'The Loudest Voice' Teaser: Showtime Tells The Story Of Roger Ailes And The Rise Of Fox News

Fox News has generated millions by giving some of the world's most obnoxious caricatures a platform in the world of political punditry. Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Jeanine Pirro, Laura Ingraham, Megyn Kelly, and whatever trio of airheads is still on Fox & Friends are just some of the dispiriting voices in cable television news, and it's all thanks to one man: Roger Ailes. Now, the story of how Roger Ailes took fear and pandering to a dangerous level and turned it into a profitable cable news channel will be told in a new limited series on Showtime called The Loudest Voice, and the first teaser trailer is already making our stomachs turn.

Russell Crowe is playing the man who would give rise to the darker side of not just cable news but the Republican Party, complete with lots of prosthetic make-up and a fat suit. The series is based on Gabriel Sherman's book The Loudest Voice in the Room, which thankfully isn't a biography celebrating what Ailes did to cable news and politics. And while reviews have pegged the book as being surprisingly even-handed in its approach to the influence Ailes had on the world at large, this series looks like it won't paint him in very kind light. That's probably for the best since he was a conniving, womanizing creep.

While the book covers the rise of Ailes from his early childhood to the highest peak of success in the media, it would appear that this series will only focus on the rise and creation of Fox News, and seemingly his eventual downfall thanks to sexual harassment accusations and settlements that brought his part in the Fox News machine to an end.

The Loudest Voice also stars Naomi Watts, Sienna Miller, Seth MacFarlane, Simon McBurney, and Annabelle Wallis. Russsell Crowe also executive produces the series, which has the first two episodes directed by Emmy nominee Kari Skogland (The Handmaid's Tale).

Here's the official synopsis for the eight episode limited series coming to Showtime:

In today's politically charged media landscape, no figure looms larger, even after his passing, than Roger Ailes, molding Fox News into a force that irrevocably changed the conversation about the highest levels of government. To understand the events that led to the rise of Donald Trump, one must understand Ailes. The upcoming limited series takes on that challenge, focusing primarily on the past decade in which Ailes arguably became the Republican Party's de facto leader, while also touching on defining events in Ailes' life, including an initial meeting with Richard Nixon on the set of The Mike Douglas Show that gave birth to Ailes' political career and including the sexual harassment accusations and settlements that brought his Fox News reign to an end. Told through multiple points of view, the limited series aims to shed light on the psychology that drives the political process from the top down.

The Loudest Voice premieres on Sunday, June 30 at 10pm ET only on Showtime.