Chandler Bing as the "Lion of the Senate?"

When cable network REELZ announced Tuesday that it had cast Matthew Perry as the late Sen.

Ted Kennedy in an upcoming miniseries, Friends fans (yep, they still exist) might have been excited. But the news was greeted with definite skepticism in Kennedyland, the loose network of loyal former aides and confidantes to the longtime lawmaker.

"Ugh," was the succinct emailed response from one of them.

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Jim Manley, a longtime Kennedy spokesman, was equally unimpressed with Perry's casting.

"He should have reconsidered his decision to boycott the Friends reunion, because I can't imagine this is going to work out very well for what's left of his career," he said.

(Perry, you might recall, was the lone "Friend" who didn't appear in the one-off special tribute show last month.)

REELZ's The Kennedys-After Camelot will air next spring, the network said in a release.

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Katie Holmes will reprise her role as former first lady Jackie Kennedy from the previous REELZ series The Kennedys.

The four-part series focuses on Ted Kennedy's life following the assassinations of his brothers, and "depicts his very complicated public and private life as he tries to live up to the Kennedy family political ambition and fill a male leadership void in the family itself," according to REELZ.

- Washington Post