Will US audiences warm to TV show about Netanyahu?
“Bibi,” the longtime Israeli prime minister’s ubiquitous nickname, will be based on the bestselling biography “The Netanyahu Years” written by veteran Israeli journalist Ben Caspit.
By HANNAH BROWNIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives for a speech at his Jerusalem office, regarding the new measures that will be taken to fight the coronavirus, March 14, 2020(photo credit: REUTERS/GALI TIBBON/POOL)Variety announced last week that a deal had been made for an American television series about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which raises questions about whether American audiences will be interested in a drama about an Israeli politician and how the prime minister himself will react to it. The series will be adapted from Ben Caspit’s book, The Netanyahu Years, by Kirk Ellis, a writer/producer best known for the HBO series, John Adams. It is being produced by an Israeli company, Abot Hameiri, which is part of Fremantle, an international production company. While there have been a number of documentaries about Netanyahu, this will be the first time that he has been the subject of a drama.“Ben Caspit’s insightful reporting demonstrates how private life always shapes public affairs, and there’s no shortage of conflict – or opinions – when it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu,” said Ellis in a statement quoted by Variety.“Kirk’s esteemed catalog of work, particularly in exploring the lives of high-profile figures, makes him a perfect addition to this series,” Guy Hameiri, co-founder of Abot Hameiri, told Variety, adding that the series will be “an epic political story with a very big philosophical and psychological undertone. At the same time, it will be a scandalous family melodrama that explores how the personal can become political, and vice versa.”Judging the source material, it seems that the series is not likely to please the prime minister. Caspit’s book is not flattering to its subject and dredges up every detail of the scandals and missteps of Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. “Benjamin Netanyahu is a saga of missed opportunities . . . He was soaked in an endless line of scandals and political fights,” Caspit wrote in the book.Some questioned whether US audiences would be interested in a series about an Israeli politician, even a well-known leader, while others feel that the charisma and skillful maneuvering that has characterized the prime minister’s career will attract audiences all over the world.Amnon Lord, a columnist for the newspaper Israel Hayom, said, “The series will definitely awaken interest. Bibi sells. Even if it’s a negative portrait, people will be drawn to it.He’s someone with depth, who has a complex biography and a there’s no shortage of melodrama, not to mention the conflicts.”Netanyahu’s tenure at as United Nations ambassador in the 80s and his frequent appearances on US television even before he first became prime minister made him a well-known quantity to American audiences. Lord pointed to Netanyahu’s 2015 speech to the US congress in which he blasted the proposed Iranian nuclear deal as a moment when the American public got a good look at Israel’s prime minister in action. Americans also know the story of the rescue of hostages at Entebbe in 1976 in which Netanyahu’s older brother, Yoni, was killed.While there hasn’t been a successful dramatic depiction of an Israeli leader’s life in the US since Ingrid Bergman played the late prime minister, Golda Meir, in A Woman Called Golda in 1982, it seems that Netanyahu’s life has had enough drama to make for good TV.The prime minister’s current trial could add interest, as well as the 1993 sex-tape scandal, which New York Times reporter Clyde Haberman dubbed “sex, lies and videotape.” Netanyahu was blackmailed to drop out of the Likud primaries by an anonymous source who threatened to release a sex tape of him with a married woman. Netanyahu toughed it out, apologized to his wife and hinted that the tape — which never surfaced — was the work of one of his rivals.One US-based Israeli television professional said that while she was intrigued by the idea of the series, she questioned how much interest there would be on the part of American audiences. “If it were by Ryan Murphy [creator of such shows as Glee, American Crime Story and American Horror Story] people would watch it, because whatever he makes is a huge hit. But American Jewish audiences who are on the right won’t like it if he comes off badly and Jews on the left despise him so much they won’t tune in.”Whether the series will present a laudatory portrayal of Netanyahu, like The West Wing, or a down-and-dirty version in the style of House of Cards remains to be seen, but it’s already got people talking.
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