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The show started drawing fire even before it went into production. In December 1985, Soviet officials attacked the movie as another example of Hollywood Red-bashing and hinted at possible repercussions for ABC News' Moscow bureau. The project was put on hold temporarily (only to make budget revisions, Stoddard now says), but shooting went ahead last March. Soviet officials have since expressed interest in buying the show for telecast in their country. "It would be useful if Soviet TV viewers were shown how public opinion in the U.S.A. is formed," says Leonid Kravchenko, deputy chairman of Gosteleradio, the Soviet agency in charge of radio and TV.
Back home, an estimated 150 groups have lodged protests against Amerika. "The film takes the most complicated issue in international affairs and reduces it to Soviets in black hats and Americans in white hats," says Jonathan Halperin, program director of the Committee for National Security, a liberal institute chaired by former Arms Negotiator Paul Warnke. "It reinforces stereotypes and hinders public awareness." Yet some right-wing groups are unhappy too, claiming that the mini-series is too soft on the Soviets. Says Reed Irvine, head of Accuracy in Media: "There is a total lack of realism about what a Soviet occupation is really like, no evidence of a reign of terror."
Perhaps the loudest outcry has come from the United Nations, which has objected that the military troops in the movie are dubbed the United Nations Special Service Unit. A letter signed by, among others, three former Secretaries of State, Alexander Haig, Edmund Muskie and Dean Rusk, protested to ABC that the "portrayal of the U.N. peacekeeping forces as brutal oppressors . . . will undermine public support for one of the most valuable aspects of the U.N.'s work." The organization has hired Theodore Sorensen, John F. Kennedy's former speechwriter, to act as its attorney vis-a-vis ABC. Among his requests: a de-emphasis of the U.N. insignia in the program, on-air disclaimers, and broadcast time for U.N. representatives to respond.
The biggest blow came last week, when Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca approved a decision to withdraw all 36 of the 30-second ads his company had planned to run on the mini-series, at a cost of more than $6 million. A company statement said the commercials, which have an upbeat "born in America" theme, would be "both inappropriate and of diminished effectiveness" in the context of the program. ABC is trying to sell the time elsewhere, but will force Chrysler to make up the difference for any lost ad revenue. Two other advertisers, General Foods Corp. and Northwestern Mutual ! Life Insurance Co., have said they will keep their ads in the show. But commercial time is not yet sold out, and industry sources say ABC is being forced to cut prices from an original $175,000 per 30-second spot.