Showtime drops 'The Kennedys' miniseries

Now what - or where? Showtime Thursday officially passed on a pickup of the scuttled History Channel miniseries "The Kennedys." THC dropped this completed eight-hour venture starring Greg Kinnear as John F. Kennedy, Katie Holmes as Jacqueline Kennedy, and Tom Wilkinson as Joseph Kennedy Sr. over the weekend (published reports speculated that members of the Kennedy family applied pressure on THC part-owner ABC to kill the project because of inaccuracies or purported anti-Kennedy bias).

Does this mean "The Kennedys" is a hugely expensive flop? Maybe. Maybe not. Some other possible venues that have been mentioned for the mini:

HBO: Highly unlikely. HBO develops its own material, such as "The Pacific" (and is apparently developing its own Kennedy film.) File this as a non-starter.

AMC: Home of such quality dramas as "Mad Men," and actively developing new ones, but so-so track on minis ("The Prisoner"). Why pick up this political hot potato that has little to do with its core mission? No obvious reason.

TNT/TBS: Interesting possibility, but if the purported political pressure is real, owner Time Warner will probably not want to stir up a hornet's nest, either.

Epix: Premium channel owned by Viacom/MGM/Lionsgate needs publicity and original programs and viewers; this might well serve the purpose.

Straight to DVD: Why not? Lots of other movies are going this route, even though another controversial miniseries - ABC's "The Path to 9/11" from 2006 - has yet to secure a DVD release.

iTunes: Rent it for 99 cents! Shame to ever waste anything that Tom Wilkinson is in.