Kennedy Serial shelved by History Channel; TomKat may not attend the Oscars

The History Channel has dropped plans to air their most expensive project, the $30 million eight-part serial The Kennedys, reportedly under political pressure.

The series had generated a lot of interest during its making which stars Katie Holmes as Jacqueline and Greg Kinnear as John F Kennedy.

“We are proud of the work all of our talent put into the making of The Kennedys and the painstaking efforts that went into creating a drama that is compelling while rich in historic detail,” the producers, Muse Entertainment and Asylum said in a statement.

“Although we regret this does not fit into the History Channel’s plans, we are confident that television viewers in the United States will join viewers from around the world in having an opportunity to watch this series in the near future.”

It is reported that the Kennedy family lobbied extensively to get the series pulled out. A signature campaign was started by Kennedy friend and loyalist, Robert Greenwald. He managed to rope in 50,000 people to sign the petition and even started a website called Stopkennedysmears.com.

Katie Cruise miffed with Anne’s SNL skit

In another development, it was reported that Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise may not be attending the Oscars ceremony, set to be hosted by Anne Hathaway, who recently offended Katie with a skit on Saturday Night Live (SNL). However, their representative was quick to refute that rumour.

Anne had spoofed Katie Homes by copying her breathless voice and pushing her hair behind her ear. This has reportedly offended the Hollywood power couple who thought Anne was a friend and should have at least informed them beforehand about going on national TV with the act.

TomKat stood by Anne when she had trouble with her ex-boyfriend who was jailed for money fraud.

The couple was quick to deny this as the reason for not attending the show. Their rep made it clear that Tom and Katie had planned to skip the Oscars long before the Hathaway skit as both have busy shoot schedules.