Reality Programming

By Jeffrey Ressner/Los Angeles

Like a heat-seeking missile blasting a plane out of the sky, ABC shot down OLIVER STONE'S not-yet-completed Declassified in reaction to growing controversy over the program's examination of the TWA 800 disaster probe. Stone is irate, saying ABC, owned by Disney, "pre-censored" the TV special. "Disney closed it down cold, and nobody would talk," complains the director, adding that ABC president ROBERT IGER wouldn't even return his phone call. "It's an a__hole organization," he steamed. But Stone isn't giving up his effort to bring conspiracy inquiries to prime-time television--he's been talking to other outlets, and he says it looks as if Time Warner's cable channel TNT could pick up the program. ABC meanwhile stands by its position that viewers may have trouble distinguishing between fact-based entertainment and hard news.

--By Jeffrey Ressner/Los Angeles