It was directed by Robert Allan Ackerman and written by Jane Marchwood, Tom Rickman, and Elizabeth Egloff, based on the 1991 biography First Ladies Volume II by Carl Sferrazza Anthony.

The supporting cast includes Željko Ivanek, Mary Beth Peil, Bill Smitrovich, Shad Hart, Zoie Palmer, Richard Fitzpatrick, Vlasta Vrána, Francis Xavier McCarthy, Frank Moore, Aidan Devine, and John Stamos.

[1] Conservatives began criticizing the miniseries before it was broadcast and claimed that it put words in Reagan's mouth and condemned it as leftist historical revisionism.

Eventually, after several weeks of outspoken criticism by conservatives, on November 4, 2003, CBS withdrew the miniseries from the broadcast schedule and announced that the program did "not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans."

Although the mini-series features impressive production values and acting performances, and although the producers have sources to verify each scene in the script, we believe it does not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans for CBS and its audience.

Jeff Chester, head of the Center for Digital Democracy, a communications lobbying group, said that CBS had chosen not to offend Republicans at a time when the federal government was considering rules restricting ownership of local television stations.

"To deliberately and calculatingly depict public people as shallow, intolerant, cold and inept, with no truths or facts to back up the portrayals, is nothing short of malevolent."

Another factor which has motivated certain critics to claim bias was that Reagan was played by James Brolin, whose wife Barbra Streisand is an outspoken liberal.

[1] Barbra Streisand criticized CBS's decision not to screen The Reagans as a "sad day for artistic freedom" and said the network "caved in to right wing Republican pressure".