"Confederate"--a drama that, as HBO clumsily revealed last week, offers viewers a "nation" in which "...slavery remains legal and has evolved into a modern institution"--never should have survived that initial pitch meeting.

A war based on the preservation of a morally reprehensible institution that ripped families apart, brutalized human beings and marginalized them as "less than" such--igniting an economic gap that remains as wide our nation's political chasms.

Sitting in opulent offices in New York or Los Angeles may be the only explanation for seeing an institution that seeded the notions of white supremacy and white privilege that remain a daily stench in our lives as worth preserving as entertainment.

Not surprisingly, "Confederate" is already a nightmare (or a blessing, if you believe all publicity is good publicity; hint: it ain't) for the premium network. Almost immediately after it was revealed, critics flooded social media with condemnation.