
Host
Martin Sheen
losers in a drama of their own making to pump the ratings--and distract you from what you need to be an informed
citizen and understand what's really happening in America." -- William B. Shanley, filmmaker
Is it this Box or this Box?
Who elects the President of the United States? Is it the ballot box or the TV box?
How are viewer's political perceptions formed? By reality or TV reality?
These are the fundamental questions posed by veteran Hollywood actor and social activist Martin Sheen in this rare,
critically-acclaimed, documentary feature examining how TV changed the most significant election in the last forty years,
the 1980 Presidential Election when Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter.
Watch the hidden hand of commercial TV's news programmers in an election that radically changed America's course
and will help you discern their role casting winners and losers in 2008.
The Election that Forever Changed America
Before Martin Sheen was playing President and winning elections in NBC's "The West Wing"... before the Supreme
Court stopped the recount in Florida... before the Bill & Monica or OJ shows--there was an election. It was an election
that was made-by-TV, for-TV. We called it "The Made-for-TV Election."
The year was 1980... the raw power of the Big Three TV Networks was at it's peak... CBS wore the Tiffany Crown and
Walter Cronkite was "the most credible man in America." Jimmy Carter was stuck in the White House surrounded by
gas lines... An actor named Ronald Reagan came riding out of the West promising "to get government off the backs of
the people" and repeal the New Deal.... Kennedy brother Ted promised a return to Camelot... And maverick
congressman John Anderson decided to take on the Two Party System all by himself. And as had become the habit, the
TV Networks put politics and show business together in a blender and branded the brew "Campaign 80."
The Made-for-TV Election
"We're going to take the election of 1980 when Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter. It's not too recent, but it's not too
long ago, and there were many fascinating features that made it a particularly good show. As we look at it together, we're
going to ask you to think of the TV coverage of that campaign not as news, but as show business. The Made-for-TV
Election: candidates cast and tested in such a way, real events handled and timed in such a way, edited in such a way,
dropped or included in such a way, that candidates and real events emerge as television theater." --Martin Sheen
Carter's Crisis of Competence... The Kennedy Challenge... Chappaquiddick Revisited... The Shah Blunder... Jerry
Brown the Clown... Bush's Big Iowa Mo... Reagan's Nashua Theatrics... TV's Maverick... Cameo Appearances... The
Rose Garden Strategy... The Dream Ticket... Carter the Loser... Reagan the Buffoon... Carter the Meenie... The Great
Debate... The October Surprise... America Held Hostage Revisited... Early Election Projections... Day 444... and more.
Now It's Your Turn
For US politics and news junkies everywhere, and all Americans interested in the efficacy of US elections, this landmark
film is now available for the first time on DVD. Color, approximately 100 minutes.
Featuring Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Ted Kennedy, John Anderson; CBS: Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Ed Bradley;
NBC: John Chancellor; ABC: Frank Reynolds, Sam Donaldson; UPI: Helen Thomas, Walt Rogers; Washington Post:
David Broder, Martin Schram; Washington Star: Mary McGrory; Los Angeles Times, Bob Scheer; Carter Press Secretary
Jody Powell; Carter TV Advisor Jerry Rafshoon; plus cameo appearances by CBS' Leslie Stahl, Roger Mudd, Bill
Moyers, Jeff Greenfield, ABC's Ted Koppel, columnist James J. Kilpatrick, members of the National and White House
press corps--and most importantly, the American electorate.
Credits
Produced, Written and Directed by
William Brandon Shanley
Co-Produced and Written by
Gerald J. Keane
Executive Produced by
Alvin H. Goldstein
Martin Sheen directed by
Joe Rothstein
The "Man Inside the Piano"
Harry Miles Muheim
Host
Martin Sheen
| Copyrights 1986-2008 News Analysis Associates All Rights Reserved themadefortvelection@gmail.com |
A generation ago... before the Internet...before the VCR... When CNN was first on TV and there was just the Big Three... CBS, NBC and ABC... They said it wasn't true. They said it couldn't be. But once they saw it-- they knew... they could not let you see the truth of what had come to be: THE MADE-FOR-TV ELECTION with Martin Sheen |
