Shame on Lifetime for committing a fraud on American TV viewers.
The cable network premieres the TV movie "The Murder of Princess Diana" on Saturday at 7 p.m. It is, not surprisingly, all about how Diana's death a decade ago in a car accident was no accident — it was (gasp) murder!
This comes despite the fact that every official inquiry into the princess's death concluded that it was indeed an accident.
I don't necessarily believe the results of all those official inquiries. I don't have any idea if there was foul play involved in Diana's death.
But I do know that there will be viewers who walk away thinking that "The Murder of Princess Diana" is some kind of factual account, which it is not.
It's the fictional tale of a reporter (Jennifer Morrison) who witnesses the car crash that killed Diana and gets sucked into mysterious conspiracy behind her death.
Yes, Lifetime is labeling this as fiction. No, that's not going to make much difference to a lot of people who watch it.
How many people do you suppose are under the impression that the fantasy unspooled by Oliver Stone in his movie "JFK" was real, even though it has been conclusively discredited?
And that's just one of dozens of unsubstantiated myths about the Kennedys that have entered the zeitgeist because they were included in umpteen movies and miniseries about the family.
And you cannot convince me that — however strongly "The Murder of Princess Diana" is labeled as fiction — there won't be confused viewers.
A couple of years ago, Animal Planet aired a very entertaining "mockumentary" titled "Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real." It was done in the style of a lot of TV documentaries.
But, again, it was about dragons. And I got a very nice e-mail from a very nice lady who wanted to know if it was real.
Really.
And there's already clear evidence that viewers are going to mistake fiction for fact. Here are some postings from Lifetime's own Web site message board:
"Those who think this is a work of fiction should think again. There is as much evidence to prove that the Princess and her young fiance were murdered as there is that Lee Harvey Oswald was innocent."
"I ... have never gotten over her death. It wasn't an accident and I have said that from day 1."
"I have seen many other shows about Princess Diana's death but never in a movie. I just can't believe someone would want to murder her after her accomplishment."
And, perhaps most tellingly, this one:
"I can not wait 'til the movie comes out in August because I really want to learn more about Princess Diana!!!"
Yeah, well, that's pretty much like watching "Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real" to learn more about reptiles.
If this were was all about the thrilling, fictional narrative, Lifetime would have made a purely fictional movie about Princess Agnes of Moldavia. Instead, the cable network is exploiting Diana's name and her death for ratings.
And, in the process, feeding the flames of conspiracy theorists.
Shame on Lifetime.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com