Crazy Days at ABC/Disney II

Mickey Mouse, 9/11 Co-conspirator

What the hell happened with the Path to 9/11.

ABC/Disney is legally exposed to massive defamation suits, has pissed off the Democratic Party and looks like they got hoodwinked by cranks.

Let's look at the bizarre decision making here.

First: The show was timed to go on against a highly anticipated football game between the Indianapolis Colts, who was one game from the Super Bowl, with the NFL's biggest star, Peyton Manning, playing his brother, Eli, who quarterbacks the New York Giants, guaranteed to draw massive ratings.

Yet, ABC sunk $40m into this fiasco, more than most hit movies, more than Farenheit 9/11 cost exponentially. They refused to release that movie, losing tens of millions in profits, but ran the P 9/11 show without commercials.

Second: The production values were below even cable standards. SciFi would not have produced a movie of this minimal quality. Whatever was used to justify it, it was impossible to follow on a dramatic level

Third: No mainstream or liberal media outlet, including bloggers, was shown a review copy. Which is ridiculous. Most people can get review copies for asking, regardless of politics. ABC's distribution process was bizarre. Why should they care about the politics of the reviewer?

Fourth: Several people, and a MAJOR advertiser were allowed to be defamed. American Airlines is a major golf and college football advertiser, as well as supporting Oprah. How could ABC allow a major advertiser to be defamed in the most possibly controversal way possible? I mean, it's almost as bad as showng Prescott Bush touring Dachau and beaming at Himmler. American Airlines shareholders must expect a legal action over this.

None of this makes sense. None of it. Companies don't act like this. Companies don't invite massive UK libel suits and US defamation suits over their programs.

Everything but the way the show was aired to the attacks in it don't make any logical sense, business sense or political sense. You don't piss off political parties on a whim. You don't defame former high government officials. You don't insult a major advertiser.

It seems someone in Disney, but not Bob Iger, wanted this show on air and got it on, regardless of the consequences. In fact, the wingnut background of the show's director and screenwriter seem to have been hidden from Disney management.

The possible consequences of airing this show could range from license challenges to boycotts, to lawsuits.

Disney has a conservative bent, which is why they have been a major provider of children's entertainment. But the exposure here for the company is massive on all fronts.